Viewpoints – Placecloud (English)

London, United Kingdom. The Southbank Undercroft is a space under the Queen Elizabeth Hall of the Southbank Centre that has been a very popular with skateboarders and graffiti artists for over four decades. The Undercroft was completed in the 1960s and became popular with skateboarders in the 1970s. Over the years it has been covered and re-covered in graffiti and contains work created by thousands of artists over the years. The history of the Undercroft was made famous by Winston Whitter’s documentary Rollin Through the Decades (2005) which focused on the history of UK skateboarding from the 1970s to the mid-2000s. In 2013, the planned redevelopment of the area endangered the Undercroft but skaters and local enthusiasts campaigned and fought to safeguard the site, through the non-profit organisation Long Live Southbank (LLSB), and won.

London, United Kingdom. Trellick Tower is a Grade II* listed tower block on Cheltenham Estate in Kensal Green which was designed in a Brutalist style by architect Ernö Goldfinger and opened in 1972. The base of the tower is renowned as a centre for urban arts and is another example of one of London’s legal ‘Graffiti Halls of Fame’, where graffiti artists can paint without the risk of arrest and, consequently, have a safe space to hone their skills. In the Autumn of 2020, it was revealed that the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council were taking steps to implement a new development onto the grounds of the Trellick Tower which would leave the graffiti hall of fame at risk of destruction. In response to the plans, Anna Gudbrands created a documentary film, ‘Trellick: The Writing is on The Wall’ highlighting the importance of both the tower and the Graffiti Hall of Fame.

London, United Kingdom. The Tower of London is home to some of the most well-known historic graffiti in the city, and many of the marks are located in the Beauchamp Tower. The Beauchamp Tower was built between 1275-1281 during the reign of King Edward I and was later used as a state prison, housing high-ranking prisoners including Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Guildford Dudley. This former prison contains over three-hundred graffiti inscriptions which were created over four centuries by the imprisoned inhabitants to help alleviate their boredom during their confinement and so that they could make sure that they would be remembered.

Ealing Broadway, United Kingdom. IWA Southall had been running a pioneering welfare service from Southall Community Centre before they opened their welfare centre here in 1962.

London, United Kingdom. The arch still standing here marks the site of the first housing estate of the Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company, a pioneering social housing project set up by Nathan Mayer Rothschild in the 1880s.

London, United Kingdom. In 1864, the first families moved in to these Peabody Buildings, the first of the housing projects funded by the American banker George Peabody.

London, United Kingdom. This Grade II listed arts and crafts building is still home to Toynbee Hall, one of the world's first university settlements.

London, United Kingdom. From October 1739 until June 2020 there was a statue of the philanthropist after whom the hospital is named at the centre of this Georgian courtyard. So why did it become a point of controversy?

London, United Kingdom. Where today we find Chanel, between 1964 and 1970 we would have found the first Christian Aid shop. This was not, however, quite like the charity shops so familiar to us now.

London, United Kingdom. Between 1870 and the end of the 1930s, this was the site of the first known fundraising shop in London's history. It was, however, rather different from the charity shops we know today.