Open London 21-22 Sept

What an amazing spire!  George I ,atop a Halicarnassus style plinth with
Unicorns and Lions struggling to maintain their grip.

1731: Nicholas Hawksmoor's south porch.  Reminiscent of his six
other churches in London. 



Hogath's famous Gin Lane records the foresight
of city planners, knowing that eventually
Bloomsbury would be theirs.
We met one protester claiming it back
with terrifying screams from the church steps.

And inside it is as marvellous.

A growing London expands across now familiar streets.

Our next church, something completely different.  A 60's barn, built to replace the
Victorian Gothic URC building shaken to bits during the blitz.

A shaft of light penetrates the roof, creating a division across the room.  Inside the shaft is a small chapel,
suitable also for a crèche.

A bit of thought and creativity has turned the dullest church in
 London into one very well worth visiting.

Hampstead Garden Suburb- The creation of Henrietta Barnett.  A utopic view of British society. 
Social divisions defined as a virtue with the two protestant church traditions, within sight of each
other, but kept safely 'apart'.

The 'Free' Church.  Lutchyns favoured church.

Inside, the floor slopes curiously down to the front, in a bowel shape

St Jude, a high church with fine, cold Romanesque interior,
with tasty snack lunches .

The lady chapel

Before church we slipped in 44, Willoughby Road,
 a new addition to the street Mum grew up on.

Mum's childhood church.

Home of some wonderfully eccentric indecisives.

Last location.  Rudolf Steiner centre.
Home of creative absurdity.

A wonderfully organic building where right angles are banned.

This is also the home of eurythmia;
dance that expresses sound.

Food from an old petrol station at King's cross.

The fountain at the King's Cross development.
My thoughts were of a North Korean marching pageant for Kim Il Sung.

Were now? How about a contemporary Arts'n'Crafts Synagogue
in Brockley?

Apethrope

Apethorpe, a fine Elizabethan, Jacobian and Palladian mish-mash, was compulsively purchased from a Libyan businessman after many years of neglect.  The gardener spent many years propping up roofs, chasing away burglars and cutting the hedges, for next to no pay.  He is now employed by English Heritage.  The house is for sale, but in the meantime, if you sign the health and safety declaration, you can be shown round.

The main house is at the far end of this 'village' of support cottages.

Andrew reads out the Health and Safety regulations.
With Jane, our leader.

Ready for the 'inspection'.

This used to be a fine balanced doorway, until the extension was built.

This reminded us of an Oxford - no Cambridge.  Oxford Quad.

The staircase was built in the 20th century. 

A house full of fine fireplaces.  

The long drawing room

The main entrance with two workmen sloping off for a cigarette.  

Interestingly, the top floor was a 20th Century addition.

How all wealthy landowners end up.
This would in a fine double bed.

Lunch in the woods, with the Woods