The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel was originally the Midland Grand Hotel designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1865. Did Sir Gilbert think he’d done enough that year?
Heck no; here is what else he designed in that one year. He was working on the Vaughan Library at Harrow School, the Foreign and Commonweath Office in Whitehall, Preston Town Hall, the Old Schools in Cambridge, Leeds General Infirmary and the Albert Memorial. Then, specifically in 1865, he took on some smaller projects: a parsonage in Lancashire, a school masters’ house in Northamptonshire and almshouses in Gloucestershire. Was he done? Nope. He filled in his spare time that year designing churches in Uxbridge, Pendleton, Penshurst, Lewisham and Shackleford.
Scott was a prolific architect although he may not have seen all of his work. He designed a church in Hamburg (briefly the tallest building in the world) that was destroyed in World War Two, the cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, that was badly damaged in the earthquake of 2011, and a cathedral in Newfoundland.
Rather closer to home, for me, he built St Mary Abbots Church on the corner of Kensington High Street and Kensington Church Street in 1872. There has been a church on this site since the beginning of the 12th century and the names of the vicars are recorded back to 1262. More recently the Princess of Wales, David Cameron and Michael Gove were/are parishioners. A striking feature of the building is the spire – the tallest in London.
I popped in on Friday for a (free) lunchtime concert by students at the Royal College of Music. First we heard a playful piece by French composer, Delvincourt, called Croquembouches. This is a dessert consisting of a cone of choux pastry balls held together with a web of caramel. His composition has six movements each called after puddings from different countries. The first was our plum pudding and the last Rahat Loukhoum (Turkish Delight). It was played on the saxophone accompanied by piano.
Next up was the UK premiere by a modern (born 1968) Spanish composer of a piece arranged for saxophone, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet and bassoon. A reed quintet is rather unusual and, even more unusual for a premier of a modern piece, it was very enjoyable.
The last piece was Brahms’s 7 Fantasien, composed towards the end of his life in 1892. It was played beautifully by Petar Dimov. He is Bulgarian. The other musicians were Spanish, Australian, Chinese and British. The RCM attracts students and post-graduate students of the highest calibre from all over the world.
Thank you, Christopher, for introducing us to George Gilbert Scott who was born in July 1811 and died in March 1878. During that time, according to Wiki, 800 buildings were designed or altered by him including as listed (according to my calculations) 79 public buildings, the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park being one of them, 58 domestic buildings, 82 Church buildings, 26 Church restorations, 28 Cathedral restorations, 15 Abbey restorations and 8 others – there are photos of a number of them. How much more could one man fit in working on in a lifetime of 66 years!
It’s an interesting point. Modern architects get bogged down in project management and could not possibly be so productive. I imagine that Gilbert Scott did detailed designs and then let others get on with the job of creating the building while he turned his attention to a new commission.
Interesting to see the multinational nature of the RCM students whose work you enjoyed- and to be applauded as one of the things that has made London the great city that it is. Will this survive the desire for “taking back control” of our borders I wonder? particularly given Mrs May’s insistence in counting students in the immigration numbers.
I wonder how Goodenough College in Bloomsbury will fare? It is home to more than 600 post grad students from some 95 countries. The only country from which they do not usually take students is the UK.
Goodenough College was founded to provide a welcoming academic community for international postgrads studying in London so we are not massive fans of Brexit. Around 15% of our students are EU nationals and we anticipate losing a fair number once the deed is done. But alongside this threat we see an opportunity to enhance the College’s historic links with the Commonwealth and encourage more of their students to study in the UK. I see some signs that the Government is thinking this way.
Incidentally 10% of our students are Brits and we actively seek mature types. Why not apply?