A history walk - Bloomsbury
Yesterday I went on a guided history walk around the Bloomsbury area. The area doesn't have a defined boundary but is usually considered to be bordered by Tottenham Court Road to the West, Euston Road to the North, Gray's Inn Road to the East and High Holborn/New Oxford Street to the South. At the time of the Doomsday Book (1086), the area was full of vineyards and 'wood for 100 pigs'. The name Bloomsbury was first recorded in 1201 when William de Blemond (a Norman landowner) acquired the land.
The area has passed through many hands since then, and the buildings that survive today were built around the 18th and early 19th centuries when many of the squares were laid out. Many artists, writers and musicians lived in the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By the 20th century institutions such as the British Museum had moved in, and by the 20th century the area was home to many hospitals and university buildings.
We started our walk at a fine example of a Leslie Green-designed tube station - Russell Square with its oxblood-coloured faience-tiled front:
London was incredibly busy, so there were fewer opportunities to take photos of the squares with their trees and gardens, but under the cut are some of the notable buildings we saw (some of which we went inside)
Around the corner is The Horse Hospital. Inside is a ramp as the building is on two floors and the horses were led up to the top floor be treated (another building survives in Camden)
This building was originally The Russell Rooms (now the Fitzroy Hotel). The terracotta face of the building is known as terracotta 'thé au lait' (tea with milk) to describe the colour.
Details
The main entrance
Inside the foyer - designed by the same architect as the Titanic - there was marble everywhere...
This Catholic Apostolic Church was built by the Irvingites - a denomination in the Restorationist branch of Christianity which started with Edward Irving in 1831. The Church of Christ the King church was built by Raphael Brandon between 1850 and 1854. It was supposed to have a large steeple and some parts are unfinished, but money ran out, so there's just an odd flat area where the steeple should be.
Inside part of it is still used for worship by the Euston Church
Oddly separated from the main part of the church which is rather magnificent (and which we couldn't enter).
Stained glass and a vaulted roof
I liked the carvings
The rather elabourate Waterstones book shop! Gothic splendour from 1907!
On past the University of London student Union building
RADA - the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - part of the Federation of Drama Schools. This is the entrance to their theatres (the main entrance is the other side of the building. Feelings were mixed about how well the façade fits in with the buildings surrounding it... RADA only admits 28 new students each year.
A bit of fun on the side of Birkbeck College - click to enlarge so you can play.
This building is the home to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has names of famous physicians and scientists around the façade.
This is the back entrance to The British Museum. Long queues meant that we couldn't go in without a ticket to just look at the interior.
Rather lovely lions flank this entrance.
The front of the building.
Imposing gates of cast iron which swing on pivots to close.
We walked past the Museum Tavern (not my photo as it was so crowded). This is notable as it features in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
St George's Church, Bloomsbury Way built in 1739. The novellist Anthony Trollope was baptised here, and the funeral of the suffragette Emily Davison who lost her life being trampled by the King's horse in the 1913 Derby.
At the top of the tower has a statue of King George I in Roman dress. Its statues of fighting lions and unicorns symbolise the recent end of the First Jacobite Rising. The tower was featured in William Hogarth's engraving 'Gin Lane'.
The Dairy Supply Company Limited building (1888) was part of the initiative to get fresh milk into the capital by George Barham,the inventor of the milk churn. This is the site of the first Pizza Express to open in London in 1965 (and it's still there!).
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) building - Congress House, opened in 1958. The bronze statue represents the strong helping the weak.
Inside is a memorial statue of a woman holding her dead son. Carved in place in the internal courtyard by Jacob Epstein, it was intended as a memorial to the dead trade unionists of both world wars. It's amazing.
These houses used to be the stables for the Bloomsbury area.
Some of the original housing in Bedford Square built between 1775 and 1783. Gorgeous.
As usual, a very interesting two hour walk. Our guide, Guy, announced that we have three more walks planned after a break of one week next week. This would be the last set of walks that he will guide as he's now 84, so feels it's time to hang up his walking shoes. He's an amazing guide and knows so much about London. I shall savour the next three sessions with him.
The area has passed through many hands since then, and the buildings that survive today were built around the 18th and early 19th centuries when many of the squares were laid out. Many artists, writers and musicians lived in the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By the 20th century institutions such as the British Museum had moved in, and by the 20th century the area was home to many hospitals and university buildings.
We started our walk at a fine example of a Leslie Green-designed tube station - Russell Square with its oxblood-coloured faience-tiled front:
London was incredibly busy, so there were fewer opportunities to take photos of the squares with their trees and gardens, but under the cut are some of the notable buildings we saw (some of which we went inside)
Around the corner is The Horse Hospital. Inside is a ramp as the building is on two floors and the horses were led up to the top floor be treated (another building survives in Camden)
This building was originally The Russell Rooms (now the Fitzroy Hotel). The terracotta face of the building is known as terracotta 'thé au lait' (tea with milk) to describe the colour.
Details
The main entrance
Inside the foyer - designed by the same architect as the Titanic - there was marble everywhere...
This Catholic Apostolic Church was built by the Irvingites - a denomination in the Restorationist branch of Christianity which started with Edward Irving in 1831. The Church of Christ the King church was built by Raphael Brandon between 1850 and 1854. It was supposed to have a large steeple and some parts are unfinished, but money ran out, so there's just an odd flat area where the steeple should be.
Inside part of it is still used for worship by the Euston Church
Oddly separated from the main part of the church which is rather magnificent (and which we couldn't enter).
Stained glass and a vaulted roof
I liked the carvings
The rather elabourate Waterstones book shop! Gothic splendour from 1907!
On past the University of London student Union building
RADA - the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - part of the Federation of Drama Schools. This is the entrance to their theatres (the main entrance is the other side of the building. Feelings were mixed about how well the façade fits in with the buildings surrounding it... RADA only admits 28 new students each year.
A bit of fun on the side of Birkbeck College - click to enlarge so you can play.
This building is the home to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has names of famous physicians and scientists around the façade.
This is the back entrance to The British Museum. Long queues meant that we couldn't go in without a ticket to just look at the interior.
Rather lovely lions flank this entrance.
The front of the building.
Imposing gates of cast iron which swing on pivots to close.
We walked past the Museum Tavern (not my photo as it was so crowded). This is notable as it features in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
St George's Church, Bloomsbury Way built in 1739. The novellist Anthony Trollope was baptised here, and the funeral of the suffragette Emily Davison who lost her life being trampled by the King's horse in the 1913 Derby.
At the top of the tower has a statue of King George I in Roman dress. Its statues of fighting lions and unicorns symbolise the recent end of the First Jacobite Rising. The tower was featured in William Hogarth's engraving 'Gin Lane'.
The Dairy Supply Company Limited building (1888) was part of the initiative to get fresh milk into the capital by George Barham,the inventor of the milk churn. This is the site of the first Pizza Express to open in London in 1965 (and it's still there!).
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) building - Congress House, opened in 1958. The bronze statue represents the strong helping the weak.
Inside is a memorial statue of a woman holding her dead son. Carved in place in the internal courtyard by Jacob Epstein, it was intended as a memorial to the dead trade unionists of both world wars. It's amazing.
These houses used to be the stables for the Bloomsbury area.
Some of the original housing in Bedford Square built between 1775 and 1783. Gorgeous.
As usual, a very interesting two hour walk. Our guide, Guy, announced that we have three more walks planned after a break of one week next week. This would be the last set of walks that he will guide as he's now 84, so feels it's time to hang up his walking shoes. He's an amazing guide and knows so much about London. I shall savour the next three sessions with him.