Post 16) Housekeeping

Project Progress

No blog posts since July, but I have been maintaining the flavour of the project with relevant finds posted on facebook, see links bar above

Have been as busy as ever 

Taking  a lot of time with collating and organising nearly 4 years worth of pdfs, photos, maps, plans and watercolours that had got very very out of hand and messy on 2 drives and numerous USB fobs!!

Creating photo real textures in adobe, or buying them from turbosquid and CGtextures

Scanning square on building photos from Reece Winstone books for accurate ”quick wins”

Grouping all evidence by street

Further digital Map and contour tracing

Screen dumping Britain From Above evidence

Screen dumping and re-stitching sections of zoomed in auction catalogue watercolours

Scanning Walter Ison elevation drawings from the Georgian Buildings of Bristol

Further photo recon trips to Redcliffe, Clifton, Cliftonwood and the Old City including specific visits to Goldney Gardens, Royal Fort, Red Lodge and 2 river trips

Finding loads more 18^th and 19^th century Bristol digital pdf guidebook, topographical book and history book scans in mainly north American sponsored online archives.

Practising and learning further sketchup 3d modelling techniques and time saving and organisational tips.

Discovering dozens of relevant surviving (pre 1830) building elevation drawing pdfs on the Bristol City Council planning applications portal

Doing gradient plans of key city streets to drape the traced map layers over

Actual modelling work, mostly map alignment and elevation drawing alignment  including selected buildings in King Street, Redcliffe Hill, St Nicholas church,

Back of Bridge Street, St Werburghs Church, St Stephens church, The Pithay, Union Street, River Frome , the Cathedral and Clifton St Andrews.

Also Cornwallis Crescent, Elle Bridge Island group at the Narrow Weir watering place and St Peters Church / Hospital area as per the 3 renders below.

Post 15) Coming soon........

The beautiful Dutch House of 1676-1940, 27 feet square and 5 storeys, 45 feet high plus 4 foot wooden balustraded parapet and rooftop annex. It was the Castle Bank in the 1820s, exposed timber framing with limewash plaster panels, and casement windows. Bombed 1940 and pulled down as unsafe by sappers. There are plans to rebuild it, but the often mentioned derelict bank of england complex on the corner of high street is nowhere near the site of the dutch house, being some 130 feet away thanks to high street being widened to 4 times its original width in 1962/3.

Post 14) Italianate Beauty

George Townesend completed the rebuilding of All saints Church tower in Corn Street in 1717. The coursed Bath stone rubble and ashlar tower rises 88 feet, capped by an Italianate balustraded parapet, with octagonal lantern. 8 pairs of  corinthian shafts support arches which in turn support a great moulded cornice which is surmounted by Luke Henwoods great plain dome, ball finial and golden cross of 1807. 

As city surveyor, he replaced the original bell shaped dome of 1717. The upper lantern-dome stage is 50 feet high, making 138 feet in all to the cross. Work in progress.

Post 13) Christ Church

The medieval Christ Church in Broad Street, City, with its 140 foot spire at the east end of the Church was completely taken down and this new Church with 160 foot west spire was built between 1786 and 1790. This is Walter Ison's 1950 book endpapers digital trace coming together nicely. The tower was symmetrical. Further triangulating of elevation data comes from my telephoto zooms from the top of St Stephens and the university complex, along with site measurements and as always the trusty 1885 Ordnance Survey 1:500 city maps

Post 12) The High Cross roads from the roof of the Dutch House (Castle Bank)

This is the 1823 view, (work in progress) from the flat roof of the Dutch House, 45 feet above the High Street, Wine Street, Broad Street and Corn Street crossroads, showing the second Council house of 1704. It had a frontage of 55 feet along Corn Street and 30 feet on the Broad Street return and 47 feet high.

Behind is a “holding model” for St Ewens, with its 73 foot tower. The Council house was angled back from Corn Street, just like the present old (third) Council House of 1828, as it was parallel and butting onto the nave of St Ewens, which was perpendicular to Broad Street.

 Walter Ison's 1950 drawing is here shown, half traced then details are being projected onto the box and then fleshed out. Additional information comes from the 1742 All Saints Parish plan, the watercolours of Edward Cashin, Hugh O'Neill (2) and James Johnson along with the 1795 and 1823 building plans.

Wideangle.