UCL Revisited

 

Broken bond again. This is at the rear of the Wellcome Building on Euston Road an area that was very familiar to me as an undergraduate student at UCL from 1969 to 1972.

There is a lot of interesting history connected to this building, designed by Septimus Warwick around 1930. This is very much the backside of the scheme, but still carefully detailed. The main facades wrapping around two sides are clad in Portland stone in a fairly austere version of the Ionic order. But let's get back to the brickwork.

English Bond with a three-quarter bat resulting from the width of the window openings. Why wasn't it designed to a brick module? Beats me. Could be connected to the soldier courses above and below. Or maybe the architect was following some other logic, focusing on proportions without regard to the brick size.

Maybe the brick was substituted for stone during construction for cost reasons.

 

Whatever the case you have to agree that the building is in good condition as it approaches a hundred years old. I don't want to say that this is better or worse than the modernist work of Le Corbusier and others around the same time. Both reflect different aspects of our shared history. Taking sides in retrospect seems futile to me.

I just enjoy trying to get my head inside the past with all its subtle complexity. Due credit to all involved from the architect (and client) to the bricklayers and other trades.

I spotted this building from just outside Waterloo Station. Now a dormitory for an American Catholic University's London branch.

Designed by Sir Charles Nicholson in 1905 in a somewhat eclectic style. The distinctive glazed tiles were also a feature of the interior: Doulton picture tiles depicting Nursery Rhymes. 

 

Were we worse off when this kind of Hospital provision was dependent on charitable contributions? In some ways yes. But you can't really separate this out from the macro changes to society. Opinions will differ. Much has improved. Some good things have been lost.

Certainly it's good to have buildings like this to remind us of our complex past and the determined efforts of some to provide for the less fortunate.