Holland Park and Czech Embassy Visit
20/04/2022
Holland Park and Czech Embassy Visit
Led by Peter Jamieson and Peter Ruback - Fully Booked
Wednesday 20 April 2022
Start: 10.30 am Kensington High Street outside the Design Museum
Finish: 1 pm the Czech Embassy
A walk celebrating some of the best mid-century and brutalist buildings in an area best known for High Victorian architecture, and finishing with a visit to the Czech Embassy.
We start outside the Design Museum which was formerly the Commonwealth Institute, by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners (1960-62). Despite a C20 campaign the former Institute was almost completely rebuilt by OMA and Allies and Morrison with the interior remodelled for the museum by John Pawson (2016).
We will see buildings by some distinguished practices (including Colin St John Wilson, Douglas Stephen and Partners and Tom Kay) and other less well known or recognised. These were all striking modernist insertions, of the 1950's and 1960's, in the Victorian landscape. They met with critical acclaim, but popular local opinon has yet to come to terms with them.
We finish at the Czech Embassy (Šrámek, Bočan and Stephansplatz with Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners (1965-70), where we will have a tour of the newly refurbished interiors.
This event is being run jointly with the Friends of Czech Heritage and led by architect Peter Jamieson (former partner of McCormack, Jamieson, Pritchard) and Peter Ruback (Trustee of the Twentieth Century Society).
Members: £18 Non-Members: £20
Not a member yet? Join here and benefit from event ticket discounts. Looking to support our campaigning? Donate to our casework here.
The Twentieth Century Society is a registered charity, no 1110244
Above: The Czech Embassy. Photograph: Kenyh Cevarom, Creative Commons.
The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider.
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