The Flare Journal

Architecture

23 stories

Illustration of five building fronts in a row: Norman keep, Gothic window, Georgian terrace, Victorian gables and a Brutalist concrete block

History17 min read

How to Recognise British Architectural Styles: A Field Guide from Norman to Brutalist

To recognise British architectural styles, read three things in order: the openings (round arch, pointed arch, sash or ribbon window), the roofline (parapet, gables, flat roof) and the...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
an elevation of a room with nested golden rectangles and a spiral

12 min read

How to Use Proportion and the Golden Ratio in a Room

Proportion is the ratio of a room’s length, width and height. Palladio (1570) listed seven favoured room shapes: circle, 1:1, 1:√2, 3:4, 2:3, 3:5 and 1:2, and the...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
a floor plan with dimension lines, a north point and a scale bar on a drafting table

12 min read

How to Read Floor Plans, Elevations and Sections: A Step-by-Step Guide

A floor plan is a horizontal slice through a building seen from above, usually cut about 1.2 m up. An elevation is a flat view of one outside...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Victorian brick railway station with clock tower and steam train

History11 min read

Victorian Shrewsbury: The Railway Station, Signal Box and the Buildings That Changed the Town

Victorian Shrewsbury is defined by the railway. The station opened in 1848 to an imitation Tudor design by Penson of Oswestry, and was extended in 1899-1903; beside it...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Stylised bust portraits of three Shropshire architects and engineers in an arch, with bridges and a tower

History12 min read

Shropshire Architects and Designers: Pritchard, Telford, Bage, Steuart and Penson

Five names recur in Shropshire's documented architecture. Thomas Farnolls Pritchard of Shrewsbury drew the first design for the Iron Bridge; Thomas Telford was county surveyor from 1787 and...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Stylised bust portrait of Thomas Farnolls Pritchard in an arch, with iron-bridge rib, set square and compass

History12 min read

Thomas Farnolls Pritchard: The Shrewsbury Architect Behind the Iron Bridge

Thomas Farnolls Pritchard (born Shrewsbury 1723, died 23 December 1777) was a joiner who became an architect and interior designer. He proposed an iron bridge over the Severn...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Flare illustration of a cast-iron arch bridge over a wooded gorge with furnace chimneys

History10 min read

Ironbridge Gorge: The Architecture of the Industrial Revolution

The Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire is where iron-making and building changed together. Abraham Darby I brought a coke-fuelled blast furnace into blast at Coalbrookdale on 10 January 1709,...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
cutaway brick mill showing an iron frame of columns and brick arches

History13 min read

Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings: The World's First Iron-Framed Building

Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings (also called Ditherington Flax Mill) was built in 1796-97 to a design by Charles Bage and is described as the first iron-framed building in the...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Stylised bust portrait of Thomas Telford in an arch, with a bridge, milestone and compass

History12 min read

Thomas Telford in Shropshire: Bridges, Churches and Roads

Thomas Telford (1757–1834) became Surveyor of Public Works for Shropshire in 1787 and left a trail of bridges, churches and roads across the county. Look for Montford Bridge...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Georgian brick terrace with sash windows and fanlit doors

History12 min read

Georgian Shrewsbury: Streets, Townhouses and Details to Look For

Georgian Shrewsbury is brick, symmetrical and sashed, and it sits beside the town's Tudor timber frames. The landmarks to know are 6 Belmont (1701), 2 The Square (1730),...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Regency drawing room with plaster ceiling rose, painted pilasters and arched doorway

History11 min read

Attingham Park: Regency Interiors and Plasterwork Explained

Quick answer Attingham Park, near Shrewsbury, was built in 1783-85 by George Steuart for the first Lord Berwick, with interior alterations by John Nash in 1805-07. It is...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Stylised bust portrait of Charles Darwin in an arch, with finches, a shell and a tortoise

History10 min read

Charles Darwin’s Shrewsbury: The Mount and the Town He Grew Up In

Charles Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 at The Mount, a Georgian brick house in Shrewsbury built by his father, the doctor Robert Darwin. He was baptised...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Flat Flare illustration of a stone manor house with chimneys below wooded hills

History13 min read

Historic Houses to Visit in Shropshire: Benthall, Wilderhope, Dudmaston and Weston Park

Four Shropshire-area historic houses cover four centuries: Benthall Hall (about 1580, National Trust), Wilderhope Manor (1585, plaster ceilings, YHA hostel and National Trust), Weston Park (1671, just over...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
three jettied timber-framed houses on a Shrewsbury street

History12 min read

Shrewsbury's Timber-Framed Buildings: Ireland's Mansion, Owen's Mansion, Abbot's House and Butcher Row

Shrewsbury has a notable group of timber-framed town buildings from the 15th and 16th centuries, in a town enriched by the Welsh cloth trade. The key buildings are...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Flat Flare illustration of an Elizabethan manor house with stepped gables and tall chimneys

History12 min read

Elizabethan and Jacobean Houses in Shropshire: Condover, Pitchford and Moreton Corbet

Elizabethan (1558 to 1603) and Jacobean (1603 to 1625) houses are easy to find in Shropshire: Condover Hall is a sandstone mansion of the 1590s, Pitchford Hall is...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
stone swatches: cream, red, grey and pale limestone building stones laid in courses

History13 min read

Shropshire Building Stone: Grinshill Sandstone, Wenlock Limestone and the Red Stones

Quick answer Shropshire building stone varies enormously because rocks of many ages reach the surface. The best known is cream Grinshill sandstone (Triassic, quarried near Shrewsbury); Shrewsbury's medieval...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Flat Flare illustration of a timber-framed guildhall on oak posts beside a ruined priory arch

History12 min read

Much Wenlock: Priory, Guildhall and Timber-Framed Buildings

Much Wenlock has a ruined Cluniac priory refounded in 1080–82, a Grade II* Guildhall of about 1557 standing on seven bays of oak posts, and timber-framed houses such...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Flare illustration of a domed round church with a columned front

History10 min read

St Chad’s and St Mary’s: The Churches of Shrewsbury

St Chad’s is Shrewsbury’s famous round church, built in 1790–92 by George Steuart after the old church’s tower collapsed in 1788. St Mary’s is the medieval church near...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Flat Flare illustration of a fortified manor house with a stone tower, hall and timber-framed gatehouse

History12 min read

Stokesay Castle and the Fortified Manor Houses of the Welsh Marches

Stokesay Castle, near Craven Arms, is a fortified manor house built mainly in the 1280s and early 1290s by the wool merchant Laurence of Ludlow, who got a...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
cruck frame: a pair of curved oak blades forming an arch inside a barn

History10 min read

Cruck-Framed Houses of the Shropshire Hills: What They Are and Where to See Them

Quick answer A cruck frame is a pair of curved oak timbers (blades), usually cut from one split tree, that lean together to form an A-shaped arch carrying...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Flare illustration of Shrewsbury Abbey tower and nave

History12 min read

Brother Cadfael’s Shrewsbury: The Abbey and the Medieval Town

Shrewsbury Abbey was founded as a Benedictine monastery by Roger de Montgomery in the 1080s and stands just outside the loop of the Severn that shelters the old...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Black-and-white timber-framed house with close studding and a jettied upper storey

History11 min read

Black-and-White Shropshire: Close Studding, Square Panels and How to Date a Timber Frame

Shropshire's black-and-white buildings are timber frames with plaster infill. Close studding (many narrow uprights) cost more timber and marked status; square panels were plainer. Early frames often show...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials
Stylised bust portrait of Luis Barragán in an arch, with cactus and colour-block motifs

12 min read

Luis Barragán: What a Mexican Master Teaches Us About Colour and Plaster

Luis Barragán (1902 to 1988) was a Mexican architect who won the Pritzker Prize in 1980. He used thick planes of strong colour on plain plastered walls and...

By Gregory TireCraft and materials

Who writes the journal

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
By Sophia MeredithInteriors and colour
By Gregory TireCraft and materials

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