Albertopolis Walking Tour: transcript - Royal Institute of British ...

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5. Jamaican High Commission, or 1-2 Prince Consort Road/29 Exhibition Road/1-2 Lowther Gardens 8.57mins The Jamaican High Commission is now located here in this beautiful red brick building here on the corner of Prince Consort Road and Exhibition Road. Although not really part of the story of Albertopolis it’s worth pausing here to admire this building which is a very important, relatively early example of the Queen Anne style. The building was designed by J.J. Stevenson in 1876, as a pair of private houses. It is a superb example of this revival style of architecture. The name Queen Anne style is derived from its inspiration: that is English and Dutch houses in around 1700, when Queen Anne was on the throne. The houses display many of the style’s distinctive characteristics including: an irregular outline; asymmetric windows, balconies and gables; cutbrick decoration; superimposed pilasters; and the use of the sunflower motif. It is interesting to look from Stevenson’s redbrick building to the contrasting white stucco terraced houses across the road, showing just how far domestic architecture had developed from the Georgian style which had dominated from the 18 th century right up until the mid-19 th century. Continue up to the top of Exhibition Road, and turn left onto Kensington Gore, walk about ten metres along the road to look at another significant example of the Queen Anne Style, Lowther Lodge, now home to the Royal Geographical Society. Pause the recording 6. Royal Geographical Society 10.28mins 1-2 Prince Consort Road/29 Exhibition Road/1-2 Lowther Gardens Source: Building News, 1878 Copyright: RIBA Library Photographs Collection The Royal Geographical Society was founded in 1830, and moved to Lowther Lodge in 1912. Although not part of the 1851 Commissioners’ original plans for the area, the Society’s objectives and activities complement the ideals of South Kensington and it is now one of the members of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group. Lowther Lodge was designed by the architect Richard Norman Shaw in 1873. It was to be a “country house” on the edge of town for the MP, William Lowther, who had bought the site in 1870 and pulled down the previous property. When Shaw’s design was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1874 a contemporary journal, The Building News, declared it to be a house of the “most uncompromising Queen Anne 6
character.” This was a new style of architecture of which Shaw and JJ Stevenson were the main proponents. Key characteristics of the style were the use of redbrick; asymmetrical elevations; tall pedimented or Dutch gables; towering chimney stacks; and the use of the sunflower motif. All of these features can be seen at Lowther Lodge. William Lowther died in 1912, and his son James, Speaker of the House of Commons, sold the house for £100,000 to the RGS. In 1928-30 the building was altered and extended to better suit the needs of the Society. To the left you can see the new lecture theatre, which was added by Kennedy and Nightingale on the site of the former stables for the property. The external wall they created on the corner of Kensington Gore and Exhibition Road is consequently very bare, with no windows, mainly for acoustic reasons. The only decorations to the wall are two statues of famous explorers: Sir Ernest Shackleton by C. Sargeant Jagger of 1932; and David Livingstone by TB Huxley-Jones, of 1953. Immediately to the west, or right of Lowther Lodge on Kensington Gore stands a very large, imposing redbrick block of flats. This is Albert Hall Mansions, built between 1879 and 86, and also designed by Shaw. When Lowther Lodge was built Kensington was almost fully developed, although the adjacent sites to the house were still empty. It is therefore surprising that it was Shaw himself who filled the site to the west with a structure which completely over-powers the house he designed. Perhaps this was a symptom of how many Victorian architects saw their creations as individual ventures, disregarding context. Albert Hall Mansions was the first block of flats in London in the new red brick Queen Anne style, many followed it, including several other large red brick mansion flats which grew up around the Albert Hall during the 1880s and 90s. Continue westward along Kensington Gore until you come to the traffic lights by the Albert Hall. Cross over the road here to enter Kensington Gardens, heading towards the Albert Memorial. Before we move on to the memorial, take the opportunity to turn around to get a better view of Albert Hall Mansions. Pause the recording Front and side elevations for Lowther Lodge, 1873 Copyright: RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collections 7
Page 1 and 2: Albertopolis Walking Tour: transcri
Page 3 and 4: 2. Henry Cole Wing of V&A 1.27mins
Page 5: Kensington. This Art Deco building
Page 9 and 10: Underneath the memorial is a large
Page 11 and 12: name change followed in 1863, befor
Page 13 and 14: 11. Holy Trinity Church, Prince Con
Page 15 and 16: the south side of Blomfield’s bui
Page 17 and 18: 16. Queen’s Tower, Imperial Insti
Page 19 and 20: However, it doesn’t have the very
Page 21 and 22: Continue to walk down Queen’s Gat
Page 23 and 24: Fowke remained the architect for th

Albertopolis Walking Tour: transcript - Royal Institute of British ...

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