Tag: London

55 Holywell Lane, London EC2, Village Underground

55 Holywell Lane, London EC2A 3PQ, sketched 17 November 2023 in Sketchbook 13

This apparently dilapidated building stands on the edge of a building site in Shoreditch. The flaking shopfront announces “The Mission”. It looks dusty and closed up.


This is 55 Holywell Lane. The Victorian decorations on the front of the building say “G.T. 1893”.


Despite appearances, the building is in active use. It is part of “Village Underground” – “part creative community, part arts venue”. “home to cutting edge culture, clubbing and live music” founded in 2006.
In the centre right of the drawing you can see the underground train carriages, hoisted on top of the venue.
Their website says

“It’s a strange little haven of calm in the carriages, above the chaos of Shoreditch, enclosed by skyscrapers on each side, where we grow fruit and veg in our little rooftop garden, get excited about new bands and parties, plot and plan how to improve the venue, decide which shows to book, and try to get more people to come to our shows. “

https://villageunderground.co.uk/about/history/


This is an area of London undergoing transition. In the background of my drawing you can see the huge residential and office towers next to Liverpool Street Station: “The Stage” and “Principal Place”. I sketched the picture standing under the elevated overground railway line, next to a building site. On the white wall shown to the right of my drawing, people were making a large mural, an advertisement for a whisky brand. The number 135 double-decker buses came past at what seemed like extraordinary frequency.


Cars and buses queued in this small street waiting to cross Shoreditch High St. It was a narrow pavement, and not a great place to sketch. But two people came and looked at the drawing: it’s a great skyline, they observed, looking at the view. And it is.

Here is the view of the site from Great Eastern Street early in the morning. The underground train carriages are visible top left.

St Mary Stoke Newington N16

“What is that spire?”

It’s just visible, on the horizon between office blocks. Some work with the binoculars and the map established that it must be St Mary Stoke Newington, some 3 to 4 miles away to the North.

“What is that spire?”

I went up there to make sure, and to have a closer look at this building which was visible at so great a distance.

St Mary Stoke Newington, the “New Church”, London N16. Sketched on October 17th 2023 in sketchbook 13, size: 10″x 8″

I sketched the church from Clissold Park.

Stoke Newington is another world, even though just 4 miles from the City. My sketching location was a few yards from the gate of the park. A succession of people entered the gate and walked along the path: old and young, solitary and in groups, noisy, meditative and with or without dogs. Each person or group carefully opened the gate, then turned round and closed it again behind them. At one point, a very elderly person approached the gate in a wheelchair. Someone who had just passed through noticed them, returned to the gate, and with a respectful flourish, opened both gates wide, to allow the passage of the wheelchair, and then carefully closed the gates again afterwards. It was all very civilised, and restored my faith in the human race.

If you wish to visit this church bear in mind that the overground lines are rather complicated in this area. The one to get is the one which goes north from Liverpool Street. The one from Shoreditch, although going in broadly the same direction, takes another route entirely and you end up in Dalston, which is also an interesting place, but different. I walked from there to Hackney Downs to find the right railway line, and discovered more as-yet-unexplored areas of London.

Overground routes in the Stoke Newington area.

St Mary Stoke Newington New Church was built in 1854-8, to the design of Sir George Gilbert Scott. His other works include the Midland Hotel at St Pancras, the Albert Memorial, Westminster Abbey, the Martyr’s Memorial in Oxford and St John’s College Chapel Cambridge, to name but four. So the people of Stoke Newington got a rock-star architect in 1854. This was because Stoke Newington had a hugely popular preacher, the Reverend Thomas Jackson, with people coming across London to hear him preach. The cost of the new church was raised by voluntary contributions1 from this large congregation.

The spire was added by Sir George’s son John Oldrid Scott, in 1890.

Stoke Newington New Church seen from Stoke Newington Church Street
The impressive interior of Stoke Newington New Church.

Across the road is the much smaller “old church” which this “new church” replaced. The old church is still there, looking like a country village church.

Stoke Newington Old Church, 17th October 2023

Now I know what that spire is, on the horizon, I think I should make another visit, to sketch the old church.

Sketchbook 13, Stoke Newington New Church

Note 1: The information about Thomas Jackson and the cost of building the New Church is from the St Mary website https://www.stmaryn16.org/history.html, downloaded 24 October 2023. For even more detail see also British History Online here: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp204-211

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, EC2

Bishopsgate Plaza is on the East side of Bishopsgate, near Liverpool Street. From the seats there, here is the view of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate. I sketched amongst the many people enjoying the sun at lunchtime.

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, EC2. 15th September 2023, 1pm. 10″x 7″ in sketchbook 13

The current church was constructed in 1729, to the designs of James Gould. There has been a place of Christian worship on this site since Roman times. The parish registers are complete from 1558 according to the church’s website.

Viewed from Bishopsgate Plaza, the church is all but submerged in the surrounding buildings. The large glass structure is the entrance to the “Pacific Ballroom”. This is part of the Pan Pacific Hotel, which was behind me as I sketched.

I find it quite hard to draw people, but I wanted to include the discussion between the two women. Their lively conversation contrasted with the stillness of the church, and the enormity of the buildings all around. They created a little private world between themselves.

Here is work in progress on the sketch:

Sketchbook 13

4 St Michael’s Alley, MacAngus & Wainwright, EC3

Here is 4 St Michael’s Alley, City of London, EC3, the premises of MacAngus & Wainwright, bespoke tailors. Their business uses all the floors. Above the ground floor showroom are the fitting room, workroom and cutting room.

4 St Michael’s Alley, London EC3, the premises of MacAngus & Wainwright, bespoke tailors.

The shop is just off Cornhill, near Bank in the City of London and right next to the Jamaica Wine House which I sketched previously. You can see a bit of the Jamaica Wine House on the right of my sketch. The prominent lamp is outside the “George and Vulture” pub, which is hidden on the left.
I made two pictures of this building, on different days and from slightly different angles. Here is the other one:

4 St Michael’s Alley, London EC3, the premises of MacAngus & Wainwright, bespoke tailors.

Here is work in progress on the drawings.

preliminary sketch
preliminary sketch

A succession of tour guides took their groups into the alley in the centre of my picture. This is Castle Court. These alleys apparently feature in Charles Dickens stories. Since J.K Rowling was inspired by the novels of Charles Dickens, there’s also a Harry Potter angle. I overheard this in fragments of tour guide talks. I don’t know if it’s true.

I started sketching in the late morning. This was the time for tour guides. Later, starting from about 1pm, the courtyard became populated by drinkers at the Jamaica Wine House. They were polite people, helpfully stepping aside and congregating on the other side of the alley, so they did not block my view.

The drawings are on Arches Aquarelle 12″ x 7″ 300gsm cold-pressed watercolour blocks, using Daniel Smith paints. The colours are:

Blues: Ultramarine Blue, Lavender, Cobalt Teal Blue

Yellows: Mars Yellow. The house on the right at the back is mostly Nickel Titanate Yellow. It was quite a hard colour to match.

Browns: The tailors building is a mix of Buff Titanium with Mars Yellow. The Jamaica Wine House and other buildings are Fired Gold Ochre, with a bit of transparent Pyrrol Orange.

All blacks and greys are a mix of Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber.

The pen drawing is De Atramentis Document Black ink in a Lamy Safari Fountain pen, fine nib.

21 and 23 Park Street, Borough SE1 “Take Courage”

I enjoy the marvellous trigonometry of this roof, and the encouraging slogan on the wall.

21 and 23 Park Street, Borough, Southwark, London SE1. Sketched 30th August 2023, 2pm.

The slogan is for a brewery, Courage.
This house was built in 1820 for the managers of the Anchor Brewery, then on this site. The Anchor pub is on the river Thames nearby.

Map from “Borough Yards” poster (rotated to put North at the top)

The building, and its cast iron railing, is listed Grade II, number 1385752. When I searched for the list entry in the Historic England register, I found, to my surprise, that the bollards in my picture have their own special listing, number 1385753 “

“5 cast iron Canon posts 1 inscribed “CLINK 1812”

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1385753?section=official-list-entry

So I had to go back and have a closer look at them. Why were they listed? The list entry does not say. There are some bollards in London which are former cannon. It’s always a delight to discover them. They can be positively identified because you can see the indentation or hole near the base, which is where the gunpowder used to be poured in. Also they sometimes have protrusions about two-thirds down where they used to pivot on their gun-carriage. Sometimes the base is flattened on one side. Here are some examples of cannon (click the image to enlarge and see location):

I was unable to find on these 21 Park Street bollards any characteristic which confirmed they might have been cannon. The listing says they are “canon posts” – “canon” spelt like that – not “cannon”. The words “CLINK 1812” were still just about visible on the bollard which is on the right in my drawing. Here are some photos of the posts outside 21 Park Street. Click to enlarge and see captions. Do you think they might be real cannon, or perhaps the word “canon” simply describes a design of post.

“Clink” was the name of the area, from about 1127. It was called the “Liberty of Clink”. The designation “Liberty” implied that it was a civic area under the jurisdiction of the local manor, rather than the King, or the City of London. Famously, certain activities, including theatres, which were forbidden in the City of London were permitted here. The Liberty of Clink was abolished in 1889 and amalgamated into the Southwark in the County of London.

Here are some photos of work in progress on the drawing:


Drawing size 10″ x 8″ on Arches papers 300gsm NOT watercolour paper, in a sketchbook made by Wyvern Bindery.

Watercolours by Daniel Smith:

  • ultramarine blue
  • fired gold ochre
  • green gold
  • burnt umber
  • yellow line is naples yellow
  • All blacks and greys are Ultramarine Blue plus Burnt Umber

A notice on 21 Park Street reads:

The tree closest to this building
 is planted in fond memory of 
Tom Quinlivan 1934-1996 
long time resident of Park Street.

The Jamaica Wine House, EC3

I walked through the City lanes towards London Bridge and passed by the Jamaica Wine House embedded, as it seemed, in a canyon amongst towers.

Jamaica Wine House, 12:30pm 30th August 2023 in Sketchbook 13.

The Cheesegrater and 22 Bishopsgate are the office blocks in the left background and One Leadenhall is under construction on the right.

This is a very old part of the City. Although some buildings have changed, the road layout still retains something of the feeling of Dickensian London. There has been a pub or coffee house on the site of the Jamaica Wine House since 1652. The current building dates from 1868 according to the Historic England List Entry (number 1079156).

Off the picture to the left is MacAngusWainright bespoke tailors and shirtmakers, at number 4 St Michael’s Alley. This shop used to be John Haynes＆Co, the jewellers.

St Michael Cornhill is visible to the left in the background, and you can just see the weathervane on St Peter upon Cornhill in the centre of the picture.

My drawing of St Peter upon Cornhill is in this post:

Location of the Jamaica Wine House in the alleys between Lombard Street and Cornhill. (Map (c) OpenStreetMap contributors)

The picture took an hour on location and I finished it at my desk.

Chair kindly lent by MacAngusWainright

The colours in the picture are:

  • Fired Gold Ochre – my go-to colour for brick and sandstone
  • Ultramarine blue, Lavender, and Cerulean Blue for the sky
  • Burnt Umber in the sky
  • All greys and blacks are Ultramarine Blue with Burnt Umber
  • There’s a bit of Iridescent Gold on the weathervane of St Peter upon Cornhill
  • The trees in St Michael’s garden are Serpentine Genuine with some Permanent Yellow Medium.
  • St Michael on Cornhill is Buff Titanium with some Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue.

Done on Arches 300gsm NOT watercolour paper in a sketchbook by Wyvern Bindery, Hoxton. Thank you to McAngusWainwright, city tailor, for the kind loan of the chair.

London Liverpool Street, EC2

Here is Liverpool Street Station, main entrance, sketched today from outside the “Railway Tavern”.

Liverpool Street Station, 25th June 2023, 1pm. 8″ x 10″ in sketchbook 13.

The humanoid figure on the plinth is Morph, part of a temporary art trail.

The area in front of the main entrance is like an art installation in itself, a collector’s assembly of street furniture: two different types of bollards, long ribbons of fencing, several species of street lamps, and that enormous CCTV stand which is just behind Morph. It’s surprising that people can find their way into the station in amongst the obstacles. I haven’t drawn them all.

Here’s work in progress on the sketch:

Pencil
Pen
The view
Colour

This section of Liverpool Street Station was built in 1875 as the new London terminus of the Great Eastern Railway. The building on the right of my drawing is the edge of the former Great Eastern Hotel (1884), now the Andaz London Liverpool Street. The pink building in the background is an office block on Bishopsgate.

Map: (c) OpenStreetMap Contributors
Sketch map

I’ve sketched in this area before. This post contains more information about the history of Liverpool Street:

Liverpool Street Station from Exchange Square

Here are the magnificent 19th Century arches of Liverpool Street Station, seen from Exchange Square. Liverpool Street Station opened in 18751 Now the question is: what curve is that arch? I thought it might be a CYCLOID. A cycloid is the shape made by a dot on the edge of a rolling wheel. I made…

Keep reading

In 2019 I sketched the entrance to “The Arcade” which is shown on my sketch map. See this post for more about this sketch of The Arcade.

Compton, St John’s Square, London EC1

Clerkenwell has many interesting corners. Here is a view across St John’s Square. I sketched it earlier today, sitting on the step of the Priory Church of the Order of St John. The restaurant is called “Compton”.

View across St John’s Square, Compton restaurant, 21 June 2023, in sketchbook 13

Here’s a map:

Thank you to the kind person from the Priory Church. They emerged from the door behind me. There I was, low down on the step, at the pen-and-ink stage, with my materials laid out neatly on the stone. They obviously had not expected anyone to be sitting on the step. I had not expected anyone to come out of the dark door. It had looked as if it had been closed shut for millennia. After a moment of surprise, politeness prevailed and we both said hello. Thereafter, I grouped my materials into a compact heap, and they came and went, tolerating me amiably, and skirting around me to operate the card key system.

This picture has just four main colours: Ultramarine blue, Brown umber, Mars yellow, and Green Serpentine Genuine. The only other colour is Fired Gold Ochre for the terracotta: the chimneys and the flowerpots. All colours are Daniel Smith watercolours.

Here is work in progress:

Garden of the Museum of the Order of St John, Clerkenwell, London EC1

On a hot day, in need of healing, I re-discovered this herb garden. It is hidden away the other side of a gate off St John’s Square in Clerkenwell. The gate is open and you can walk right in. There are benches, and aromatic plants. At the back, there’s.a cloister.

I went in the cloister, and found the ideal place to sketch: cool, still, and quiet, with a view from those windows.

Here’s the view:

From the Cloister, looking into the garden, 15th June 2023, 10″ x 8″ in Sketchbook 13

The Order of St John has a long history.

By 1080, a hospital had been established in Jerusalem by a group of monks under the guidance of Brother Gerard. Its purpose was to care for the many pilgrims who had become ill on their travels to the Holy Land. The men and women who worked there were members of a new religious order, officially recognised by the Church in 1113. Known as the Hospitallers, they cared for anyone, without distinction of race or faith.

website of the Museum of the Order of St John [https://museumstjohn.org.uk/our-story/history-of-the-order/]

These days, this is the organisation behind St John Ambulance.

The garden is wonderful. A place of solace. People from the offices around go there to eat their lunches and also to discuss office politics I realised. But also to read books, dream, doze, and of course, to sketch. There is a book stand by the gate as you go in, with secondhand books you can borrow or buy.

I’ve sketched in this garden a few years ago, from a slightly different viewpoint:

My sketch shows the backs of houses on Albemarle Way. This street and others nearby feature in the novel “Troubled Blood” by Robert Galbraith.

I looked back at the houses as I walked through the garden on my way out. I saw that one of them claims “Ancient Lights”. That’s asserting the right to light, and was a way in law to prevent anyone constructing a tall building which obstructed your windows. It’s “ancient” because you had to have enjoyed the benefit of the light for 20 years or more before you could assert “Ancient Lights”. This has now been superseded by “modern planning laws” I read. But maybe we should put some “ancient lights” notices on the windows of our flat, just to be sure.

Here are maps:

The drawing took three hours. By the end of that time, my mood had transformed itself, and I walked out healthier than I walked in.

Roofscape from Macklin Street, London WC2

Walking through the back streets of Covent Garden, I came across a row of Victorian brick-built houses. This is Macklin Street. I made a quick sketch of the roofs.

Roofscape from Macklin Street, 5th June 2023 in Sketchbook 13

While sketching I noticed a peculiar thing. There are no doors onto the street. It turns out the entrance to this row of buildings is on the nearby Newton Street, overhung by greenery and climbing plants.

The brick building in my sketch is Wimbledon Buildings, formerly Wimbledon House, built in 1893.

In 1893 the Parker Street Lodging House was
completed for 345 people. In 1896 Aldwych, Cotterell
and Lindsey (demolished in the 1960s), Powis and
Wimbledon buildings were completed for 284 people.
Twenty workshops were also provided. The scheme also
widened Parker Street and Macklin Street.

page 9, Camden Conservation Area Statement (undated) [https://www.camden.gov.uk/documents/20142/7905860/Seven+Dials+Estate+CAS.pdf]

It is now part of a “Central London residential street with a community of social housing and owner occupying flats”, with its own Twitter account. Here is a interesting picture from that Twitter feed, showing the roof gable I sketched. This is the view from Newton Street, with Macklin Street going off to the right. Note the absence of front doors. The entrances are through a gate at the left of the photo.

St Joseph’s Primary School is on Macklin Street. Its former name, Macklin Street Catholic School, is still clearly inscribed in the stonework high up. As I sketched, the children came out into the street at the end of their school day.

The Camden Conservation Area statement mentioned above is on this link . If that doesn’t work, you can download it from the link below. It is 36 pages.

seven-dials-estate-casDownload