Charming - just totally charming

This blog has posted before about the Steele's pub, but just around the corner (almost behind) are the two mews named after Richard Steele.

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2009/01/pub-in-which-to-put-pen-to-paper.html

Mews are quite common in this part of north London, but boy are these two charming and pretty. Dated to 1875 they are just lovely.

The cottage that preceeded the mews was demolished in the mid 1860's - it's quite possible that the arch that is dated 1875 is the last part of the construction over the previous couple of years.

This is just a gratuitous appreciation of them. :-)

The finest illustrator of his day...

We're still here in Belsize - in Chalcot Gardens just off of England's Lane.

It's a truly lovely house and I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that interesting and famous people by definition live in interesting and lovely houses.

Arthur Rackham is pretty unknown by name and yet widely and extensively recognised by his art and art-genre.

He is most famous for his work of book illustrating and his works of Alice in Wonderland and various Grimm borthers works are now considered to be style-setting in their significance.

He is a classic illustrator of the post Victorian, late gothic style and is very much of the turn of the 20th century edwardian era. Some have used his work as a fantasy illustration of the dark clouds before the first world war...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham

In addition there is an Arthur Rackham Society http://www.angelfire.com/ar/ArthurRackhamSociety/

and a great range of information on his pre-eminence in that pre-war era http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/rackham.htm

This plaque went up in 1981 as part of the English Heritage blue plaque scheme
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1494

Arthur was the third surviving child of Alfred and Annie Rackham (nee Stevenson). On 16th July 1903 he married painter Edyth Starkie in Hampstead and they one daughter, Barbara, in 1908. Barbara married to become Barbara Edwards.

During their marriage, Arthur and Edyth maintained separate studios in their home in Chalcot Gardens. In Barbara's memorial article about her father, she commented that her father often used her as a model for form or shape, asking her to "'bend down and imagine you're picking an apple off the ground' or 'try to look like a witch!'"

Amazing by-election win for Liberal Democrats

Well, here we go...


The Liberal Democrats have pulled off a stunning by-election win in the Belsize Ward.


The Tories were just 35 votes short of winning and have been so thoroughly trashed in all of the other Camden elections that this was the election for them.


In fact they lost dramatically and the Liberal Democrats won convincingly.


Tom Simon (Lib Dem) 1136
Conservative 952
Labour 270
Green 109


Majority 184


So where now for the Tories, seems like they are totally in the doldrums and in trouble...


Well done Tom - best of luck as councillor for the Belsize Ward - you'll be great.

Out of the ruins of war and disruption...

This Sunday I was at the 70th anniversary celebrations at Belsize Square synagogue.

It was moving, fun, beautiful and spiritiual.

I wanted to share with readers some of the pictures that I took after the celebration. Including the small plaque that celebrated the 60th anniversary.

It's probably easiest if the history of the synagogue is told in their own words:
http://www.synagogue.org.uk/

Belsize Square Synagogue was founded in 1939 by refugees from Central Europe who came from the continental Liberal Jewish Movement. While those of Orthodox or Reform background could integrate into already well established English congregations, there existed nothing in this country, no congregations, no synagogues which could provide either the spiritual background or form of worship to which they had been accustomed. English Liberalism, on the other hand, was far too radical for them.

A few months before the outbreak of the last war, some men, chiefly from Berlin and Frankfurt-on-Main, got together and, with the help of Miss Lily Montagu, one of the founders of the English Liberal Movement and a lay Minister in the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, secured the use of Montefiore Hall (attached to the Liberal Jewish Synagogue) for Friday evening Services.

The first of these Services took place on 24th March, 1939 and was held in the continental Liberal manner. There was no formal congregational organisation. Each Sabbath Eve Service was conducted by a different Rabbi and Cantor recently arrived here. Some of them subsequently emigrated overseas, such as the late Rabbi Lemle who founded a similar congregation in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Others, such as the late Rabbis ltaliener and Van der Zyl, became Ministers in the Reform Movement.

It was in June 1939 that what was more or less an ad hoc state of affairs became organised by the formation of the New Liberal Jewish Association with the Hon. Lily Montagu, J. P. as its first Chairman, and Rabbi Dr. Georg Salzberger (formerly Frankfurt-on-Main) and Cantor Magnus Davidsohn (formerly Berlin) its first permanent Ministers. It was affiliated to the Jewish Religious Union (now Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues). Rooms were rented in the Swiss Cottage area.

In January 1940 the word "Association" was changed to the more descriptive "Congregation" and so it remained during Miss Montagu's life-time, although the words "New Liberal" were widely considered misleading. It was not until June 1971 that the congregation assumed its present title.

In 1951 it acquired its own home, a former vicarage in Belsize Square which was converted to accommodate a modest synagogue seating 80 and communal offices, as well as religion school.

When 'street art' amuses you...

This is one of the better bits of street art (graffiti?)around.

This is clearly a genre - Banksy and others now - or perhaps more of an industry...

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/08/political-art-on-streets-is-that.html

This pic is captured in England's Lane, Belsize Park and I think it's very funny.

Note the CND badge which has become incredibly iconic over a relatively short period of time. Amazing where that crops up in pictures and badges and now - in graffiti.

The housing boom of the 1880's

It's not the most obvious feature and I have found I've walked past on more occasions than not without reacting, but here on England's Lane is Chalcot Gardens.

It's set back and 'protected' by a brick wall with a sort of sealed gateway effect on which is mounted an old plaque. (if you double click on the pictyure on the left it should open up and the words are much more legible larger!)

Chalcot Gardens came about in 1880, as part of the great development of the Eton College Estate that is now Belsize, Belsize Park and the Chalcots Estate itself.

The 'first six' were built in 1881 in 'Queen Anne' style. Another eight houses were built nearby in 1882-3 in Chalcot Gardens, where additions were later made to no. 16 by C. F. A. Voysey.

Eton Road has a long tradition of being occupied by artists.

Other artists included Robert Bevan (d. 1925) at no. 14 Adamson Road from 1901, Arthur Rackham at no. 16 Chalcot Gardens 1903-20, Duncan Grant at no. 143 Fellows Road c. 1910, and Stanley Spencer for a short time in Adelaide Road.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham

This unusual name of Chalcots is described as being related to habit, and whilst of Olde English origins, is associated with the Romans. The derivation is from "ceald-cote", which means "the cold house", an unusual distinction at a time when all houses lacked any warmth!

It seems more likely that the name refers to the location, particularly as it has been suggested that wherever a Roman road existed - ye olde Kilburn High Road (Watling Street and now the A5), so did a place called "Calde-cote", the Romans preferring to construct their roads along the windy uplands, making them more difficult to attack and less prone to flooding.

Ye olde sat nav... on Haverstock Hill

We're on Haverstock Hill for this one with the early form of Sat Nav

The old milestone just down from the Sir Richard Steele
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2009/01/pub-in-which-to-put-pen-to-paper.html

It marks the spot "4 miles from the post office ____north"

I think that this is the Post Office in St Martin le Grand (Street's of Belsize 1991).

It's incredibly charming and i think important as historical feature. Interesting is the lack of net wear considering that this is prob mid/late Victorian (I would guess it's c. 1860/1870) and climate change has seen more erosion in the last ten years than over the previous hundred!

If you are out for a walk then take this in on your travels... it's to be appreciated.

Hanging a cardboard sign up adds confidence - it's true!

It's a good example of how to do highly visible christmas decorations and it's from Seven Dials.

The Seven Dials project which is now several years old is for me a model on how to take a neglected area and, using it's history, transform it into the height of fashion, desirablity whilst retaining it's charm and character.

The effect is then further built upon through innovative, intelligent and niche marketing drawn through in these card (?) christmas advertings that were suspended across the streets.

Yes, I know the buildings are tall and close but there are opportunities elsewhere it is just that too often there is the lack of ambition and vision to actually move an area forward...

More of this sort of this sort of stuff helps a lot I think in the place shaping debate and adds confidence. Could we see this nest year in Hampstead, Belsize, Kilburn, Salusbury Road and Kensal Rise?

The blog as somewhere that captures the moment

One of the merits of blogs as I understand it is the ability to capture the current thought, the reaction, the precise event almost coterminus.

So it seems with this little quirky local community blog...

I take pictures all the time as I am out and about on the patch and it is scary just how quickly those pictures become the record.

Often I pop back to get a better picture and find that a building has gone, a tree been pruned, the cars almost certainly have changed and so you can't actually recreate the moment... and so now also with the Screen on the Hill.

I took these pictures a little while back meaning to do a posting about it and of course now time has overtaken me with the advent of Everyman II.

I'm not regretting the change in this instance, just observing it. I didn't go to Screen on the Hill but can confess to being a devotee of the Everyoman in Holly Hill for pure relaxing luxury... I just hope this one on Haverstock Hill (opposite Belsize Tube) achieves the same standards and appreciation.

The many faces of Cricklewood

I've been fascinated by this one for ages and it has taken me a while to get the necessary pictures but here we are...

It's not all of the faces, but it's a pretty good spread.

On the buildings of the victorian Cricklewood, on the building pillars - between each shop front - there is a ornate 'top' facade - usually corinthian or doric columns, these are topped by a face.

These are drawn from a gothic almost rustic tradition and involve leaves and flowing water swirls.

Many of them appear to draw on the 'greene man' tradition of olde england.

Carvings of the Greene Man are known in architecture as foliate heads or foliate masks, some are naturalistic but in this instance they are just decorative. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_man

Traditionally the simplest show a man's face peering out of dense foliage (they are usually of a man and rarely of a woman).

Some have leaves for hair, often with a leafy beard.

In this instance in North London we have the development of a whole family - very young, old and indeed including a women - it is a further exploration of the idea that this might be the depiction of a family of the architect, builder...

This part of London (Cricklewood) build up very quickly following the arrival of the railway in 1868 - from 1880 the building locally went up apace and so it is to this era that these carvng belong. Perhaps it is the family - I suspect we will never know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricklewood


One thing it does confirm for me however, was the extent to which two or three maybe six or seven building firms dominated the massive growth of building here in north west london. There are three really distinct building styles - that employed in Belsize and Hampstead, that of Swiss Cottage and South Hampstead and this of West Hampstead and Cricklewood.

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/07/time-to-dawdle-in-south-and-west.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/06/englands-lane-to-hampstead-theatre.html

This part of north west london certainly saw massive growth with the advent of the railway and the need for mass accommodation - it certainly did seem obvious that it might be so personalised...

It's worth daying that if any reader wants and they double click on the pictures then the site should enable each picture to open up large and then you can see the individual faces better and clearer.

It's here already, can't you see it?

I'm using this month to draw together threads from having done this blog over a sustained period of time (a year) and really getting into the habit of seeing things and taking the pictures necessary.

However, it is clear to me that this has become more then just a photo insight into the local area. What I have tried to convey and distill into this webpage is a sense of the area.

It has been described as quirky, interesting, historical and indeed boring. I hope it covers all of those things - some of it is superficial in as far as it simply gets to what a photograph can capture - some becomes more of a historical contextual insight.

The coverage of Kilburn has been the most interesting for me - not the most historical place and yet in many ways the area of the constituency with the most to say:
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/10/kilburn-guthrum-dane-and-878.html
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/05/long-live-fresh-fishmongers-shop.html
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/08/william-friese-greene-kilburn-as-home.html

But it is also the case that there is so much to draw out in, for example, Hampstead that it's fun to draw out the places that are less than obvious:
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/05/another-underground-wwii-tube-bunker-on.html
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/05/at-home-with-george-orwell.html
http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/02/hampstead-brewery-bring-it-back.html

More than anything else I have sought to give an insight into what I think is all around us and so totally affects our area. On Kilburn itself I have more aggressive in asserting that this is a much better and more interesting place than it is treated. Because other parts of town have a higher property value and a greater economic expectation, so Kilburn is often down-graded in the way it is treated. So too the boundary of the High Road has led to a division in the way it is considered. In fact the history, the vibrancy and the diversity all demand a greater level of attention - not least because the rewards for getting this right would be so high and visible.

With regards to Hampstead, Belsize and Frognal I have come to understand something else. I serve on the Hampstead Heath Management Committee (Corporation of London) and now know that for something such as the Heath to exist and thrive it has had to be managed. At the moment we are engaged on a process of naturalising some of the areas around Parliament Hill and making sure they have less of a feel of a park and more like a wilder, rustic heath. So it is with the architecture - Flask Walk, Englands Lane and indeed The Pavement (West Hampstead) need to be nourished, assisted and where appropriate nudged. For these areas to be special, look special and remain special they need a real understanding of the place.

It's an old carnard that someting with no past has no future - but increasingly as I look around me I find it to be a simple fact of life. Hopefully this blog, quirky, boring or interesting has developed the process of tapping into that notion and articulating it for all to see - residents, opinion formers and decision makers alike.

Ed Fordham

Come and drink from the biscuit fountain...

I've been up and down Fitzjohn's Avenue more times than I care to remember and have been involved in countless discussions on College Crescent... but rarely about the fountain.

This is located at the bottom of Fitzjohn's opposite Buckland Crescent. The drinking fountain was erected in 1904 in memory to Samuel Palmer - of Huntley and Palmer's biscuits fame - by his family.

It's pretty impressive with a walk-around gallery and a conical tiled roof surmounted by a copper and lead connical.

It is the 'backdrop' to the local street florist which means it is at least protected from daytime vandalism by the effective staffing presence of their being there.

The location is no surprise when you realise that Samuel Palmer had lived at number 40 College Crescent - then called Northcourt - and dated as being built in 1881.

"This fountain together with the
open space on which it is erected
was presented to the borough of
hampstead for the public benefit.
In memory of the late
Samuel Palmer of Northcourt
Hampstead by his widow and family
1904"

The old car repair workshop (currently being knocked into shape! was the stables to the house!).

In line with these sorts of memorials the fountain is elaborate - almost too elaborate - but of interest to me is the level of detail and design in the buttons to trigger the water itself.

There is now a modern plaque on the other side (northside) which reflects the later refurbishment of the fountain on 8th October 1994 by the Heath and Old Hampstead Society.

Rather appropriately the unveiling was by the great-niece of Samuel Palmer, Mrs Peggy Jay - herself a driving force in the Heath and Old Hampstead Society.

Other blogged about local fountains: http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/06/west-end-is-here-in-nw6-not-theatreland.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/03/back-to-fountains-and-public-water.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/02/public-fountains-rock.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/01/where-is-metropolitan-drinking-fountain.html

Just how many schools are there in the local area?

NW3 has one of the highest concentrations of schools in any part of London - and this part of Belsize here in Eton Avenue is no exception.

At number 15 is Sarum Hall School - it has great character and an amzing atmosphere as a place for learning for children.


http://www.sarumhallschool.co.uk/

Founded in 1929 it is looking to it's 70th anniversary next year. Incredibly and you wouldn't know this from the outside looking at it - it takes 170 pupils between the ages of 3-11. It led me to think just how many schools are there hiding away in the area?

Interesting the long held historic links with Eton College are maintained and there is a plaque for the major rebuild/refurbishment that took place recording the re-opening by the provost of Eton College.

http://www.bileduct.co.uk/sarumhall.htm

http://86.54.120.195/Splash.asp


The area was in fact developed in the 1860's and was originally known as Bursars Road - the links to the Eton estate are reflected in the street names of Belsize. The context is that the Eton College Estates was part of the Manor of Chalcots, first the property of St Jame's Leper Hospital at Westminster. In 1449 Henry V1th granted the estate to Eton College as part of the wider endowment of that College. Thus it lay agriculturally generating income and local taxes as a rural area until the 1820's boom of property redevelopment and housebuilding began to encroach.

Off to Washington!

I don't know if there is a local CAMRA branch - I assume there is - but wow could North london benefit from a local pub guide.

There are some great local hostelries and this one in England's Lane is no exception.

The Washington is always assumed to be named after American President George, but in fact it's not at all.

The pub is in fact named after Mr Washington who was the principle builder when the development of Eton Avenue was taking place.

Edward Bliss was the landowner who led the redevelopment of England's Lane and was probably the era at which Mr Washington was 'a building' (1815-1825 ish)

It's a great misunderstanding and one that is widely perpetuated, not least by the slightly mournful picture of American George on the corner/front of the building in the pub-sign.

Either way at least it's not the carrott and lettuce!

http://www.urbanpath.com/london/pubs/the-washington.htm

http://www.fancyapint.com/pubs/pub1436.html

http://www.belsizelibdems.org.uk/2007/12/englands-lane-xmas-tree-lights-switch.html