Barmeath has a shell house built in the woods in the 19th century as a destination for walks and picnics, I was surprised to come upon a 20th century one in the centre of London.
It was built in 1952 and is in Grosvenor Gardens, more or less outside Victoria Station. This part of London is being extensively re-built. Unfortunately the new architecture has no coherence and it looks as if Victoria Street and Vauxhall Bridge Road will remain eyesores, so it was a welcome surprise to see this quirky little building.
While we are on the subject of architecture, I wrote about the impending opening of The Design Museum (Bricks, Money and ‘Phones) in the former Commonwealth Institute at the edge of Holland Park. As you can see the buildings in front of the museum are now complete and the museum itself looks ready for occupation. It is due to open in November this year.
Threee more up-dates: the shop on the corner outside Barons Court Station has now opened as a branch of Paperchase. This customer seems to have left without buying anything.
Work on the new LAMDA theatre and rehearsal rooms continues. One of the two red cranes has gone but the fly tower still needs some walls.
Finally, Zac Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign will be officially launched this morning from his campaign bus.
As often as I used to walk out of Victoria Station, I never saw that shellhouse when I lived in London.
More recently, we were invited inside the shell house on the Curraghmore Estate; the story behind its construction is fascinating as is the whole Curraghmore. Fortunately, the (new) Lord Waterford has opened the estate to visitors with guided tours of the house by Basil (the butler, I kid you not!)
Highly recommended when you’re visiting Ireland:
http://curraghmorehouse.ie/shell-house/
I have read that there are two of them, although I only saw one. They were part of a French park to commemorate the Anglo-French relationship in WW II. I would have thought they should just have planted a few brambles to strike the right note.