October 2013 – My Days Out Blog

Foundling Museum, London

Museum
The Foundling Hospital was founded by Thomas Coram in the 18th century to care for abandoned children, generally babies whose mothers were too poor to care for them. Early patrons included the painter Hogarth and the musician George Friderik Handel. The Hospital soon acquired an art collection which attracted visits from prospective benefactors.

The Hospital buildings occupied land which is now mostly the open space in front of the Museum building. In 1926 the Hospital moved outside London and within a fairly short time morphed from a residential institution into a charity, the remaining children being placed in foster homes and the Rickmansworth building being sold in 1954. The Hospital became the children’s charity, Coram.

The present building in London was built in 1937 as the London headquarters of the Hospital, but by 1998 became a Museum housing the physical relics and collections of the Hospital.
Today, the building contains an exhibition about the Foundling Hospital, an art collection, and some room interiors salvaged from the old Hospital, as well as the Handel collection.

The general visitor will find the exhibition about the Foundling Hospital of considerable interest. Some of the paintings are portraits of long-dead worthies, but there are also interesting Victorian paintings depicting the workings of the Hospital in a popular sentimental style. The Court Room, with its ornate ceiling and 18th century doorcases and interior, wall-paintings and hung paintings, is a most impressive room salvaged from the old Hospital and recreated in the 1937 building.
The Museum is open most days (except Mondays). There is an admission charge, with a concession for NT members. Nearest Tube station is Russell Square.

Spencer House, London

Private
Spencer House is one of the few surviving eighteenth-century grand London town houses, and almost the only one to retain its eighteenth-century interiors. Eight state rooms have been restored in the last ten years for RIT Capital Partners plc. Fireplaces, architraves, doors etc have been replaced to restore the full splendour of the house’s late eighteenth-century appearance.
This private palace was built in 1756-66 for the first Earl Spencer, an ancestor of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Money was clearly no object. The exterior, by architect John Vardy, is in a Palladian style, and the interiors were designed by John Vardy and James ‘Athenian’ Stuart.
The ground floor has the entrance hall, Morning Room, Ante-room (with apsidal alcove) the Library, the Dining Room (with scagliola pillars) and the astonishing Palm Room.
Ascending via the Staircase Hall one finds the Music Room, Lady Spencer’s Room, the Great Room (aptly named, with curved, coffered and highly decorated ceiling) and the Roman-styled Painted Room.
The State Rooms have the original ceilings, generally highly ornate, and restored and very ornate fireplaces and woodwork. There is lots of gold-leaf gilding. The Palm Room has an unique palm tree design with gilded trunks.
The interior is really worth seeing. Furniture represents what was originally here, and a few pieces are the originals, returned to their original positions. There are also interesting paintings (some loaned from the Royal Collection) in most of the rooms.
The house is opened on Sundays, by guided tour. The unseen north and east wings of the house (presumably containing former service rooms and bedrooms) have been converted into lettable premium office space. Outside, facing St James’ Park, is a private garden, not opened to the public.
Access to the house is via St James’s Place, off St James’s Street, or via an alleyway from Queen’s Walk. (You may get an external view of the south side of the house from Little St James’s St, but I did not go there)
Interior photography is not permitted except for two rooms, but there is a pictorial tour on the Spencerhouse website, and floor plans can be found online.

Spencer House, St James's Pl front — St James’s Place front

Brompton Cemetery, West London

Visited as part of “Open House London.”
Though I used to live in South Kensington, I had never set foot in this cemetery before. It was opened in 1840, is about 3/4 mile long, and contains huge numbers of Victorian graves. Towards the southern end is a set of structures representing an open-air cathedral, underlain by catacombs and culminating in a domed chapel. All major structures and 28 of the monuments are listed grade II. It’s unexpectedly fascinating, and contains graves of many eminent people, probably the most famous being Emmeline Pankhurst. It was nationalised in 1852 and for the last 50 years has been in the care of the Royal Parks. Though the cemetery shows signs of neglect, it is still open for burials.
The Friends of Brompton Cemetery organise tours and other events, and helps with conservation and maintenance. Parts of the cemetery are still totally overgrown. One detects a certain tension between the Friends and the Royal Parks.
The cemetery is open daily and used by the locals as a park.

Emmeline Pankhurst tomb — Emmeline Pankhurst

WWI Hero monument with airship — WWI Hero

Richard Tauber tombstone — Richard Tauber

Institut Francais du Royaume-uni, London

Visited as part of “Open House London.”
The Institut was founded in 1910 at the initiative of a young French woman. By the late 1920s, the French Govenrment had bought nos 15-17 Queensberry Place (no. 17 apparently being an empty site) A modernist building in brick was commissioned for no.17 from architect Patrice Bonnet, and the Lycee was built on an adjoining site. There are some interesting architectural details inside and out. The largest space, originally a dance hall, was converted to a library in the 1950’s.
In 1995 a further refurbishment and update of the interior of the building took place, and another stage in 2008. There is also an Art Deco cinema in the building (not seen).
Cinema seems to be the major function of the Institute these days. There is a bistro & coffee bar, and the library, with a large multimedia section and French comic books, is free to visit.
(Click on images to enlarge)

Entrance & logo

18 Stafford Terrace, Kensington, London

(Visited as part of “Open House London.”)
18 Stafford Terrace was the home of Victorian cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne, with his wife, children and live-in servants. The house is essentially unaltered since then, and presents an almost unique Victorian interior, dimly lit and with the expensive hand-made wallpaper almost covered by framed drawings, prints and paintings, and a dense clutter of furniture and collectible objects. There is stained glass in some of the windows.
On the free Open House day, I got to see (after queueing) the ground floor, part of the stairwell, and the Victorian loo. If you visit at another time, the 1.5 hour paid conducted tours go to all five floors. The contents of the basement are long gone and replaced by meeting room, shop, and modern toilets.
The house is now owned and operated by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
This should be an essential visit if you are interested in Victoriana.

Derry & Toms Roof Gardens, London

(Visited as part of “Open House London.”)
The Roof Gardens are best known to older visitors as the former Derry & Toms roof gardens, but have since 1981 been leased by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and are known as the Roof Gardens and Babylon Restaurant.
The Gardens are spectacular, with three themed gardens, Moorish themed structures, a stream and ponds, and resident flamingoes and ducks.
The Gardens were listed as a Grade II site by English Heritage in 1978.
The Roof Gardens and Babylon Restaurant and nightclub has its own website with pictures.
The public can visit the Gardens free of charge when they are not required for a function. They are accessible from Derry Street, through a doorway marked “99 Kensington High Street”.

Woodland Garden with flamingoes — Woodland Garden

Woodland garden sculpture — Woodland garden

Marlborough House, London

Private
(Visited as part of “Open House London.”)
A former royal residence hidden behind Pall Mall. It was originally designed by Sir Christopher Wren for the Duchess of Marlborough, who dismissed her architect in 1710 and supervised the work herself. It was finished in 1711. In the nineteenth century the house was substantially altered and extended, with added wings and two more floors. The Crown bought back the lease in 1817, and the last royal resident was Queen Mary (died 1954, widow of George V). It became a Commonwealth centre in 1962.
The double-height Blenheim Saloon has ceiling paintings originally made for the Queen’s House at Greenwich, wall paintings depicting the battle of Blenheim, and other art. Downstairs are a series of finely decorated staterooms, with art. There are two stairwells with wall-paintings.
There is a large and attractive garden at the rear, but as it is largely laid out as lawn you need not allow much time for looking around it. Keep off the grass!
Not normally open to the public (except by pre-booked group tour).
Exterior photos only.

Romanian Cultural Institute, London

Private
(Visited as part of “Open House London.”)
A mansion, speculatively built in the 1840’s and designed by George Basevi in a sort of classical-lite style. It’s in Belgrave Square, and I visited it because it was across the road from the Argentinian Embassy.
Contains a very English-looking fine panelled room downstairs and a suite of fine rooms with a French look, upstairs. I watched an interesting film about the Carpathian countryside, and saw a display about pioneer Rumanian aviator Aurel Vlaicu.
There are several other embassies nearby.
Click on images to enlarge)

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