Do you know where it is yet?

When I was asked to review a book about London architectural landmarks, I immediately handed over responsibility to local architecture fiend Lauren. She’s starting work on her own exciting project about the Kilburn State, and seemed the perfect person. We also have a copy of the book to give away if you can tackle our slightly challenging local buildings quiz below. But first, here’s Lauren’s review:

“Those striking caricature-style illustrations of London landmarks that have been appearing on ceramics and tea towels for a while now, have found their way into a book. ‘London Buildings – An Architectural Tour‘ by Robin Farquhar and Hannah Dipper (pub. Batsford) is a neat collection of 45 illustrations by People Will Always Need Plates, the company behind the stylised line drawings of the likes of the Barbican and the Trellick tower.

The bright orange cover (looking almost like a stylish record sleeve) features beloved London landmark Battersea Power Station, and fairly accurately reflects the entire contents of the book. Bright, simple black and white graphic descriptions of the best of this city’s architecture; from 16th Century Classicism to 1960s Brutalism and everything in between. Locally, there are some brilliant examples of Modernism in Hampstead at 66 Frognal and its neighbour, the 1930s Sun House.

The big, bright blocks of colour and minimal text set the book out as a good introduction to London’s showcase buildings, with an eclectic selection including tube stations and gas towers. With minimal detail and lack of background distractions, these drawings are clearly intended to get you thinking about how you read the built environment. The unique illustration style is what makes this quirkier than your average photo-filled coffee table architecture book – it would make a great gift or a fun ‘beginers guide’ for exploring London’s architectural history.”

Quiz time
Interest piqued? Good. To win your own pristine copy of London Buildings all you need to do is correctly identify the name or location of the nine local landmarks pictured below. Some are easy, one or two are a little trickier. Click on the image to see a much bigger version, which might help (or not).

It’s possible no-one will get all nine, so even if you only have 7 or 8 it’s probably worth a bash. The person with the most correct answers wins, and if there’s more than one of you then the winner will be decided on a tiebreaker judged by Lauren and me.

Tiebreaker: In no more than 15 words tell us your favourite local landmark building and why.

UPDATE: WE HAVE A WINNER
Congrats to Ian Farrar who correctly identified all the photos below. 1) Clock by Kilburn Grange park, 2) Wet Fish Cafe, 3) Cholmley Gardens, 4) Swiss Cottage Library, 5) West Hampstead library, 6) Sidney Boyd Court, 7) Czech National House, 8) West Hampstaed tube station, and 9) Kilburn State.

Ian’s favourite building is Lately’s “for its enlightened door policy of turning people away for not being drunk enough”.