The last stop on my architectural tour of Dulwich takes us right back to where we started, to see a design classic.
This time last year we were marking the 200th anniversary of Dulwich Picture Gallery. I was looking at Rembrandt’s Girl at a Window and found myself wondering what she was thinking. And where she was? Who’s window was it? If only we could zoom out and look at the whole building. This inspired me to start looking around the local area at windows and buildings in our local area.
Take a look at this picture of a traditional red phone box. There’s me, in the window (posing) like the girl in the Rembrandt’s painting. And also in the reflection you’ll make out the top of Dulwich Picture Gallery itself – indeed, this phone box stands in the grounds of the Gallery.
But why?
Under the terms of the bequest which established the Gallery Sir Francis Bourgeois RA insisted that the architect for the new building should be his friend, Sir John Soane (1754-1837).
And later, in 1924, the Royal Fine Arts Commission invited three respected architects to submit designs for a new telephone box that could be mass-produced, yet would be a design classic. The winner was Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, designer of the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. Scott was a trustee of the Sir John Soane’s Museum at the time, and it’s interesting to note that the shape of the roof of the Gallery’s mausoleum influenced his design.
Next time you’re passing, stop and take a look and you’ll see it. So this phone box stands here as a reminder of that link.
And it’s quite fitting that we return back to the Gallery for the last stop on the tour, as it’s now one year on from its bicentenary – this world-class institution is now two-hundred-AND-ONE years old.
As I’ve moved around our area, I’ve seen some charming buildings (and I dare say, some rather ugly ones) from hospitals and museums to churches and schools. What I’ve learned from looking at these building is that often the charm and form of what we know consider to be a well thought-out structure isn’t always the responsibility of one architect. Buildings are remodelled, have extensions built or repairs damaged. They are continually reinvented and redesigned with one design idea being replaced by another.
We might think of Dulwich as a place of tradition and conformity. But in many ways, it’s a place of invention and reinvention, especially in terms of the buildings we see here.
My selection of nine buildings is just one interpretation, however – these are structures which have captured my eye. There are countless other fascinating buildings in our area, each with their own interesting back-stories of invention and reinvention.
If you’ve got a favourite building and want share a story about it, do let us know.
A big thank you to Ingrid, who kindly took all photographs for these articles. You can see the lot on flickr here.
