Dedication stone, Mile End Road (detail)

Check out the linked 'OO' in POOR (top right). These two stones are well executed but not superb (the serifs and sizes vary slightly throughout) but this little decorative flourish tells us much about the playful pride of the mason. A lovely little touch.

Dedication Stone, Mile End Road

The full story of the building (a companion to the foundation stone two posts below), marking the original foundation of the building as a hospital for the sick poor and lying-in women in front of the burial ground of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation in 1663. Hard carved, 1913.

Foundation stone, Mile End Road (detail)

Detail from the foundation stone. If you look very carefully at the bottom right of the main picture, you can see "W.I. Maddison Builder", at a time when craftsmen went unrecognised, particularly in areas like the East End of London.

Foundation Stone, Mile End Road

Hand carved, 1913. The matching dedication stone is posted above.

A work in progress...

I'm driving this thing off a Sony Ericsson K800i, so there'll be glitches until I manage to work everything out (which is, I tell you, going to take time: this thing's a bit like the deck of the Enterprise...).

I'll fill in the various sections and links as I learn how. And hopefully, the photos will get better as I get more used to the camera...

Harford St (detail)

Cookery? Why not kitchen? But this is what we want! Beautiful, careful work, well spaced, cute - if slightly mad - serifs; and a great descender on the R

Harford St

London E1

Stepney Public Library

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Decoration above the main door, Stepney Public Library, Bancroft St, London, E1; because devices are as important as letters, and the ship, although a symbol for the local council, is delicately executed and has survived for 122 years.