Brixton Bovril to Bovril Castle

In central Brixton, near the library and facing the Town Hall, there is a huge ghostsign advertising Bovril*, a beef extract product that is still available today. 

Bovril was created by John Lawston Johnson in 1897 – its popularity and success enabled him move into and adapt a house that can be found a few stops along the railway line from Brixton, at Kingswood House, Sydenham Hill. Indeed the house is better known as Bovril Castle and is today home to an Kingswood Arts centre. I went there recently as part of an organised guided tour and found it to be an absolute delight...

Opposite Brixton station entrance in Atlantic Road there's a different type of ghostsign showing that this used to be a branch of Stone (television and radio). It's been looking like this for over 15 years and I'm always surprised that no one has yet simply wiped away the dirt:

Up to the platform. Brixton station is lovely. I love the fancy wooden canopies and the metalwork:

Sydenham Hill station is cute but very strange. From the lovely footbridge there's an evocative view into tho tunnel heading southward:

On the southbound platform there's a tiled artwork created by young people that appears to be missing some elements. On exiting the station, there's no proper street – instead you make your way up this stepped ramped path that leads into a post-WW2 housing estate. I hear that the station had originally been built merely to serve Kingswood House, there being nothing else in the immediate vicinity. 

The shops in Seeley Drive were all closed or empty bar one. It all seemed very quiet and spooky. Where were the locals?

I spotted some creative graffiti on what I assume used to be a fountain in the grounds of the Kingswood House. I was early for the tour so I walked around the house and looked back at it from near the benches by the kids' playground. It's easy to see why it's called a castle. 

Ooh... the guide opened the doors so I headed over to the house and spotted an intriguing maker's plaque within a rusty crackled panel that I assume allows access to the basement. The plaque is for John Tann of 11 Newgate, London. 

The name rang a bell and later I recalled I'd seen the same name on a wall in Hackney advertising a family business that made security products, specifically safes and vaults. Indeed the Tanns are credited as making the very first safe – more here which makes for fascinating reading if you have an hour or so!

And so into Kingswood House. The room our tour started in still retains some marvellous old plasterwork on the ceiling, said to be Tudor era, though I am not sure why depictions of Alexander and Hector Troy are repeated across the space. Perhaps they simply denote power and leadership?

The fireplace surround is also impressive, both the wood and the plasterwork within. In fact the whole building is littered with architectural details of the most marvellous kind, the guys at Kingswood Arts having spent ages painstakingly restoring the building after years of neglect in the latter part of the twentieth century. This includes a lovely marble floor in the conservatory (which I completely forgot to photograph) that was covered in carpet which had been glued directly onto the marble. Crazy!  

Here follows some more pics which show the parquet floors, panelled walls, a sun damaged tapestry and a wonderful galleried room.   

Do pop in and have a look. Kingswood Arts centre is a crowdfunded facility for arts of various kinds and is also available for hire for events. There's also a good cafe there too.

*There also a few lines on there advertising Butlin's holidays, but people rarely notice that!

Mapping the Tube 1863-2023 – A chronology of Harry Beck's (and others') London Underground maps at The Map House, 54 Beauchamp Place

One for fellow map nerds and London Transport fans. There is an excellent exhibition at The Map House showing the evolution of the tube map, the like of which I am not sure has been seen before. 

In the gallery room at the rear of the shop there is an arrangement of framed pocket maps that clearly shows how the tube map has been adapted as new routes and stations have been added to comply with Harry Beck's original design.  

The first pic above shows the earliest folding pocket map printed in 1911. I found the wall of maps totally absorbing and for quite some time I played a kind of spot the difference comparing one map to the next, particularly interested in a period when both the Bakerloo and Northern lines were shown as parallel verticals.

Another thing that interested me was the inclusion of the Victoria line in the 1960s – first designed as a complete diagonal. On the opposite wall there are some of Beck's original pencil sketches which include this idea. 

There are also other unique pieces here as well as large format posters and folding maps. 

The exhibition was due to finish this month but they tell me it will now extend to mid-December

If you can't get to the exhibition before it closes, all the maps will continue to be available at the shop and online, as well as many other maps and globes and prints on various subjects etc. 

Stanley Arts, Norwood Junction... plus an ironmonger, a clocktower, a ghostsign and a canal

There are are areas of London I don't know so well including the South east corner that forms part of Croydon. A guided tour of Stanley Arts afforded me the opportunity for a quick snoop. Quick, because this week has been unusually cold for the time of year – it was snowing when I opened the curtains on Tuesday morning, something I have never before seen in London in November. The following day, I wrapped up warm and travelled almost the full length of the soon to be renamed Overground line from Highbury and Islington to Norwood Junction.

On exiting into Station Place I was greeted by a magnificent clocktower with a weathervane on the top and some inaccessible public toilets below ground. I found out later that this clocktower has a direct link to Stanley Arts centre. More later.

Cold weather has its benefits, as regards lovely blue skies! I explored the immediate area and found a ghostsign for Boots the Chemist above the convenience store on the corner of Belgrave Road...

... and a couple of nice coal hole covers bearing the name J G Stidder of Boro, SE London – that's an abbreviation for Borough in Southwark, a name and cover design I haven't seen before, even in Southwark. 

Within the pavement between the Boots sign and Portland there is a panel that tells the story of the Croydon Canal which opened in 1809. I could barely read it and so took a photo to enhance it. 

This canal was news to me and when I got back home I spent quite some time finding out more about it and comparing maps etc. The canal became redundant by 1836 and has since been replaced by railway lines.

And so to Stanley Arts. Wow wow wow, what a building – a superb example of Edwardian exuberance.

It's slathered in the best examples of architectural styles of the 1900s – elaborate metalwork, niches for sculptures (mostly lost or stolen during decades of neglect), fired tiles (probably, I suspect, Doulton of Lambeth), moulded ceiling roses and decorative panels, carved wood and more... 

The building comprises three parts, basically a school, a theatre and a hall. On the exterior there is a blue plaque to the man who built it and a lovely sign with a manicule directs punters to the stage. This leads into the gallery café area past a vestibule where a recessed carved panel hints at the how beautiful this building would have been a century ago.  

  

The panel is covered in rose gold paint which I think is Hammerite, a product chosen as a quick cover-all that has also been applied to many areas in the auditorium. This paint will, over time, be removed to reveal the original plasterwork or metal underneath. 

To the right of the gallery entrance there is a staircase with some beautiful handrails above which sits the only remaining carved marble bust here. Strange how only this one remains being as it's almost in reach yet others that were sited in higher recesses within the hall and on the front of the building were removed. This example is exquisitely carved and I wonder who carved it and where the others are now?  

In the  ceiling about the gallery café area there is a repeat motif of what at first looks like a dinosaur of some kind. But look closely and see that it's a fire-breathing dragon. I doubt there's any real relevance as dragons and demons were used as decoration on many buildings during this period.

The second two pcs above are within the lovely theatre space – wooden benches and a beautiful clock that reads"Time Flies / Mind your Business" which, rather than meaning 'don't be nosey' is actually reminding us that time is precious, to manage it wisely. 

Either side of that stage there are depictions of tragedy (as Medusa!) and comedy.

Almost every surface of the building boasts embellishments in the best products of the day. Glass, marble and fired tiles changing from deep red in the theatre to green in the hall areas. The staircase up to the hall is sublime and I wonder if the fired ceramics were created by Doulton Lambeth being as the design and colours is very similar to other examples I have seen.

The final three pics with the very Art Nouveau bluebell tiles repeat are all visible from the street in the corner portico here. And, I almost forgot the clocktower – it turns out it was erected in commemoration of the Stanley's 50th wedding anniversary hinting at how well loved the couple was.  

An absolute delight. I walked towards Annerley thinking to go exploring, but being as it was sooo cold I hopped on the first bus that came along which took me to Crystal Palace station. Rather than go straight home, I took the first train and enjoyed the line to Victoria followed by a wander around the backstreets of Belgravia and Knightsbridge because I recalled the was an exhibition of Underground maps I wanted to see... join me again tomorrow for that.

Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious at Dulwich Picture Gallery – a very talented lady

Dulwich Gallery as done it again... yet another excellent exhibition .This is the first major exhibition of Tirzah Garwood's work, ever, since her death in1951. 

98% of Tirzah's work is today in private collections. As such, most of this show is comprised of artworks that have never before been available to the public. A multi-talented artist, she was already producing wonderfully-detailled woodcuts in her teens, well before she met and married Eric Ravilious (Dulwich exhibition 2015). It can now be seen that she was the greater talent of this couple, accomplished in many additional creative techniques including oil paintings and watercolours, marbling techniques, 3D models and textural embroidery.

This excellent show is on until 26th May 2025. More info here. Form a neat crocodile and enter Tirzah's world... 

Photo of the artist as a young woman and two versions of the same subject matter employing very different techniques.

Much of Tirzah's work has a human element to it, full of wonderful little observations about our quirks and the the little details in the world around us, whether on paper or as small 3D scenes.

The little 3D worlds are a delight, capturing a time forgotten. 

An accomplished paper marbler, Tirzah also created designs for lampshades and produced gorgeous handmade marbled papers in various designs:  

These paper examples are some of my favourite pieces at the exhibition. It beggars belief how she managed to achieve these repeat patterns, let alone fulfill orders for multiples of 50, which must have taken ages to produce. However, she never was able to find a company who could produce her designs in larger formats, such as wallpaper.

A 3D house, a handmade patchwork quilt and another example of her multi-stitch embroidery.

What an amazing talent. This is an inspirational show. Since seeing Tirzah's work I have dug out some of my own creations. I can't help but think she and I are kindred spirits, what with all the various skills and techniques I have turned my own hands to over the years. 

Tirzah Garwood: she really was Beyond Ravilious

HMV, Oxford Street – Art Deco, glass bricks, Vitrolite and curved glass

A while ago I pulled together this collection of shops that still retain horizontal curved glass. I mused that there must have been other businesses making use of this innovative non-reflective window design and an anonymous contributor sent me a link to the image below at 363 HMV Oxford Street which clearly shows that the shop also had curved windows – look closely where the two men are looking into the windows on the left side and you'll make out some horizontal lines:

What a lovely image. HMV (The Gramophone Company) opened a shop here in 1921, but I suspect this façade was installed a few years later – perhaps someone can enlighten me as to the age of that vehicle.

As the wording across the store shows, they sold a variety goods, no doubt displayed on beautiful chromed and polished counters.

The shop interior has since been pulled apart, indeed gutted, but the elegant Vitrolite and glass brick exterior has survived virtually intact above street level. 

In 2018 the shop looked like this (here follows a series of screen grabs from googlemaps):

By 2012, with the demise of CD and DVD sales, HMV had left the building and Foot Locker moved in removing the neon letters 'HIS MASTER'S VOICE' and the iconic image of little Nipper the dog listening to a wind-up gramophone player :

HMV's signage was reinstated in 2013 when the record company returned to the site and reinstalled their branding. Here is it in until 2014 showing the neon around the dog:

But it was all gone again by 2022 when, for a short while, it became home to a US candy outlet.

In November 2023 I was walking past and happened to notice that the interior was empty apart from a team of shop fitters busy with ladders and power tools. Posters across exterior at street level announced that HMV was coming back. Whoopee!

My photo above shows that a new sign was partially in place. I hoped that Nipper and the old neon letters had been saved and would be somehow be reinstalled as part of the design.

Nope. Here it is this year, and they've even covered up their own building this time with something that looks horribly cheap and temporary:

An opportunity missed. I'm disappointed to say the least. 

Oh well. 

Let's get back to the street level window glass... here's that marvellous old black and white pic again...

I wondered if there was any more visual reference from the pre-WW2 years and found this next pic on RIBA's site here which clearly shows curved glass. 

RIBA has captioned and credited this image as 363 Oxford Street, but I am very doubtful that this is the same location because, comparing the first image with this one two images, it's clear that the façade is different – the large open plate glass windows on the upper floor rather than glass bricks, no flat areas of black Vitrolite, and the arrangement of street level windows is shown to be flush with the street rather than angled as in the first pic. 

I therefore deduce that RIBA's image is a totally different HMV store. It could be another large central London store, but might be somewhere else in the country. Any ideas?

Another thing of interest on the 363 Oxford Street store is this plaque commemorating Sir George Martin and The Beatles:

 

Voila! Theatre Festival – 4th–24th November 2024

Whoops, I should have posted this last week. Support your local theatre and see amazing and thought-provoking innovative theatre created and performed by new artists.

Voila! theatre festival is a multi-language, multi-disciplinary, diverse collection of plays across London at various small theatres across London – 72 shows performed by 350 artists.

Some of the best plays I have seen this year have been staged at some of the venues hosing these events and they are will worth a night out at any time, if only to hang out at their bar!