I have chosen five complete street views out of the archive at Panorama
Street line to present you a selection of the architectural diversity
you find in European city centres.
London is the financial metropolis of Europe and was the capital of the worlds biggest ever existing empire. Today its most visited shopping streets are not necessarily the hight end streets of the West End. In fact a Top 3 tourist attraction in the UK capital is its biggest market area, the Camden Market, which was nothing more than a local food market up to the early 70s. Since then an enormous development has happened and the Market spread over the whole area. The main artery of the Camden Market is the Camden High Street north of the Camden Town tube station, a block of which is shown in this panorama. Here the shopkeepers turned the old classic London brick houses into colourful and creative showcases underlining the alternative and diverse nature of the Camden Town Market.
The German capital is currently regarded Europe's creative center, famously described by its mayor as “poor but sexy”. Historically the centre has been Berlin Mitte (german for middle) with the two crossing main shopping streets Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse. Here we see two blocks of the Friedrichsstrasse, the Quarter 206 and 207, built between 1992 and 1995. The GDR was already starting construction on these sites when the wall came down and luckily these modern structures were built instead. The Quartier 207 on the left, by Jean Nouvel, houses Berlin’s Galeries Lafayette store.
Antwerp was once the centre of the Netherlands (before making way for Amsterdam) and one of Europe’s largest harbours. Today it is the second city of Belgium and the worlds capital in diamond trade. It’s grandness is still visible in its most striking street front, this view of the Grote Market. The dominating buildings on the left are the 16th century guildhouses, that each represented a different craftsmen’s guild and its power and wealth.
Madrid is Spains political and cultural centre since the 16th century. It is also the largest city and financial centre of southern europe. The Gran Via is its grandest Boulevard and was created by cutting through the old city and removing hundreds of older buildings and narrow streets. The street was created in the first decades of the 20th century and is a mixture of new skyscraper building techniques with classic styles of Art Deco, Vienna Secession style, Plateresque, Moorish Revival Architecture and others.
London - Camden high street
London is the financial metropolis of Europe and was the capital of the worlds biggest ever existing empire. Today its most visited shopping streets are not necessarily the hight end streets of the West End. In fact a Top 3 tourist attraction in the UK capital is its biggest market area, the Camden Market, which was nothing more than a local food market up to the early 70s. Since then an enormous development has happened and the Market spread over the whole area. The main artery of the Camden Market is the Camden High Street north of the Camden Town tube station, a block of which is shown in this panorama. Here the shopkeepers turned the old classic London brick houses into colourful and creative showcases underlining the alternative and diverse nature of the Camden Town Market.
Berlin - Friedrichsstrasse
The German capital is currently regarded Europe's creative center, famously described by its mayor as “poor but sexy”. Historically the centre has been Berlin Mitte (german for middle) with the two crossing main shopping streets Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse. Here we see two blocks of the Friedrichsstrasse, the Quarter 206 and 207, built between 1992 and 1995. The GDR was already starting construction on these sites when the wall came down and luckily these modern structures were built instead. The Quartier 207 on the left, by Jean Nouvel, houses Berlin’s Galeries Lafayette store.
Antwerp - Grote market
Antwerp was once the centre of the Netherlands (before making way for Amsterdam) and one of Europe’s largest harbours. Today it is the second city of Belgium and the worlds capital in diamond trade. It’s grandness is still visible in its most striking street front, this view of the Grote Market. The dominating buildings on the left are the 16th century guildhouses, that each represented a different craftsmen’s guild and its power and wealth.
Madrid - Gran Via
Madrid is Spains political and cultural centre since the 16th century. It is also the largest city and financial centre of southern europe. The Gran Via is its grandest Boulevard and was created by cutting through the old city and removing hundreds of older buildings and narrow streets. The street was created in the first decades of the 20th century and is a mixture of new skyscraper building techniques with classic styles of Art Deco, Vienna Secession style, Plateresque, Moorish Revival Architecture and others.
Paris - Rue de Rivoli
Paris, existing for more than 2 millennia, is one of the big
metropolises of the western world and the cultural-political centre of
France. Rue de Rivoli is one of the important streets of the Science-Metropolis and was created on order of Napoleon Bonaparte. It runs from west to
east through the city with a length of three kilometres, passing the
Louvre. It is also a major shopping street, in the section of the street
visible in this panorama several high street fashion stores are
located, most of them housed in typical 19th century Parisian
architecture.
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| Images: Jörg Dietrich, except Madrid: Victor Lavilla |
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