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| Victoria Park - West Lake: Chinese Pagoda and Fountain 11" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils in A4 Moleskine Sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
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| East Lake, Victoria Park in Autumn 8" x 10", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
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| Pavilion Cafe, Victoria Park - August 2012 8" x 10" pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
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| Rowing boats in Victoria Park pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook |
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| The Pagoda in Victoria Park pen and ink and coloured pencils on Arches HP copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved |
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| The Chinese Pagoda and the new Island 165mm x 240mm, pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils on Mountboard copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
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| The water - and birds - return to West Lake pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
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| Construction of the new Chinese Pagoda in Victoria Park 8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
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| Victoria Park: A brand new channel to a new island with rustic bridge and new Chinese Pagoda copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
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| Construction of Pennethorne Bridge to link island to rest of Victoria Park copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
THE CHINESE COLLECTION, HYDE-PARK CORNER
Upon the left-hand side of the inclined plane, extending iron Hyde Park Corner to Knightsbridge, and towards the extremity of St. George's Place, a grotesque erection has lately sprung up with all the cupidity which distinguishes the building operations of the present day. As the work proceeded, many were the guesses at the purpose for which it was intended; and, to feed the suspense of the many thousands who daily pass this thoroughfare, the work was covered with canvas until just completed. The structure in question is the entrance to an extensive apartment filled with "curiosities of China." In design this entrance is characteristically Chinese, and is taken from the model of a summer residence now in the collection. It is of two stories, the veranda roof of the lower one being supported by vermilion-coloured columns, with pure white capitals, and over the doorway is inscribed, in Chinese characters, "Ten Thousand Chinese Things." Such summer-houses as the above are usual in the gardens of the wealthy, in the southern provinces of China, often standing in the midst of a sheet of water, and approached by bridges and sometimes they have mother-of- pearl windows. Although the above building in raised from the pathway, whence it is approached by a flight of steps, it is somewhat squatly proportioned. But such is the character of Chinese buildings, so that when the Emperor Kesen-king saw a perspective view of a street in Paris or London, he observed, "that territory must be very small whose inhabitants are obliged to pile their houses to the clouds;" and, in a poem on London, by a Chinese visitor, it is stated,- "The houses are so lofty that you may pluck the stars."
courtesy of Victoria London website
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| Entrance to the Chinese Collection exhibition hall, St George's Place, c. 1842 |
The mysterious structure which had attracted such curiosity was a replica of a Chinese summer-house or 'pagoda' at the corner of the way in to Old Barrack Yard (Plate 6a). This arresting object was the entrance to an exhibition of Chinese art and artefacts known as the Chinese Collection, which had opened to the public on 23 June. (ref. 43) The exhibition itself was in a new building back from the main road, and the pagoda, designed after a model in the collection, served both as a ticket-office and way in to the exhibition hall, which was reached up steps and through a vestibule or covered walk at the rear (Plate 11a).I'm now wondering what sort of decorative finishes our new pagoda is going to have.
The Chinese Collection had been amassed by an American merchant, Nathan Dunn (1782–1844), during his twelve years in Canton, and exhibited by him from 1838 at the Philadelphia Museum. In 1842—'at the suggestion of many of the most influential, scientific, and learned persons of the British metropolis and kingdom' (ref. 44) — Dunn brought the collection to England and opened it to the public in the specially constructed hall in Knightsbridge, which occupied part of the site of the former foot-guards barracks. With Dunn came William B. Langdon, the London-born curator of the collection and the author of a descriptive catalogue, who had known him in China. (ref. 45)
Both the hall and the pagoda were erected by the publicworks contractors Grissell & Peto, the pagoda at a cost of £800. (ref. 46) The pagoda stood about 19ft square, a 'somewhat squatly proportioned' wooden building with a single room to each of its two storeys. It was decorated in gold and bright colours— green roofs, and vermilion pillars with white capitals—and ornamented with brackets in the form of dragons. Over the doorway was a Chinese inscription signifying 'Ten Thousand Chinese Things'. (ref. 47) The hall, 225ft long and 50ft wide, was a plain affair externally (Plate 6a). Inside, it was largely taken up by a single lofty 'saloon', top lit and lined with pillars: 'a sort of Brighton Pavilion with permanent fittings'. (ref. 48)
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| If I half close my eyes it looks a bit like an urban beach! pen and ink and coloured pencil on mountboard |
TfL hopes Londoners will walk or cycle to the office, work from home or avoid peak times to cut demand by 30 per centAnyway I couldn't bear to draw the lake exactly as it is and these two sketches make it look an awful lot better than it actually is.
Londoners warned to avoid games gridlock
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| The Drained Lake - Victoria Park - July 2011 8" x 10" pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook |
Autumn Trees on the West Lake, Victoria Park (12.11.09.)
I had 'proper' smoked haddock (none of that disgusting bright yellow stuff!) with a poached egg on champ with bearnaise sauce - yuuuuuuuuuummy (see right)! My diet works on the basis that it's OK to have occasional excesses on the sauce front!
Four sketches of the East Lake, Victoria Park
This is a sketch I did recently of the trees by the West Lake in Victoria Park in Bow.
East Lake, Victoria Park
Victoria Park Lake People #3The lake is stocked with Tench, Rudd, Roach, Crucian Carp & Perch- mostly small fish with the aim of getting more bites (in contrast to the West lake).The West Lake has quite a history and this album has historical photographs of the lake dating back to the Victorian era when there was a pagoda. I wonder if they built it around about the same time that Kew acquired its pagoda? I think the Pavilion Cafe must be where the West Lake boat house used to be.
Victoria Park Lake People #1
Then I walked across to the Lake - which was also frozen except for the bit in the middle where the fountain was keeping the water moving. I can't remember the last time I've seen it frozen like that - it's been many, many years. It's a large expanse of water and it sometimes freezes around the edges but nothing like it was today. The swans and other birds were standing on top of the water and finding it difficult to locate water to 'hoover'.
Victoria Park Lake People #1
On the way home, down the Regents Canal, via the Ecology Park Pond, I found yet more evidence of just how cold it has been. The canal was all churned up suggesting that there has been some movement of canal barges - and the ice was quite fascinating as a result.
Note: The Pavilion Cafe comes highly recommended by me - just what this area needed! Here are a couple of reviews from Time Out and The London Review of Breakfasts - which is a blog which is new to me! The menu board suggested they catered for both those who like a major fry-up at breakfast or the alternative healthy veggie blow-out version. Read the comments for the breakfast review!
