Building

Ramsgate's impressive Royal Victoria Pavilion

A striking example of seaside architecture, the Royal Victoria Pavilion in Ramsgate is a grade II listed building, built as a concert hall/assembly rooms and designed by architect Stanley Davenport Adshead, in the style of a Robert Adam orangery.

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Eilean Donan Castle - an impressive fortress surrounded by a loch

Eilean Donan Castle is a famously picturesque Scottish castle that may be recognised from numerous photographs, film and television programmes. As well as its impressive siting, its position between Loch Ness and the Isle of Skye also puts it well on the tourist map.

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Eastbourne Bandstand - a seaside musical treasure

The seaside, or town park, bandstand was once a ubiquitous municipal pleasure, providing a performance venue available to all kinds of musicians and entertainers, and accessible to every citizen. Many have either disappeared, or have lost their original role with the decline in town, village and factory brass and silver bands and the like.

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The Hoover Building - art deco industrial icon

The Hoover Building, located in Perivale, London, on the Western Avenue main road, was opened in 1933 as the UK headquarters, manufacturing plant and repairs centre for vacuum cleaner giant The Hoover Company. It is notable for its Art Deco architecture and is a Grade II listed building.

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An historic feat of engineering: Clifton Suspension Bridge

The Clifton Suspension Bridge spans the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking the Georgian suburb of Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Completed in 1864, it was designed by architects William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw, based on an earlier design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and is now a Grade I Listed structure.

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The Wainhouse Tower - designed to annoy the neighbours

The Wainhouse Tower in Halifax is the tallest folly in the world, but was originally designed as a factory chimney. However, its secondary function was to annoy the owner's nextdoor neighbour ...

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Fortnum and Mason - owing its existence to an entrepreneurial footman

The history of this characterful London department store on Piccadilly goes back the early 17th century when Hugh Mason rented out a spare room to William Fortnum, a Footman in the household of Queen Anne.

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Temple Works, a neglected treasure in Leeds

An amazing former flax mill designed to look like an Ancient Egyptian Temple sits on Marshal Street in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, but its future is in doubt. When built in 1836, Temple Works’ factory floor, where a thousand people used to work, was reputedly the single biggest room in the entire world.

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The Admiral's House, Hampstead - rather a long way from the sea!

In P.L Travers’s "Mary Poppins" books, the Banks family live next door to an eccentric Admiral, who has a house shaped like a ship, and who fires his cannon every now and then. Travers based this idea on the Admiral's House in Hampstead.

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The restaurant that became the beautiful bank in The Strand

Up until 2017, if you found yourself searching for a cashpoint whilst walking in the Aldwych area in central London, you may have popped into the nearest Lloyds and found yourself within an unexpected architectural treasure. Once an opulent restaurant, it might soon be reopening in the same role again.

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Shakespeare's Globe - a very different theatrical experience

Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames.

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Strawberry Hill - a bright, white 18th-century Gothic wonder

The “little gothic castle" beside the Thames in West London that was built by Horace Walpole in the second half of the 18th century is generally regarded as having sparked the Gothic revival craze of the late 18th and 19th centuries in Britain, including the first Gothic novel.

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The Waterlily House - the Amazon brought to Kew

A small, square glasshouse was designed specifically at Kew Gardens to showcase the giant Amazon waterlily (Victoria amazonica) - a natural wonder of the age, when it opened in the 1852. It is now a listed building, brimming with aquatic plants and tropical fruit, where you can surround yourself with colourful waterlilies, ferns, papyrus and hanging gourds in this tropical corner of the Gardens.

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Chester Rows - fascinating, and mysterious, architecture

The Chester Rows are a set of structures in each of the four main streets of Chester, consisting of a series of covered walkways on the first floor, behind which are entrances to shops and other premises. At street level is another set of shops and other premises, many of which are entered by going down a few steps.

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The Roman Baths, Bath - an early hotspot for Italian visitors

The Romans built an extensive bathing complex fed by hot springs in what later became the city of Bath in Somerset. The Roman Baths are open to the public, and there is a lot to see here as this is one of the finest historic sites in Northern Europe.

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A palace of treasures - the Victoria & Albert Museum

The Victoria & Albert museum, situated in South Kensington, London, has pioneered the curation and presentation of arts, crafts and creative objects since its establishment in 1857. It is the world's largest museum of applied and decorative art and design, as well as sculpture, fashion and objects from popular culture. It houses a permanent collection of over 2.27 million items.

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The Saltdean Lido - back with a splash!

Described by Historic England as one of the seven wonders of the English seaside, Saltdean Lido just along the coast from Brighton is the only Grade II* listed lido in the UK, and is renowned for its fantastic Art Deco architecture. It was threatened with redevelopment in 2010 until a local campaign was set up to save and restore it.

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Senate House - Bloomsbury's towering art deco landmark

Senate House, probably London's most imposing art-deco building - certainly in terms of scale - also often doubles as 1920's America in television dramas and films. It was actually built from 1932 to 1937 and is the administrative centre of the University of London.

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Ponden Hall - a rugged old house that inspired the Bronte sisters

Ponden Hall is a former farmhouse near Stanbury in West Yorkshire, and is reputedly the inspiration for several distinctive buildings in the works of both Anne and Emily Brontë.

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Normanton Church - floating on water

If you visit the village of Normanton on the eastern shore of Rutland Water, you will see a very odd sight. The church there appears to be floating on the surface of the reservoir.

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The grandest pigsty in the world (probably)

Near the seaside village of Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire sits a Victorian folly in the style of an Ancient Greek temple. Amazingly, this was designed and used as a pigsty.

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Mr Fitzpatrick's Temperance Bar - still keeping Rawtenstall sober

Mr Fitzpatrick’s Temperance Bar is the last survivor of the temperance movement that swept through Britain near the end of the 1800s. It still serves up herbal drinks and healthy remedies in the Lancashire mill town of Rawtenstall, but definitely no alcohol.

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Crossness Pumping Station - unexpected beauty by the Thames

An extraordinary Victorian building survives in south-east London. It represents some of the best architectural design and decoration of the period, with the interior a jewelled box of painted ornamental cast iron. Rather astonishingly, the Crossness Pumping Station is a former sewage works.

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The Hyperbolic Paraboloid Petrol Station Canopy - a remnant of 1960s architectural fun

At Markham Moor, Nottinghamshire, stands a rare early example of a concrete hyperbolic-paraboloid structure - the canopy to a former petrol station. This particular style of saddle-shaped roof enjoyed a brief period in fashion, both because of its inherent strength and its intrinsic beauty, in the 1960s, but few early examples remain.

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Chiswick House - Italianate architecture in West London

Chiswick House is a Palladian villa in Chiswick, West London. It has been described as a 'glorious' example of eighteenth-century Italian-inspired Neo-Palladian architecture, and was designed by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington. It was completed in 1729.

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The dramatic and tragic Clayton Tunnel

Anyone travelling by train through Sussex on the Brighton Main Line from London will surely have noticed the Clayton Tunnel between Hassocks and Preston Park railway stations. With its turreted and castellated north portal, it is a charming and whimsical sight, but has a tragic history.

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The Royal Albert Hall - 'the nation's village hall'

The Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington, London, opposite Kensington Gardens, opened in 1871 and is arguably Britain's most famous music venue. It was conceived by Prince Albert after the Great Exhibition of 1851 as one of a series of buildings of permanent public benefit.

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Arundel Castle - Norman splendour in West Sussex

Arundel Castle is an imposing restored medieval castle in a delightful setting in West Sussex. It occupies a defensive site on a prominent hill overlooking the River Arun and the South Downs.

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Mind your head! - the Smallest House in Britain

Said to be the smallest house in Britain, this property on the quay side of Conwy harbour in North Wales might be described by an estate agent as 'compact', as it is just six feet wide, 11 feet high and just goes back a similar distance. But it does have a great view across the water. It was last occupied as a residence until May 1900 when the occupant was a six fee three inches tall fisherman named Robert Jones.

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Colchester's Jumbo Water Tower

The Jumbo Water Tower is a Victorian brick water tower at the Balkerne Gate in Colchester, Essex. It earned its nickname "Jumbo" in 1882 after Reverend John Irvine became annoyed that the tower dwarfed his nearby rectory at St. Mary-at-the-Walls.

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Wells Cathedral - Gothic delight full of treasures

Constructed between 1175 and 1490, Wells Cathedral in Somerset was the earliest English Cathedral to be built in the Gothic style. Among its notable features are a clock, which is said to have one of the oldest mechanisms in Britain.

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The Treasury Building in London

The Treasury Building near Downing Street is officially called Government Offices Great George Street (GOGGS). It is a large and monumentally impressive UK government office building situated in Westminster between Horse Guards Road, Great George Street, Parliament Street, King Charles Street and Parliament Square.

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Craigievar Castle - a fairytale-style creation

The powder pink castle in the foothills of the Cairngorms may look familiar. That's not too surprising, as Craigievar Castle in Aberdeenshire is said to be the inspiration for Walt Disney’s iconic 'Cinderella Castle' imagery.

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Redhills - home of the Pitman's Parliament

The Miners’ Hall at Redhills, Durham opened in October 1915 as probably the finest, purpose-built trade union building in Britain. Its debating chamber was known as the "Pitman's Parliament".

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Greensted Church, Essex - the oldest wooden church in the world

Greensted Church, in the small village of Greensted, near Chipping Ongar, in Essex, is thought to be the oldest wooden church in the world, at nearly a thousand years old.

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Britain's 'smallest police station'

These days the police service has rationalised its police stations, and not been particularly concerned about its physical presence on the street. But in the past, the police were very keen to show their face right in the centre of things. Hence a tiny police building in Trafalgar Square.

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Battersea Power Station - iconic London Thameside giant

Battersea Power Station is a now-decommissioned Listed structure on the banks of the Thames close to Central London, which operated as an important coal-fired power station until the early 1980's. It was designed by famous industrial architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and built by the London Power Company between 1929-55. It is currently at the centre of a leisure and residential redevelopment scheme.

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Why Orkney has its very own Italian Chapel

The Italian Chapel is a highly ornate chapel designed for Catholic worshippers on Lamb Holm in the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland. But why would there be such a chapel in what is very much a Protestant community? The answer is that it was built during World War II by Italian prisoners of war, who were housed on the previously uninhabited island while they constructed naval defences - and also somewhere to reflect their faith.

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Scarborough's Rotunda Museum - unique design to house Jurassic fossils

The unique Jurassic and Cretaceous geology of the Yorkshire Coast brought ‘Father of English Geology’, William Smith, to Scarborough in the 19th century, and inspired him to design the impressive Rotunda Museum, which opened in 1829.

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The National Lift Tower: the pinnacle of expertise

The National Lift Tower is a 127m (418ft) research and development facility in Northampton. It was originally built to test lifts, but now serves numerous other functions, as well as being a popular challenge for abseilers.

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London's iconic 60's tech tower

Dominating the London skyline since 1965 and opened as the Post Office Tower, this 620 ft high structure was built as part of the growing telecommunications side of the Post Office.

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Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in Nottingham - the oldest inn in England?

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem in the city of Nottingham claims to be the inn with the longest history in England, established in 1189. It backs onto a series of caves in the sandstone under Nottingham Castle, which were reputedly used as a brewhouse for the castle in the medieval period.

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Sage Gateshead - acoustically impressive concert venue

Sage Gateshead is a concert venue and musical education centre in Gateshead on the south bank of the River Tyne. It opened in December 2004. Designed by renowned architects Foster + Partners, it is home to the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the UK's only full-time chamber orchestra.

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Chapel of St. Peter on the Wall - a Saxon repurposing of Roman bricks

The Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, near the village of Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, is a Grade I listed building and among the oldest largely intact Christian churches in England - dating from 660–662. It is in an isolated spot, in the flat countryside beyond the village.

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Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin - a reminder of medieval life in Wakefield

One of only three surviving bridge chapels in England, the Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin is a fascinating Grade I listed building. It is located in the city of Wakefield, West Yorkshire on the medieval bridge over the River Calder.

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Belle Tout Lighthouse - accommodation to look out for

The Belle Tout Lighthouse is a decommissioned lighthouse, now holiday accommodation, and a much-filmed British coastal landmark located on Beachy Head, East Sussex. It is the precursor of the current Beachy Head lighthouse that stands in the sea at the foot of the cliffs.

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Snape Maltings - Suffolk brewery that became a renowned concert hall

Snape Maltings is a concert hall on the banks of the River Alde at Snape on the Suffolk coast. The original purpose of the building was the malting of barley for the brewing of beer, but it was converted into a unique performance venue in the 1960s, and became the main focus of the annual internationally-renowned Aldeburgh Festival - co-founded by British composer Benjamin Britten.

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Tinside Lido, Plymouth - a bathing pool at the seaside

Plymouth's Tinside Lido in Devon is a stunning semi-circular saltwater bathing pool, built in 1935 in a classic art deco style. It is 50 metres in diameter, has three fountains for bathers to play in, and commands a spectacular vantagepoint, alongside Plymouth Hoe.

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Theatre Royal Drury Lane - fourth incarnation of a very old theatre

London's Drury Lane theatre sits on the oldest site in the world in continuous theatrical use. The current theatre dates from 1812, has a capacity of over 2200, and is arguably the most famous theatre in the world.

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Point of Ayr Lighthouse

The Point of Ayr Lighthouse, also known as the Talacre Lighthouse, was built in 1776 to protect shipping along the Welsh coast. Long since decommissioned, it is said to be haunted by a ghost called Raymond, the last lighthouse keeper.

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York Minster - a treasure trove of medieval glass

Towering over the city, the former monastery of York Minster can be seen from miles around. It is the largest medieval cathedral in the country, and is the seat of the Archbishop of York, who is number three in the Church of England hierarchy after the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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Port Lynas Lighthouse - protecting the approach to Liverpool

Point Lynas Lighthouse on the north coast of Anglesey in North Wales was built in 1835, replacing a lighted pilots’ lookout established in 1766.

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The Isokon Building - London's experiment in minimalist urban living

The Isokon building, also known as Lawn Road Flats and the Isokon Flats, is a modernist block of flats in affluent Belsize Park, London. Its experimental design saw it become a centre for artistic thought (and espionage) in the 1930s and 1940s.

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Corgarff Castle - in splendid Highland isolation

Corgarff Castle, near Strathdon by Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, has a striking look - as a result of changes made over the years. Originally created as a tower house in the 1500s, it was altered in the Georgian period to create a fort for government troops, and this has left it looking strangely Napoleonic, sitting in splendid isolation beneath the Highland mountains.

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St Pancras Station and the Midland Grand Hotel - a Victorian extravagance

London’s St. Pancras railway station is a celebration of Victorian grandeur and architectural indulgence, with a magnificent red-brick exterior and soaring clock tower.

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Dover Castle - enduring military stronghold

The magnificent Dover Castle in Kent occupies such a strategically important position on the English coast that it has continued to function as part of the nation's defences from the twelfth to the twentieth century.

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War and peace at Caernarfon Castle, North Wales

Caernarfon Castle is a medieval fortress in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. The first fortifications there were built by the Romans, on the outskirts of the modern town. Although little is known about the fate of the fort after the Romans departed in the early 5th century, another castle was built in the medieval period, and has enjoyed a rich history since.

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London's tiniest house

London's smallest house, 10 Hyde Park Place, Marble Arch, is only three feet wide at its narrowest point - just wider than its own front door. One theory is that it owes its existence to an attempt to block access by bodysnatchers to the graveyard beyond.

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The British Library

You might imagine that the British Library was a venerable institution founded by some Georgian or Victorian philanthropist - but you would be wrong. Surprisingly, the British Library was founded in 1973!

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Brighton Pavilion - Regency oriental opulence on the south coast

The Royal Pavilion, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed extravagant former royal residence in Brighton Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became the Prince Regent in 1811, and King George IV from 1820.

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London's Temple Church - once home to a secret society

Dating from 1185, the Temple Church in central London was once the English headquarters of the legendary Knights Templar, and the site of their mysterious initiation ceremonies. Since the downfall of the Templars in 1307, it has been regarded as the church of the legal profession, whose offices are concentrated in the surrounding area.

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10 Downing Street

One of the most famous addresses in the world, but how did the leader of the United Kingdom end up living in a rather ordinary-looking London terrace?

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The Royal National Theatre: 70's Brutalism on the South Bank

The National Theatre, situated in London’s South Bank arts complex, is one of Britain’s most iconic examples of Brutalist architecture. Built in 1976, it consists of a layered concrete landscape that Prince Charles has described as being like a ‘nuclear power station’.

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Dennis Severs’ House - a journey back to the 18th century

Tucked away in the heart of Spitalfields in east London is a fine Georgian Grade II listed building. But this one is extra special. Dennis Severs’ House provides a fascinating artistic rendering of a particular strand of East End history, telling the story of the imagined family who lived there.

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The House in the Clouds - a towering illusion in Suffolk

The House in the Clouds is an amazing building in Suffolk, created to disguise an ordinary water tower. The delightfully located property is now self-catering holiday accommodation. Just the thing for the family that wants to get away from it all without actually needing to take to the air...

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Savoy Chapel

In London, hidden away behind the busy Strand and round the back of the Savoy hotel, is the rather curious Queen's Chapel of the Savoy - a little church with a long history dating back to the 1490s.

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The Tobacco Warehouse - big on bricks in Liverpool

The Tobacco Warehouse, Stanley Dock, Liverpool is the world's largest brick warehouse. It was completed in 1901 when trade through the Merseyside port was at its height. It deployed more than 27 million bricks, 30,000 panes of glass and 8,000 tons of steel.

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London's Savoy Theatre - hidden Art Deco delight

Whilst most of London's surviving theatres are either Victorian, Edwardian or post-war, the Savoy Theatre on the Strand (well actually just off it) is unusual in having a remarkable later Art Deco 1920s interior. Closely associated with the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, the original theatre was built in 1881, just before the famous similarly-named hotel next door, and helped to fund its construction.

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The secret purpose of Soho's "Tudor" hut

Anyone who has visited or worked in the Soho area of central London will be aware of the welcome patch of greeney that is Soho Square, together with its charming "Tudor" hut. A mock-Tudor gardener's hut, one might think?

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Tan Hill Inn - Britain's highest hostelry

The Tan Hill Inn, in the Yorkshire Dales, is the UK’s highest altitude pub at 1,732ft above sea level, and dates from the 17th Century. For many centuries there were shallow coal mines here, resulting in several miners' cottages, and the inn. The cottages have since been demolished, but the Tan Hill Inn remains, providing bed and beer for walkers, travellers and tourists on the Pennine Way between Kendal and Newcastle.

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Selfridges - making a spectacle of shopping

Entrepreneur Harry Selfridge pioneered the concept of the department store in Britain with his grand flagship enterprise on London's Oxford Street (whose sculpture over the entrance is pictured), which is still the second largest shop in the UK - after Harrods. It opened on 15th March 1909.

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Warwick Castle

One of the best-preserved and charismatic castles in England, Warwick Castle, beside the river Avon in the town of Warwick, was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068.

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23 and 24 Leinster Gardens, Bayswater - not much room inside!

23 and 24 Leinster Gardens in Bayswater, central London, may look very grand desirable houses to live in, but it's all a facade. Literally, they are clever fakes — built in the 19th century to hide the train tracks of the Metropolitan Railway that run beneath them.

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Manchester Town Hall - Neo-gothic municipal splendour

Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian, Neo-gothic municipal building, perhaps the apotheosis of Victorian civic architecture. Located in Albert Square, it is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of its departments. It was designed by prominent architect Alfred Waterhouse (who also designed the Natural History Museum), and was completed in 1877.

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Eltham Palace - celebration of the Jazz Age added to a Tudor palace

Eltham Palace in South East London is a uniquely charming combination of Tudor Palace and wealthy industrialists' luxury 1930's Art Deco home. It has frequently featured as a setting in films and television programmes.

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Winchester Cathedral - a magnificent medieval creation

Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire is the longest cathedral building in Britain, stretching 169m from the west entrance to the east end, and is one of the biggest medieval churches in the world.

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Middleton Hall & Gardens - rescued by ramblers!

Middleton Hall, near Tamworth on the North Warwickshire border, is a significant and historic grand old building featured in the Domesday Book of 1086, that was nearly lost to dereliction until rescued by the actions of a group of curious passers-by in the 1970's.

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Bridge House, Ambleside - a quirky spot in the Lake District

Bridge House can be found in the attractive small town of Ambleside in the Lake District. It must be one of the most photographed little buildings in the world.

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Littlecote Roman Villa

Littlecote Roman Villa in Wiltshire is the only fully exposed Roman villa in Britain. It is a very large villa with an impressive mosaic floor which is open for public to see.

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Grimsby Dock Tower

The Grimsby Dock Tower dominates the skyline of the town and surrounding flat Lincolnshire countryside. The style of thiis Victorian industrial building was inspired by the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy.

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Broadway Tower - highest castle in the Cotswolds

The Broadway Tower is familiar to walkers on the Cotswold Way. The folly stands at an impressive viewpoint and has associations with Capability Brown, William Morris, and the Cold War.

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Jew's House, Lincoln

The Jew's House in Lincoln is one of the oldest surviving town houses in Britain, thought to date from around 1170. It is still playing a lively role in Lincoln life - as a restaurant.

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Fishbourne Roman Palace

Fishbourne Roman Palace near Chichester in West Sussex is the largest Roman residence ever found north of the Alps. Visitors can see the largest collection of mosaics in situ in the UK, as well as recreated Roman gardens.

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Spaceguard in Wales - watching out for the end of the world

High on a hill in mid-Wales, the Spaceguard Centre near Knighton is an independent observatory which monitors the potential threat to our planet posed by 'near earth objects'.

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Dunrobin Castle - one of Scotland's most stunning castles

The largest castle in the northern Highlands, Dunrobin was extensively remodelled in the 1830s by Sir Charles Barry. It overlooks the waters of the Dornoch Firth and even has its own railway station.

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The National Space Centre - it's out of this world!

The National Space Centre is a museum specialising in space science and astronomy. It opened in 2001 in Leicester and runs a research programme in partnership with Leicester University. It has the UK’s largest domed planetarium, and Buzz Aldrin's space underpants amongst its exhibits!

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The Lady Wimborne Bridge - quirky remnant of the railway age

Hikers on the Stour Valley Way at Oakley Hill, north of Poole in Dorset, will come across an elaborate railway bridge now called the Lady Wimborne Bridge - which looks more like the gatehouse of a stately home than a railway structure.

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Mills Observatory, Dundee

The Mills Observatory in Dundee is Britain’s first purpose-built public observatory. Built in 1935, the observatory is classically styled in sandstone and has a distinctive 7m dome, which houses a Victorian refracting telescope, a small planetarium, and display areas. The dome is one of two made from papier-mâché to survive in the UK.

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Kilpeck Church - a country church with amazing carvings

The Church of St Mary and St David in Kilpeck, Herefordshire, is remarkable for its beautiful Norman carvings - and is described as "one of the most perfect Norman churches in England".

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London's mysterious "Roman Bath"

In the labyrinth of narrow lanes behind the Strand, near Kings College London, there are a few discreet black signs for the National Trust's "Roman Bath" - which sounds pretty exciting. Is there really something like the Roman Baths of Bath hidden away off the Aldwych - perhaps overlooked in the guide books in favour of St Paul's Cathedral or the Tower of London?

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Sarehole Mill - inspiration for Tolkein