The Royal College of Physicians building on St Andrews Place, opposite Regents Park was officially opened on 5th November 1964 by Queen Elizabeth II. The society, founded in 1518, had decided to move their headquarters from their building in Pall Mall to a new site, previously home to Someries House, a John Nash building damaged in World War II. The new headquarters was designed by Denys Lasdun, chosen after a process involving the interviewing of five architects. The new building had to fit into the surrounding stucco terraces, incorporate historical elements transferred from the old RCP headquarters and provide offices, meeting rooms, a dining room and a library. Lasdun set the new building in a T-plan, with a white mosaic-clad entrance block balanced against a curving dark brick lecture theatre facing Regents Park, and a dark brick administration block along Albany Street, which is also home to the president's apartment.The overhanging library gallery at the front is supported by two thin columns, with groups of thin, vertical windows allowing light into the top floor. On the north side of the exterior is a rugged concrete staircase, a contrast with the more elegant staircases found inside. Inside, a cantilevered staircase rises through the building which seems to open up as it gets higher, with galleries overlooking the space from each floor. The interior is finished in white marble and mosaic, with one wall full of official portraits of members, both ancient and modern. The cool 1960s modernity is counterbalanced by reminders of the institution's long history throughout the building. The Censors Room projects from the side of the building hanging above the garden area. Its exterior is clad in clean, mid-century white mosaic but the interior steps back to the 17th century with wood panelling by Robert Hooke and paintings from previous buildings. The shock of the ancient amidst the modern is a trick that Richard Rogers would use in the Lloyds building 20 years later, with the 1763 Committee Room recreated inside that High Tech temple. The second floor Harvevian library is a recreation of an 18th century place of learning, again panelled in wood and on two levels. At the east end of the building is the Osler room, which again takes up two floors, and provides dining and reception facilities, which can be divided by a hydraulic screen. Back down on the ground floor is a small spiral staircase down to the basement, with walls clad in subtly coloured tiles. Also on the basement level, is stained glass from a previous RCP building, reset by Keith New next to another staircase.The basement opens out onto the garden area looking out onto the terraces of St Andrews Place. On the northside is an extension from 1996, also by Lasdun, a circular meeting room, perfectly in the spirit of the original design. The building was much praised on its completion, with Pevsner calling it “one of the most distinguished buildings of its decade”. It was also awarded the RIBA Bronze Medal in 1964 and a Civic Trust Award in 1967. The building was listed in April 1998, and has been awarded Grade I status, a rare accolade for a post war building. The College has regular tours of the building and is a regular participant in the Open House London festival. The Royal College of Physicians is one of many Denys Lasdun buildings featured in our Mini Guide No.4, dedicated to the work of the architect. It features 40 colour images of his buildings, including detailed descriptions and histories. Get your copy HERE
0 Comments
The modernist mews houses came to the fore in London in the early 1960s as the first post war generation of architects sought to build their own homes, with the rundown backstreets of Camden a particularly fertile area to find an affordable plot of land. Here we present three examples you may come across wandering around NW1. 2 Regal Lane, Primrose Hill, Camden 1961 John Winter A three storey house on a mews opposite Regents Park, this home was designed and built by architect John Winter for himself and his family in the early 1960s whilst working in the office of Erno Goldfinger. A set of garages were on the plot when Winter and his wife Val bought it, and they incorporated the old buildings into their new home. The house was constructed using reclaimed brick, in situ concrete and large windows, allowing light into the house on its narrow plot. The house also features a steel spiral staircase which reaches all the way up to the top floor with the master bedroom and a balcony facing towards the park. Winter extended his original design both before and after before moving to his corten steel house in Swains Lane, Highgate. Winter also designed two further houses in Regal Lane in 1963, Nos.10 & 11, two connected houses in brick with a carport on the ground floor. 15-19 Murray Mews 1964-65 Team 4 Down an indistinct side mews to the east of Camden Town is an early project by two of the most famous names in the second half of 20th century architecture. 15-19 Murray Mews was one of a handful of projects by partnership of Team 4, the short-lived practice made up of Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Su Brumwell, Wendy Cheesman and Georgie Wolton. The practice only lasted for 4 years, with Wolton leaving after a few months, but produced a handful of influential designs. One of them was this group of three houses in Camden, all squeezed onto a small plot. The houses open straight out on the street and have a private courtyard at the rear with glazed walls, allowing light into the interior. The houses are constructed of red brick walls and concrete floors, with a sloping glass roof. The tribulations of the houses construction, with an unscrupulous builder ignoring many details of the houses designs, led the practice to look at alternative materials and construction, paving the way for their glass and steel High Tech future. A large number of other houses were built along Murray Mews, including those by Tom Kay (No.22), Richard Gibson (No.20) and David and Ann Hyde-Harrison (No.33). 62 Camden Mews
1962-5 Edward Cullinan Edward ‘Ted’ Cullinan began his career working for Denys Lasdun, working on projects like the Royal College of Physicians and the University of East Anglia. In 1960 he decided to build a house for himself and his family on an empty lot on Camden Mews. He produced a design for a house facing south with an open plan living area on the first floor, with windows angled to maximize sunlight through the day, but also provide shade in high summer. Bedrooms were placed on the ground floor, with the letter box emptying into the main bedroom, an idea that allows the Sunday newspaper to be delivered directly to bed! The two floors are connected by an external staircase via a terrace on the garage roof, and a smaller internal spiral staircase.The house was built between 1962 and 64 by Cullinan with friends and family of a few years, on weekends and when time allowed, using a mixture of timber, brick and concrete, bought , borrowed and stolen (or at least reclaimed). Cullinan and family lived at 62 Camden Mews until Cullian’s death in 2019, with the house recently going on the market for the first time. As on Murray Mews, the 1960s, 70s and 80s saw a number of young architects build houses on Camden Mews, such as Jon Howard (No.74), Peter Bell (no.4) and Sheila Bull (No.23). Anatomy of a House No.18 |
Archives
November 2024
Categories |