Photos of No 1 Poultry
About No 1 Poultry
No 1 Poultry is an amazing gem for architecture lovers. This postmodern office and retail building sits where two streets meet at a sharp angle, filling the triangle between them and narrowing to a point. The whole exterior is banded in pink and yellow limestone, which you can see from blocks away. The narrow end features a large clock tower and stacked balconies and gives you amazing leading lines down each side pulling your eye over all of the building's unique architectural details. Walk along the Queen Victoria Street since it gets the best light most of the day, so the stripes really separate. The Poultry side stays in shade, which suits the shopping colonnade and the deep shadow under it. After you are done circling the exterior make sure to head inside, it is just as unique and photogenic. Bucklersbury Passage cuts right through the middle of the building and opens into a round courtyard with nothing above it but sky. Inside, the palette flips completely. The walls are lined with dark blue glazed tile, and the window frames are framed in pink, pale blue and yellow. A triangular block of offices look down over the courtyard so the geometry switches from circle to triangle as you look up. Setting up so you can look straight up highlights a disc of sky contrasting with inside tile work. Midday is when the sun properly reaches the bottom of the courtyard and lights up the whole place. The passage is a public right of way, and on weekdays people cross it constantly, which is handy for scale, and on a weekend you'll likely have the floor to yourself. Bank station surfaces directly underneath, so it slots easily into a city walk. (London, England, United Kingdom)
