A Very Private Man

Detail bedroom window front - note the initials

I was honoured to be invited to a private view the home of Khadambi Asalache at 575 Wandsworth Road, before it is officially opened to the public in early March this year.

Only six people can view the house at one time as it is a tiny Georgian terrace, two up and two down on the 77A bus route South of the river.

We were invited down to the kitchen in the basement of the house entered down narrow stairs. We all sat around a dining table in a cavern of delight. Fretwork everywhere, and the little lampshade over the table was like filligree lace casting light in such a way that the whole effect was like sitting in a shadow  theatre.

I do not want to give too much away but this is where you are introduced to the house and its owner Mr Asalache. His devotion to decorating his house with recycled pine from doors and panels and then used for his epic carving hobby -  16 hours a day over a 4 day period. It is hard to believe how it all started, an attempt to cover up a damp patch! All will be revealed when you visit.

Khadambi Asalache bought the house in 1981 and was pleased with it because it was on his route to work, he was a Civil Servant at the Treasury in Whitehall. He was a man of many talents but he obviously enjoyed his time spent embellishing his home which he continued to do until 2005 when he announced it was finished.

It was his friends who encouraged him to think about leaving his fascinating home to the nation and I for one am so pleased he did.

Once you have visited the house you will have mixed feelings of your own. It is a very private affair even for the visitor. As you wander up and down and enjoy the exquisite collection of artefacts from quill pens to African carved bowls, crockery and kilims. Peep into nooks and crannies and check his shelves with his vinyl and cassettes, I spotted Ry Cooder, Aretha Franklin and Simon and Garfunkel, plus Bach and much more.

The influences are eastern and moorish - the African coral houses of Lamu, the Generaliffe of Granada, the Yali house of the Bosporus. As you become entranced by the decorative work on walls, ceilings, painted floors, corners, doors it is all about balance and harmony not symmetry - even some of the shadows will fool you! There are some areas which are three dimensional like a mini stage set, drawing the eye deep into the curves and motifs.

Many personal belongings remain like a pair of slippers. I will quote from the blog by the conservators that worked on preparing and refurbishing the house in preparation for the public "Each item is an integral part of the total work of art' (by Jess 16/06/2013).
http://575wandsworthroadnt.wordpress.com/

Their careful protection of minute detail - e.g. tea cup posed on a non-matching saucer is not a mistabe but an aesthetic choice - this must be respected, and it is. Pay close attention to the lovely pieces in the kitchen.

The emphasis on the privacy of Khadambi Asalache by the guides adds to the mystery and may annoy some initially, however, there is plenty out there about the wonderful Mr Asalache that you can find beyond the walls of No 575. So just enjoy your visit in the spirit that it is presented, I personally found it a calm and meditative experience, for all the noise of the Wandsworth Road it is an interior of tranquil moving light and shadow. I wondered more about what he was thinking about during his long hours of carving on the back step? Was he putting the world to rights, I doubt it, he was most probably singing poetry in his head or solving some mathematical puzzle, or just enjoying the sheer pleasure of creating something with his hands.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/575-wandsworth-road/

A couple of things you need to know, you will have to view the house without your shoes on. Please wear socks or take some with you. By the time the property opens they are likely to have organised soft overshoes. But just in case, be prepared.

You will have to leave large bags, rucksacks etc in the waiting area. The walls are delicate and you will not be allowed to take your bags around the house with you.

Refreshments : After our tour we hot beverages and good plain food at the Savoy Cafe, 390 Wandsworth Road, London SW8 4TN. Very clean and has toilets. It is situated under the railway bridge on the left hand side of the road. Closed Sunday.

Crosby Hall once home to Richard III

Sydney R Jones whilst walking and discoursing on "Beyond the walls, Lud Gate, and the Fleet Bridge, the ancient line of Fleet Street and the Strand contained more town houses of the clerics, and the nobility and the gentry".  ... between Fleet Street and Holborn were to be found the Inns of Chancery; Gray's Inn stood in rural surroundings; and the Bishops of Ely cultivated strawberries in their garden beside the beautiful fourteenth-century chapel at Ely Place, for did not Richard of Gloucester say:

"My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, I saw good strawberries in your garden there."

Extract from Shakespeare's Richard III (page 65)

Then later on we have mention on Page 79 of Crosby Hall originally in Bishopsgate but removed to Chelsea in 1910:

"Enter two Murderers.

Gloucester: "But, soft! here come my executioners.

How now, my hardy stout resolved mates!

Are you now going to dispatch this deed?

When you have done, repair to Crosby Place."

 

Crosby Hall

 The Caption reads: "CROSBY HALL, BISHOPSGATE, 1908. The home of Sir John Crosby, Lord Mayor, Grocer, merchant, diplomat and ambassador, the man who rode north to welcome Edward IV at Ravenspur. Built in 1466, the Hall was lived in later by the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III, Sir Thomas More, Sir William Roper, Sir John Spencer, Mary Countess of Pembroke, and by ambassadors and servants of King's and Queen's. The drawing was made before the removal of the Hall to Chelsea in 1910. St Helen's Church, full of monuments of City worthies, shows in the background."   

 http://www.christophermoran.org/news/building-the-past-country-life-feature-crosby-hall/

Crosby Hall removed to Chelsea

Creating a walk – ‘Walbrook where art thou?’

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This was never meant to be a stand-alone theme,  it developed from a walk I was asked to do for the Lord Mayor’s Show, which started at Mansion House and ended at Blackfriars. It was all planned and prepared but somehow the story of this long disappeared river of London kept coming up en route - when you are aware of the evidence of its existence it is hard not to mention it. So instead of a walk about food I've ended up with water!

My interest had started to be aroused nearly a year earlier at a LAMAS Lecture at the Museum of London when Stephen Myers gave a talk, he is the author of ‘Walking on Water’ about London’s hidden rivers. It was riveting and the notes taken by a colleague became the basis of this walk.

Not sure why I did not go out and buy the book, it just didn’t happen that way. Just used the notes, Stow, and a couple of interesting Victorian writers on the subject, one with the surname ‘Foord’!  So appropriate to the subject. Copious notes followed all to be pared down to bullet points taking up three pages – definitely a page and half too long!

Also began walking what was recorded to be the meanderings of the river picking up from the West end of Broadgate, under the Roman Wall, across London Wall, along Copthall Avenue, down Token House Yard through the church of St Margaret Lothbury and so on.  The fact that St Margaret straddles two wards is because? Yes, a river ran through the site of the original church. Also the name Lothbury is a clue, previously known as ‘upon Lothberi’ perhaps describing a crossing over a tributary of the Walbrook.

MOLA Hoarding - Bucklersbury Hythe -
 Artists Impression of dock as high up as Bucklersbury

In Court of Common Council records it is written that the Walbrook created an administrative division between the then 24 Wards (self-governing districts within the City), denoted by ‘East of Walbrook’ or ‘West of Walbrook’ certainly until the end of the Tudor period. The church rebuilt in 1440 straddled the culverted Walbrook and still has plaques denoting Coleman and Broad Street Wards on the building.

Nero coin found Bucklersbury Site
and shown to us on 18/02/13

Creating a walk requires considerable time and research and then it has to be walked and tried out several times. Even on the day of the first walk there are still tweaks, omissions and additions to consider. Also your audience can ask a question which you may have the answer for but did not initially recognise its relevance, and importance to the listener, so the next time you include it. Of course you need to be timely with your stops and when you have so much to tell but only a short time to tell it, you have to be succinct. Which can be frustrating, but that’s what the training and practice is all about. I think that is the hardest part to know when to stop and move on.

(c) Steve Duncan - Urban Explorer
Walbrook 'springs eternal'

Today I found a copy of Stephen Myer’s book at the Guildhall Library and it’s a great read. Of course I have now discovered even more interesting things to include.  It also raised further questions and perhaps even doubts.  That’s the way with talking and walking history, you never know what will be discovered or what new information is forth coming, there is not one way of telling it but many. 

One thing is for certain the Walbrook may have been the first of the London rivers to disappear but it will certainly not be the last time you will be hearing about it.

Come and join me and let me tell you more - http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/5226753360

Check out the MOLA site below:

http://walbrookdiscovery.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/feeling-drained/