Tag Archives: art deco

Crackers and Cicero and a clinic near Camberwell

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We are partial to a savoury cracker made in Finland and marketed as Finn Crisp. These thin, rectangular sourdough rye crackers used to be easily available at the Waitrose supermarkets near where we live, but of late, they have disappeared from the shelves. We have rung other branches of this chain of stores, but none of them stock Finn Crisp anymore. After a search on the Internet, we discovered a shop on Walworth Road in Walworth, a district that neighbours south London’s Camberwell. The store keeps Finn Crisp. On a rainy day, we took a bus that went south of Elephant and Castle, and disembarked near the shop. The bus stop is outside a building, which I had never seen before and it intrigued me.

The mainly brick building houses the Walworth Clinic. Its architecture has elements typical of the Art Deco style that was in fashion in the 1920s to 1940s. Above the main entrance on Walworth Road, there is a rectangular inscribed, stone plaque on which the following was carved:

“The Health of The People is the Highest Law.”

Above this, but closer to the top of the building, I spotted a date: 1937. And above this, there is a stone sculpture depicting a buxom woman holding a staff around which a snake was intertwined – a rod of Aesculapius. At her feet, three children are depicted – two seated girls and a standing boy.

The building stands on the corner of Walworth Road and Larcom Street, from which there are two more entrances to the building.

There is much information about this building on the historicengland website ( https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1393674?section=official-list-entry ), from which I have quoted the following:

“The former Public Health Centre at Southwark was one of a series of pioneering health centres built at the end of the 1930s, in advance of the 1946 National Health Services Act which made their construction a duty of health authorities. Its foundation stone was laid on 11 July 1936 and the building opened on 25 September 1937.

The new building brought all the borough’s health services under one roof and included a solarium for exposing children to artificial sunlight, a TB clinic, X-ray department, maternity and child welfare centre, dentist clinic, … and the Public Analyst, the latter complete with chemical and bacterial laboratory for testing foodstuffs. There was also a special clinic ‘for women from 45 years of age who are subject to illness and disease peculiar to this age group’. With the opening of the health centre, Southwark became, ‘the first borough to have the whole of its health services in one building’, it was claimed by the Borough Medical Officer …”

The building was designed by the Borough Engineer, Percy Smart, about whom there seems to be little available information on the Internet. In contrast, the words on the front of the building are those of a well-known classical author, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC). They are taken from his “De Legibus” (‘On the laws’). The original words which were translated and placed on the clinic were in Latin: “Salus populi suprema est lex.”

Near to this clinic, we bought the Finn Crisp crackers for which we were yearning.

As is often the case when we set out on excursions with a mundane aim, we not only achieve our aim but, as exemplified by the clinic, we discover things we had never come across before.

Art Deco in London’s Kensington

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Winchester Court

I AM ENTHUSIASTIC about the Art Deco style of architecture that flourished mainly between the two World Wars, but has not been entirely abandoned today.

Bombay, which I visit often, is rich in Art Deco buildings,  but in London, there are fewer examples. In Kensington, Winchester Court is a fine example. Built in 1935 on the site of a demolished orphanage,  it is not far from two other Art Deco edifices on High Street Kensington, both built as department stores: the former Barkers and its neighbour, Derry and Thoms.

Those interested in Art Deco will find interesting examples dotted around the London’s suburbs that developed during the inter-war years.

An Art Deco style theatre near Victoria railway station

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I AM ATTRACTED to the Art Deco style of architecture that had its heyday during the period between WW1 and WW2. Although there is no concentration of buildings made in this style in London, such as can be found in Bombay, there are plenty of examples scattered around the city. One of these is on Wilton Street, facing one side of Victoria railway station.

Details of decoration at the Apollo theatre

Originally built to be a cinema, it was completed in 1930. Its architects were William Edward Trent (1874 – 1948) and E Walmsley Lewis (1898–1977). Plans were made to demolish the Apollo in the 1950s, but, fortunately, they were never realised. In the 1970s, it hosted several musical events including rock concerts. In 1981, the Apollo re-opened as a theatre. Since then, it has hosted musical theatre (‘musicals’) including “Fiddler on the Roof”, “The Sound of Music”, and “Camelot”. Since September 2006, it has been showing the musical “Wicked”.

Surrounded by twenty-first century and nineteenth century buildings, this Art Deco theatre makes for a pleasing element in the architectural ensemble around the railway station.

Art Deco Modernism greets the traveller at Richmond

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WE VISIT RICHMOND-ON-THAMES often, frequently arriving on the District Line of the London Underground.  However, it was only yesterday, 31 October 2025, that, while waiting for a bus outside the station. I noticed that its façade is a fine example of the Art Deco style of Modernist architecture, which achieved popularity between the two world wars.

The first Richmond station was opened in 1846. The current station was built in 1937. It was designed by Southern Railway’s Chief Architect James Robb Scott (1882-1965), whose other works include the offices and Victory Arch at London’s Waterloo Station. Richmond station’s façade is mainly constructed with white Portland stone. The main entrance has black features constructed using polished black granite. Within the recently restored ticket hall, there is a green glass frieze that surrounds the hall and contains the original wording that indicates the various services offered within the large room. The walls of the hall are lined with travertine cladding and the light fittings hanging from the ceiling are of a Modernist design typical of the era during which the station was built.

Until 2025, many of the original Art Deco features of the station, both internal and external, were either hidden by modern panelling or were in poor condition. Between 2023 and 2025, the station was carefully restored to its original splendid state.

After catching our bus, I noticed that we passed several other Art Deco buildings near to the centre of Richmond. These were blocks of flats. Before returning to the station, we stopped outside one of these, Lichfield Court. This was designed in the Streamline Moderne style, a type of Art Deco, by George Bertram Carter (1896-1986), and completed in 1935. Incidentally, Carter had been a pupil in the office of Edwin Lutyens between 1919 and 1922. Apparently, this block of flats incorporates some innovative features, which we did not have time to see.

Until our most recent visit, I never associated Richmond with Art Deco architecture. On our next visit, I hope to wander around, examining the examples of this style in greater detail.

Art Deco in a north London Suburb

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EXAMPLES OF THE ART DECO style that was popular during the era between the two World Wars can be found all over London. In the newer part of Hampstead Garden Suburb (north London), there are a few examples of this style.

Kingsley Close, which leads west from Kingsley Way, contains only houses built in the Art Deco style.

You can read more about these and other examples of this style in Hampstead Garden Suburb in my book about the Suburb, which is available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/GOLDERS-GREEN-HAMPSTEAD-GARDEN-SUBURB/dp/B0BHG873FB/

An amazing cinema in the heart of Jaipur

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HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE

THE RAJ MANDIR cinema was completed in 1976. It was designed in the Streamline Moderne ( or late Art Deco) style by WM Namjoshi for Kushalchand Surana. It was conceived by Mehtab Chandra Golcha. According to Wikipedia, it is the largest single screen theatre in Asia.

We went to see a film called “Pushpa part 2”. It was made in the Telugu language and dubbed into Hindi. It is about sandalwood smuggling and corruption. Despite not being able to follow much of the dialogue,it was extremely exciting and beautifully filmed. It was so dramatic that we left the cinema feeing exhausted.

The cinema is spectacular visually. One enters from the street into a huge, circular foyer decorated in an opulent fashion. The auditorium is spacious and, like the foyer, spectacularly decorated. The screen is curved, and the surround sound system very good.

Even if one cannot follow a film because it is in a language that you do not know, a screening at this cinema is an experience not to be missed in Jaipur.

Architecture in London and an ancestral place in Bavaria

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FACING THE CHINESE embassy in London’s Portland Place, there is an imposing Art Deco edifice standing on a corner plot. It is the home of the Royal Institute of British Architects (‘RIBA’). We visited the place in August 2024 to view a small exhibition called “Raise the Roof: Building for Change”. Amongst other things, it explores the role of British architects, such as Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, in enforcing the image of British imperialism during the 1930s in South Africa and India. After viewing this, we wandered around the RIBA building, which, as was explained in the exhibition, contains materials collected from the Empire as well as images depicting the arrogantly supposed superiority of the British colonisers over the colonised.

The building contains various informative panels, which explain aspects of its history. It was constructed between 1932 and 1934. The architect George Grey Wornum (1888-1957), who was born in London, designed the RIBA building.

In one of the meeting halls, there is an elegant carved wooden screen, The Dominion Screen, which was carved in Quebec pine and designed by the artist Denis Dunlop (1892-1959). It contains vignettes of life in five former British possessions (only 4 of which were Dominions): Australia, South Africa, India, Canada, and New Zealand. It was paid for by William Lewis Gerstle (1868-1947), who was born in San Francisco (USA). His daughter, Miriam (1898-1989) married George Grey Wornum in 1923. She was a designer. Seeing the name Gerstle on the information panel next to the screen rang a bell in my mind.

There was an extensive Gerstle family living in the Bavarian town of Ichenhausen (near Günzburg) during the 19th century. I knew this because when researching my mother’s family, I took a great interest in this small town. It was where two of her ancestors were born. At least one of their relatives married a Gerstle from Ichenhausen. I wondered whether Miriam Gerstle’s family were originally from Ichenhausen.

When I got home, I did a little research on the Internet, and soon discovered that Miriam’s father, William, was the son of Lewis Gerstle, who was born in Ichenhausen in 1824. He died in San Francisco in 1892 (www.geni.com/people/Lewis-Gerstle/6000000008091395228). Like many Jewish people from Ichenhausen, he left the small town to seek his fortune elsewhere – in his case, in the USA. He arrived in California in 1850. During this period, many other members of his family migrated to the USA (see: www.angelfire.com/ab7/yamey/ICH.html). Many members of my mother’s family (descendants of Jakob Seligmann [1775-1843] and Moses Wimpfheimer [born 1784] of Ichenhausen) did the same thing; they went to larger German cities, such as Augsburg, to the USA, to France, and to South Africa, where my mother was born.

It turns out that Miriam Wornum is my fourth cousin twice removed!

I am pleased that after so many years of having passed the RIBA building, we finally got to see its interior, which, incidentally, is open to the public. It is a fine example of the architecture that was fashionable in the 1930s. What I had not expected was to discover that its architect was married to a lady whose ancestors were born in the same small German town as those of my mother.

DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD AT A CINEMA NEAR LONDON’S HOLBORN

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THE GARDEN CINEMA is in Parker Street, which is near both Holborn Underground station and Covent Garden. This gem of a place opened in 2022. Housed in the building which formerly contained the offices of businessman Michael Chambers, who founded Chambers and Partners in 1989, a research company for law firms around the world, it was the realization of Mr Chambers’s dream to create a cinema for film enthusiasts such as he is.

The ticket office is on the ground floor. Stairs and lifts lead to the basement, where the bar, various small seating areas – some quite discrete, and the two auditoriums are located. The premises are designed and decorated with many Art Deco features and a good selection of sculptures and prints. The darkly coloured wallpaper (with nods to the William Morris style) and subdued lighting give the place a cosy, intimate night club atmosphere. The bar is reasonably priced. The staff are friendly and helpful. This is a cinema complex quite unlike any other I have visited in London – it is both stylish and intimate.

We watched a Romanian film made in 2023: “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”. Before I discuss this excellent movie, let me tell you one more unusual thing about The Garden Cinema. There were no advertisements (commercials) prior to showing the main film – only several trailers of forthcoming shows in the cinema. This is quite different from other ‘independent’ cinemas, in which the feature film is always preceded by ads including one for the car company (currently Kia), which supports independent cinemas.

The Romanian film, which runs for almost three hours, is a ‘whacky’ and gritty black comedy with serious comments about life in post-Communist Romania. The brilliantly acted film blends skilfully ‘doctored’ flashbacks to life in Ceausescu’s Romania with scenes in Romania since the war in Ukraine commenced. One of the many things that this highly entertaining film emphasises is how the difficult, regimented, but relatively simple life under the dictatorship contrasts with the hectic, corrupt, and very hard life in capitalist Romania. Nothing was easy during Ceausescu’s ‘reign’, but after it ended, nothing has made life any easier. The film made me think that the tyranny of the dictator has been replaced by the tyranny of corruption and exploitation of cheap labour by countries outside Romania. Another thing that I felt was that the film showed how when the shackles of a highly oppressive regime were released following the death of the dictator, Romanian society seems to have gone crazy. Whether this is an exaggeration by the film makers or truly reflects contemporary life in Romania, I do not know. All I can say is that the 163 minutes of the film sped past remarkably quickly because I found it so highly enjoyable and engaging.

Even if I had not enjoyed the film so much, I would have thought highly of the Garden Cinema – a place I hope to visit many more times in the future.