Thursday 22 March 2012

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” (c)

Avondale Park was laid out in in the 1890s by Kensington Borough Council on the former site of the main refuse dump and cesspool. The park opened to the public in 1892 and among the original facilities were a playground, shelter, entrance lodge and bandstand, the latter demolished in 1966. A grey granite drinking fountain was presented by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. In recent years a nature area has been created and there are ornamental bedding displays in some areas including around the Lodge.


"And see undrugged in evening light the decent inn of death" (c)

Kensal Green Cemetery opened in 1833 and was the frst commercial cemetery in London. The need for large cemeteries in London was stimulated by the increase in population and the inadequate space provided by existing cemeteries and churchyards.
Campaigners for burial reform and public opinion considered the best solution would be “detached cemeteries for the metropolis”, and in 1832 Parliament passed a bill that incorporated the General Cemetery Company “for the Interment of the Dead”.
 The General Cemetery  Company had purchased  land for the cemetery in  1831 and promoted a  competition for the design of  a new Cemetery at  Kensal Green.
 The brief  included two chapels with  catacombs, entrance  gateway with lodges and a  landscaped layout for  monuments. There were 46  entrants, and the winner  was Henry Edward Kendall  (1776- 1875) for his designs for buildings in the Gothic style which can be seen in his perspective drawing in the RIBA Architectural Library.


Monday 12 March 2012

"How can a heart expression find? How should another know your mind?" (c)


























Freemasons’ Hall is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and the principal meeting place for Masonic Lodges in London. Grand Lodge has been in Great Queen Street since 1775, the present Hall being the third building on the site.
Built between 1927–1932 as a memorial to the Freemasons who died in the First World War, it is one of the finest Art Deco buildings in England, and is now Grade II* listed internally and externally. In addition to the Grand Temple (seating 1700) there are 21 Lodge Rooms, a Library and Museum, Board and Committee Rooms and administrative offices. The building is fully open to the public.

Monday 5 March 2012

"One doesn't recognize the really important moments in one's life until it's too late." (c)

 58 Sheffield Terrace, London W8, you will see a Blue Plaque marking the home she lived in (Sheffield Terrace is the only house in which Christie had a room designated for writing).
It was the house that she was attached.
The attraction of Sheffild Terrace, as she explained, was spaciousness.
 "The layout was perfect, including the room for Max's library, with space for large tables to take papers and pottery, as well as a chimney designed by him. <...> and has an Assyrian brick with cuneiform writing over the mantelpiece, so the room was clearly labelled as an archeologist's private den."
The left-hand room at the top was  to be her workroom and sitting room. There would be no telephone, but it would have a grand piano, a large table, a sofa, an upright chair for typing and easy chair  and there was to be nothing else.
However, it was a house that suffered on the war. She wrote in 1940 - " Sheffild Terrace was hit a few days after we left! Front door and steps blown up - roof and chimney - windows and etc."
Her novel Taken on the Flood (1948) describes the bombing of the house which might have been derived from this experience.




" But I confess that I should feel a bit afraid of asking Sunday who he really is."(c)



 G K Chesterton (1874–1936) was born on 29th May, 1874.  An English writer. His prolific and diverse output includes philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction.
 When he was about five, the family moved to Warwick Gardens. As old-fashioned London houses go, 11 Warwick Gardens is small. On the ground floor, a back and front room were for the Chestertons drawing-room and dining-room with a folding door between, the only other sitting-room being a small study built out over the garden. A long, narrow, green strip, which must have been a good deal longer before a row of garages was built at the back, was Gilbert's playground. His bedroom was a long room at the top of a not very high house. For what is in most London houses the drawing-room floor is in this house filled by two bedrooms and there is only one floor above it.
Best known today for his ‘Father Brown’ books, the first of which was published in 1911, Chesterton’s literary output was prodigious, covering virtually every topic of contemporary political, philosophical and social concern. He was also notoriously absent-minded and once, whilst on a lecture tour, reputedly telegraphed his wife, ‘Am in Market Harborough. Where ought I to be?’ to which she would reply, "Home."