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Message !Holland ParkMichael Strachan

Copyright © heritagewalks.london 2019 75 West Street, Harrow on the Hill, London HA1 3EL info@walkingthepast.co.uk First published in the UK in 2012 Text and images copyright © Michael Strachan Michael Strachan has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. (The cover illustration shows part of Holland House).

Holland ParkMichael Strachan

INTRODUCTION Holland Park contains a street and public park of the same name. It's roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road to the west, Holland Park Avenue to the north, and Kensington Church Street to the east. Notting Hill lies to the north, Earl's Court to the south, and Shepherd's Bush to the northwest. The tree-lined streets contain large Victorian townhouses, shops and cultural tourist attractions like Holland House and the Design Museum. Much of the area was de-veloped between 1860 and 1880 in projects of master builders William and Francis Radford, who built over 200 houses here. The district was rural until the 19th century, and mostly the grounds of a Jacobean mansion called Holland House. In the later decades of that century the owners of the house sold off the outlying parts of its grounds for residential development, including the Phillimore Estate (there are at least four roads with the word Phillimore in their name) and the Camden Hill Square area. In the late 19th century many notable artists, including Frederic Leighton, Marcus Stone and Phil May) lived in the area, known as the Holland Park Circle. Other artists include writers, singers and dancers like Marie Rambert. 1The Coronet Theatre 1898The Belvedere RestaurantLord Leighton’s house

The park covers about 22 hectares with a northern half of semi-wild woodland, central section of formal garden areas, and southernmost section used for sport. Holland House is just a fragmentary ruin, having been devastated by incendiary bombing during the Second World War in 1940, but the ruins and the grounds were bought by London County Council in 1952 from the last private owner, the 6th Earl of Ilchester. Today the remains of the house form a backdrop for the open air Holland Park Theatre, which is the home of Op-era Holland Park. To the immediate south of the park is the former site of the Commonwealth Institute, now home to the Design Museum. To hear this Introduction please click this icon To find out more about ‘What3Words’ please click this information icon 2If you would like to donate an amount which will help us cover our costs and continue to work on new publications please scan or tap the QR link below:

Planning Your Walk 1. If possible, walk with a friend. 2. Tel l s omeo ne whe re you are g oin g. 3. Tak e c are wh en walking at night. 4. Wear sensible clothes and footwear. 5. Always take a bottle of water to avoid de-hydration. 6. Don't try to do too much in one visit. 7. Check the opening times of all Museums and Galleries online. 8. Tak e y our cam era or cam era ph one wit h b atte rie s f ully charged. 9. If you are printing out this do staple these!pages!together!. 10. Don’t forget to download your free Quiz and Plaque scoresheets by using the URL links on the next page… Starts at Notting Hill Gate Underground station. (Central, Circle and District Lines) Ends at Kensington High Street Underground station. (Circle & District Lines) Use the Transport for London (TFL) planner to plan your journey. 34.2 km 2.6 miles 2-3 hrs

To make your walk more interesting… …we have created an on-line, interactive map which you can find by clicking the link below, or by scanning the green QR code opposite. This will only work if you are reading this guide on a smart device like an iPad: Plot-a-Route map We have also added some fun challenges - the first is a picture quiz. So you need to look out for interesting ob-jects such as ‘street furniture’, statues and architectural features shown in the I-Spy Challenge scoresheet. Click the link below, or scan the pink QR code opposite, to access a download for this scoresheet. It can then be printed or saved: I-Spy Challenge The second challenge is to ‘bag’ all the plaques along this walk. These are listed on a ‘Pastwalkers’ scoresheet along with their ‘what3words’ loca-tions. (Click the information icon op-posite for more about how ‘What3Words’ works). The plaque scores are based on age and quality rather than the importance of the person or event commemorated. Download by clicking on the link below, or by scanning the blue QR code opposite: Plaque Challenge 4Tick them off when you find them

From Notting Hill Gate to High Street Kensington Take the station exit to the South side of Not-ting Hill Gate and the stairs on the right up to the street level… Walk straight ahead on Notting Hill Gate up to the ‘Gate Picture House’… This cinema opened in 1911 as the Electric Palace, having been converted from an 1861 restaurant. It later became The Embassy, and in 1931 was one of the first British cinemas to convert fully to sound. During the Second World War, the ornate exterior was severely damaged and replaced with a plain façade and flat roof. Since the 1950s the venue has stead-ily built a reputation as the place to see avant-garde and experimental cinema alongside repertory art-house programmes. With new ownership in 1974 came the change of name to The Gate. In 2003 the cinema joined the Picturehouse group and was fully refurbished. A little further on and you will see a second cinema - ‘The Coronet'… The Coronet Theatre was designed and built by the well known theatre architect W.G.R. Sprague at a cost of £25,000 and opened under the management 5‘The Gate’ interior

of Edward George Saunders in 1898. The Theatre's furniture and decorations were supplied and ex-ecuted by Messrs Waring and Gillow. Famous actors who appeared at the theatre in its early days included Ellen Terry and Sarah Bernhardt. However, despite its position close to central Lon-don, it would only operate as a full time Theatre for 18 years before Cinema began to take over. By 1923 the Theatre was altered to full time Cinema by the addition of a projection room in the former Dress Circle Bar, and a screen fitted forward of the pro-scenium arch. By 1972 the Rank Organisation had decided to sell the building for demolition and regeneration of the site with offices and shops but thankfully the local Council, after a sustained campaign by local resid 6The Coronet in 1908

ents to save the building, made the site a conserva- tion area, so halting the plans. To discover more about its current state click here… Continue down Notting Hill Gate past the en-trances to Farmer Street and Hillgate Street until you reach Campden Hill Road… Walk up this road until you see Campden Hill Gardens on your right. Follow this road around until you see number 19 where you will see the first plaque… Marie Rambert was born in Warsaw in 1888. In 1905 she was sent to Paris to study medicine. She was too young to begin medical studies immediately and so continued her dancing while she waited. In 1910 she went to Jaques-Dalcroze’s School of Eurhythmics in Geneva, and when Serge Diaghilev needed someone to help Vaslav Nijin-sky teach his cast the complicated rhythms of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Dalcroze recommended her and she joined the Ballets Russes in 1912 to teach eurhythmics, assist Nijinsky and dance. At the outbreak of the First World War she moved to Britain and supported herself by teaching dance and eurhythmics. In 1918 she married the English play-wright, Ashley Dukes, whose support and encour-agement for her work proved invaluable. 7Dame Marie Rambert

In 1920 she opened her own school of dancing in Kensington and six years later she and her students appeared in a short ballet by one of her pupils, Fre-derick Ashton, at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith. Ashley Dukes bought a disused church hall in Not-ting Hill Gate in 1928 and converted it to accom-modate both his wife’s school and later the small Mercury Theatre. This provided a permanent home for the Company.She became one of the great pioneers of modern British ballet and inspired countless dancers, cho-reographers and designers for over sixty years, in-cluding Harold Turner, Sally Gilmour and Celia Franca. 8

Frederick Ashton, Antony Tudor, Norman Morrice and Christopher Bruce were amongst those who es-pecially benefited from her enthusiasm and advice. Dame Marie retained an active interest in everything the Company did, until her death in 1982. Click here… to see Ballet Rambert dancers talking about ‘Ghost Dances’… At the end of Campden Hill Gardens turn right into Aubrey Walk… St George’s Church is on your right and is described on its website: ‘A local Kensington man built St George’s. His name was John Bennett, a builder of Campden Hill. His son George was to be its first vicar when the church was consecrated in 1864. The architect was Enoch Bassett Keeling. He was master of the short-lived fashion, “Eclectic Gothic”. This style made a daring and inventive mix of shapes, designs and colours derived from various mediaeval sources. St George’s, soundly built and much admired at the time, must have presented a dazzling interior to its early congregations. Succeeding generations have put a stop to all the gothic design. Most of the decorations were painted over or covered. Subsidence at the altar end put paid to the big window and reredos. Now, in our time, much has been done to restore the interior to its former glory.’ 9

Having admired the interior of this church, (if you are able to gain entry), continue along Aubrey Walk to the next plaque at number 38/40… Dusty Springfield lived here. Born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (OBE) she was known professionally as Dusty Springfield. A British singer with a distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a significant singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dramatic ballads, who could also sing French chanson, country, and jazz. At her 1960s peak, she ranked among the most successful British female performers on both sides of the Atlantic. Her image – topped by a peroxide blonde bouffant/beehive hairstyle, with heavy makeup (thick black eyeliner and eye shadow) and evening gowns, as well as stylised, gestural performances – made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties. Click here… to see Dusty Springfield singing ‘I Only Want To Be With You’… Continue to the corner of Aubrey Walk and turn into Aubrey Road… Look out here for the plaque commemorating Au-brey House and Kensington Wells. Its distinctive LCC rectangular design gives it the highest score. Situ-ated on the site of a medicinal spring known in the 10Dusty Springfield

17th century as the Kensington Wells, it was named Aubrey House after Aubrey de Vere who held the manor of Kensington just after the Norman invasion (listed in the Domesday Book). The core of the house is thought to date to 1698 but it was remod-elled by Sir Edward Lloyd between 1745 and 1754. It became a centre for radical thought and political exiles in the 1860s under Clementia and Peter Alfred Taylor; Giuseppe Garibaldi stayed at the house in 1864. William Alexander bought the house in 1873 and employed James McNeill Whistler to produce some interior designs which were, unfortunately, destroyed in 1913. Meetings of the nascent British women's suffrage campaign were held here. The house served as a hospital during the First World War and later became the most expensive property ever sold in London when it was bought in 1997 by the publisher and philanthropist Sigrid Rausing. Walk down Aubrey Road and turn right into Campden Hill Square where you’ll find the next two plaques… Siegfried Sassoon CBE MC lived at 23 Campden Hill Square. He served on the Western Front in World War 1 and was decorated for bravery. However, he turned against the war in his writing, describing the horrors of the trenches and satirising the patriotic pretensions of those who, in his view, were re-sponsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. 11Siegfried Sassoon

He made a lone protest against the continuation of the war in his "Soldier's Declaration" of 1917, and was admitted to a military psychiatric hospital where he became friends with Wilfred Owen, who was greatly influenced by him. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictional-ised autobiography, collectively known as the "Sher-ston trilogy". Continue along Campden Hill Square to num-ber 16… Charles Langbridge Morgan was a playwright and novelist who lived here. The main themes of his work were, as he himself put it, "Art, Love, and Death", and the relation between them. Morgan was educated at the Naval Col-leges of Osborne and Dartmouth and served as a midshipman in the China Fleet until 1913. On the outbreak of war he was sent with Churchill's Naval Division to the defence of Antwerp. He was interned in Holland which provided the setting for his best-selling novel The Fountain. He married the Welsh novelist Hilda Vaughan in 1923. He was the drama critic of The Times from the 1920s until 1938, and contributed weekly articles on the London theatre to the New York Times. He was awarded the French Legion of Honour in 1936, a promotion in 1945, and was elected a member of 12

the Institut de France in 1949. From 1953 he was the president of International PEN. Morgan enjoyed an immense reputation during his lifetime and was awarded the 1940 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Cross over and turn down the other side of Campden Hill Square to view the next plaque at number 9… John McDouall Stuart was a Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Aus-tralia's inland explorers. He led the first successful expedition to traverse the Australian mainland from south to north and return, through the centre of the continent. His experience and the care he showed for his team ensured he never lost a man, despite the harshness of the country he encountered. These explorations resulted in the 1863 an-nexation of a huge area of country to the Government of South Australia. This area be-came known as the Northern Territory. In 1911 the Commonwealth of Australia assumed responsibility for that area. In 1871–72 the Australian Overland Telegraph Line was constructed along Stuart's route. The principal road from Port Augusta to Darwin was also established essentially on his route and was in 1942 named the Stuart Highway in his honour. 13John McDouall Stuart

Retrace your steps back around to the other side of Campden Hill Square… Walk down this side of Campden Hill Square to number 50… The plaque here celebrates Evelyn Underhill a Christian philosopher and teacher. She was a popular English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works on religion and Christian mysticism. Her best-known book is ‘Mysticism’, published in 1911. From the back cover of this book: ‘Drawing on the voices of such great mystics as Meister Eckhart, St John of the Cross, St Teresa of Avila, Rumi and 'Attar, Underhill offers a unique account of the multi-dimensional world of the mystic, from psychology and symbolism to visions and con-templation. She both introduces mysticism and ex-amines the stages of mystical awakening that lead the human soul from a life of sense to a spiritual life in harmony with the Absolute -- however it is under-stood.’ Carry on down Campden Hill Square to reach Holland Park Avenue… Turn right briefly and cross over the road at the nearest safe crossing for the next plaque at 12 Holland Park Avenue… 14Evelyn Underhill

Caroline deCamp Benn lived here for many years. An educationalist and writer, she was the wife of the British Labour politician Tony Benn (formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate), one of the Labour Party’s rising stars. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and educated at Vassar College and the University of Cincinnati. She travelled to the United Kingdom in 1948 to study at Oxford University where she met her future husband, and just nine days later he proposed to her on a park bench in that city. Cross back over Holland Park Avenue… Number 1 Holland Park Avenue used to have a wall adjoining the pavement with a plaque dedicated to James McBey - an artist who lived here. ‘A self-taught Scottish etcher whose prints were highly valued during the later stages of the etching revival in the early 20th century’. The frontage has now been altered and the plaque removed (as of 2023). (This plaque has been removed - unless it is restored we cannot count it as a score.) 15Caroline Benn James McBey

Continue walking downhill until you reach the en-trance to Holland Walk on your left… Enjoy walking up this charming path with Hol-land Park on your right until you pass the Hol-land Park School buildings on your left… When this school was opened in 1958, it was con-sidered a flagship for comprehensive education, and nicknamed 'the socialist Eton' Opposite Campden Hill road - there is an en-trance on your right into Holland Park itself… The park covers about 22 hectares (54 acres), half semi-wild woodland and half formal garden areas, and the southernmost section is used for sport. Walk in and take the first path on your right… Take the first turning on your left to reach the memorial statue of… …Lord Holland (shown right) was an English politician and a major figure in Whig politics in the early 19th century. He was also one of the wealthy West-Indian landowners who benefited from the British govern-ment’s over-generous compensa-tion to the slave-owners for the 16

granting of freedom to slaves. The slaves were ig-nored and received nothing for their suffering or to help them in the future. Turn left from the statue to the pathway junction marked by the ‘What3Words’ QR opposite… The buildings of Holland House and the home of Opera Holland Park are now facing you… Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was an early Jacobean country house. It was built in 1605 by the diplomat Sir Walter Cope. The building 17

later passed by marriage to Henry Rich, 1st Baron Kensington, 1st Earl of Holland, and by descent through the Rich family, then became the property of the Fox family, during which time it became a noted gathering-place for Whigs in the 19th century. Largely destroyed by German firebombing during the Blitz in 1940, today only the east wing and some ruins of the ground floor and south facade remain, along with various outbuildings and formal gardens. In 1949 these ruins were designated a grade I listed building and are now owned by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Turn right here and follow the path with the Ja-panese Gardens on your right and Dutch Garden on your left… Walk along this path turning left down to the next ‘What3Words’ marker… The ‘The Belvedere’- a high-end restaurant housed in part of the old structure of Holland House is on your left. Further on and you’ll come across another beautiful remnant of the past in the brick arches of 'The Orangery' - a venue for high class weddings and other society events. Continue on this path until you reach a wider main path still leading south to the entrance to Ilchester Place… 18

Walk to the junction with Melbury Road and turn right to look for the next blue plaque at number 31… This 1877 house (originally number 11) was de-signed by Sir Norman Shaw for Sir Luke Fildes the Victorian illustrator and portrait painter who lived and died here. (It was also the home of Michael Winner from 1972 until his death here in 2013. Then Robbie Williams moved in.) Fildes was a woodcut designer for magazines such as 'The Graphic', the first issue of which included pictures of homeless people. He also illustrated the first published chapters of Charles Dickens' unfinished last novel entitled 19Sir Luke Fildes House

'The Mystery of Edwin Drood'. Although relat-ively unknown nowadays, he must have been famous enough in his time, as he is mentioned in Gilbert and Sullivan's penultimate operetta 'Utopia Limited'. Carry on walking down Melbury road until you reach number 8 where… …there are two plaques - the first com-memorates Marcus Stone, an artist. The other is dedicated to Michael Powell the film director who also lived here. Marcus Stone was the son of Frank Stone ARA and was trained by his father - first exhibiting at the Royal Academy before he was eighteen. A few years later he illustrated, with much success, books by Charles Dickens, An-thony Trollope, and other writers who were friends of his family.’ The other plaque on this house com-memorates an English filmmaker Mi-chael Powell - celebrated for his part-nership with Emeric Pressburger. To-gether they wrote, produced and direc-ted a series of classic British films that are still very highly regarded. 20Marcus StoneMichael Powell

These include: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, also called Stairway to Heaven), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951). Martin Scorsese greatly admired Powell's work and in the 1980s initiated a revival of interest in his work. This relationship resulted in Powell meeting and marry-ing Thelma! Schoonmaker, Scorsese's editor. Continue walking down Melbury Road until you reach number 2A… You’ll see a blue plaque on this handsome red-brick house that commemorates Sir Hamo Thor-nycroft RA - an English sculptor, responsible for some of London's best-known statues, including the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside the Palace of Westminster. He was a keen student of classical sculpture and was one of the youngest artists to be elected to the Royal Academy, in 1882. Walk to the junction with Strangways Terrace and turn into this road… Turn left into Holland Park Road and look for number 20… 21Sir Hamo Thornycroft

Philip William May lived here - an English caricaturist who, ‘with his vigorous eco-nomy of line, played an important role in moving away from Victorian styles of illus-tration towards the creation of the mod-ern humorous cartoon.’ ‘Examples of his work can be found at the leading Australian galleries, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, and around three hundred drawings and watercolours are in the collection of Leeds Art Gallery.' Continue along Holland Park Road and look for an imposing red-brick building on your left - Leighton House Museum… This building ‘was the London home of painter Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton (1830–1896), a British Victori-an painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subjects in an academic style. His paintings were very popular during his lifetime, but fell out of critical favour in the early 20th century. He was Knighted in 1878, made Baron Leighton on 24 January 1896 and died the next day. With no son to inherit the barony, this was the shortest peerage ever recorded. 22Frederick LeightonPhil May

Leighton commissioned the architect and designer George Aitchison to build him a combined home and studio noted for its use of tiles and other ele-ments purchased in the Near East to build a magni-ficent Qa'a (room). The house/Museum - completed between 1866 and 1895 on the privately owned Ilchester Estate - is now Grade II* listed. It is noted for its elaborate Orientalist and aesthetic interiors.’ It functioned more as a museum, art gallery and display space for his talents than a private house. Here he lived alone in one plain bedroom where he later died.For tickets and further information click here… For RBKC virtual tour click here… From the Museum turn left along Holland Park Road to Melbury Road and briefly turn left for the next two plaques at number 18… Cetshwayo kaMpande was the ruler of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1884 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. He opposed the war and tried to make peace with the Brit-ish. However his peace attempts were rejected and he was defeated and ex-iled following the Zulu defeat. Later he was allowed to return to Zululand, where he died in 1884. 23Cetshawo

The second plaque commemorates another artist - William Holman-Hunt. An English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, his paintings were notable for their attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism. Hunt was deeply influenced by the writings of John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle.. Turn back and walk down to Kensing-ton High Street where you can turn left into the last section of this walk… Just before the Design Museum Shop on your left you will see the next plaque on the end wall of Melbury Court… Sir David Low lived in this block at number 33. A New Zealand political cartoonist and caricaturist, he lived and worked in the United Kingdom for many years and was a self-taught. He made his reputation from his Colonel Blimp depictions and his satir-ising of the personalities and policies of Ger-man dictator Adolf Hitler, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Soviet dictator Joseph Stal-in, and other leaders of his times. His most famous character - Colonel Blimp was portrayed in the movie titled The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) produced and directed by Powell and Pressburger. 24Sir David LowHolman-Hunt

It follows the life of an admirable British officer named Clive Candy. The audience was encouraged to accept that, although the officer was honourable, with time his opinions had become outdated, and that winning a modern war required irregular means. This classic British movie featured Roger Livesey in the title role, with Deborah Kerr, and Anton Wal-brook. To your left is the former site of the Commonwealth Institute, now home to the Design Museum. This in-novative centre exhibits product, industrial, graphic, fashion, and architectural design. In 2018, the mu-seum won the European Museum of the Year Award. As you walk on along Kensington High Street, if you haven’t already visited the Design Museum, you can still visit it through the Design Museum Shop on your left at number 224-238 Kensington High Street. 25

There is another, slightly unusual plaque nearby commemorating part of ‘The Trafalgar Way’. It is one of a series of plaques along the 271-mile route taken by a British Royal Navy officer Lieutenant John Richards Lapenotiere, using a series of post-chaise carriages on his famous journey of 4th to 6th November 1805. He commanded the tiny topsail schooner HMS Pickle, and ob-served the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 Oc-tober 1805. He helped in the rescue op-erations which followed before carrying the dispatches of the victory and the death of Admiral Nelson to Britain and along this route. Continue East along Kensington High Street until you come to number 186… The singer Alma Cogan lived here. She was a British singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed the "Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice”, she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era. The last plaque on this walk can be found by taking a short diversion. It commemorates the author of one of the greatest books in the English language and one of the most memorable fictional characters. Turn left from Kensington High Street into Argyll Road… 26Lt. John LapenotiereAlma Cogan

Walk up Argyle Road and turn left into Philimore Place… 16 Philimore Place was the London home of Ken-neth Grahame who wrote ‘The Wind on the Willows’ and brought the fantastic, the inestimable, the modest Mr Toad into existence. “All this he saw, for one moment breath-less and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.” For more than a century, The Wind in the Willows and the adventures of its endearing heroes — Mole, Ratty, Badger, and the incorrigible Toad — have en-chanted children of all ages. 27Kenneth Grahame

The novel was based on bedtime stories Grahame told his son Alastair but poorly received by the critics when it was first published. The public adored it, however, and it has been adapted many times for both stage and screen. Retrace your steps back to Kensing-ton High Street… Cross over the road by the nearest safe crossing point and enter Kens-ington High Street Station where this walk ends. 28

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