The artist took an interest in painting various buildings for different reasons. He was commissioned to paint Stonyhurst College as a leaving present for a past headmaster: It was subsequently reproduced as a print. He produced several versions of Moot Hall in Keswick, but one was for an old friend who had completed the 'Bob Graham' Lakeland long distance run which starts and finishes outside the Hall. His canal scenes around the Weaver's Triangle in Burnley reflect his family history: The Spencers owned a mill until the 1960s which backed onto the Leeds-Liverpool canal. He also had an interest in emulating subjects that had previously been captured by eminent artists of the British school of watercolour tradition, such as Willy Lot's cottage in Norfolk (by Constable) and Egglestone Abbey (by Turner).