Open House London 2006

Every year, in September, important and notable buildings in the London area have their doors opened free of charge to visitors. I have a special regard for the Normansfield Theatre, just down the road from me. I visited this and Ham House, which was open free of charge for the first time in my memory.

The house was built as a private residence for a Knight Marshall of King James 1st of England, though it is as fine as a palace. We were not permitted to photograph indoors, so I show you the exterior.

Entering Ham House is like a fairy tale in which a little girl opens a mysterious box. It is beautifully and ornately decorated with plastering and panelling and stuffed full of exotic furniture and artefacts. I found it impossible to dwell on any of these as the place was packed with people, as well it might be. In fact, the house has a closeness and compactness inside which belies it's exterior appearance and reminds one that it was a house and not a palace.

This lead sump dates from 1721 and comes from St Mary's Church, Whitechapel, in the East End of London.

What a superb find! This wonderful theatre in Normansfield Hospital, remained largely closed from public view during the hospitals' first 100 years of history, when it was a mental institution. The theatre was built by Rowland Plumb, in 1877, a few years after the building of the main hospital, which was founded by Dr Langdon Down who first described Downs' Syndrome.

We first saw the theatre some fifteen years ago, when the Teddington Artists exhibited here. At that time it was as time had left it. When I heard that the theatre was to be restored, my heart sank. I assumed it would be over-painted and ruined. I need not have feared - a wonderful job has been made of consolidating the paint, so that it retains the appearance it had when we first viewed it.

The theatre retains this wonderful scenery and all the equipment to handle it. Indeed, in the basement is a small model of the stage and it's mechanism, so that the scenery painters could try out their ideas in miniature!

This detail photo shows the complexity and quality of the finish, to what is a complicated and uncompromising structure.

Here we see the view towards the rear, where we can see the gallery, which, at present, is not in use, due to uncertainty as to it's strength.

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