A STORY IN TWO HALVES: STOKE & BARBICAN
26/3/22
stoke Newington
We were both rather blown away by the modernist, incredibly romantic mews house overlooking Abnel Park in Stoke Newington; an image to behold, one of the magnificent seven cemetery parks in London.
The woods, the graveyard stones, the wilderness that is life, death, decay, the beauty and the lightness of the birds, the shimmering light through the dense foliage, the people and their precious four-footed furry children sniffing around excitedly...
Life is a thin layer; so many aspects of my book are here: the girl in the woods, the loss, the need for meditation, solitude, escape but also the split level house with the big and very different views. Will this view end up feeling heavy if seen all day, every day of the year? I questioned and judging from your facial expression you couldn't comprehend the dilemma of being immersed in magnificent woodland. We actually saw a woodpecker through the kitchen window.
The ugly care home to the right was visible from three windows but it could be screened off with planting or a wall. It doesn't take away the fact that it's there and it does bring me down the thought of old age, the sight of a cemetery, the feeling of being stuck in a big city instead of looking and breathing the Pacific Ocean or the blue Greek sea from a villa in Corfu perched on a hill within its own 6,000 square meters of land. I guess it's the difference between an introspective, melancholic, creative existence, very much in the realm of thought, transcendence, those high frequencies you can reach when plunged to a certain level of autumn gloom. While the other, a more joyful, on this earth, laughing, socialising, walking the soil and the hot stone barefoot, dipping in the pool, picking olives, siping coffee and going: yeahhhhh - this is not bad at all. I can do this for the rest of my life. I think I know the answer to where I'm leaning to for most part of the year. But, having said all of that, 11 Collison Place is a magical place and it's only fifteen minutes walk from Church St., possibly the nicest London village high street that we have ever seen.
At £1,245,000 it's no small price and the place is tired, built twenty years ago and heavily tenanted. But an architecturally designed, freehold gated mews house in London, is rare. If only, we could buy this together 50/50...
The great Californian weather for sure helped a lot, but we loved the row of independent, high quality shops on Church St., the softness of the place and its people - we later found out that between 7am and 7pm daily no cars are allowed except for emergency vehicles and buses. Stoke Newington is cut off from any transport so you only see locals which is of course its biggest asset. It did remind me of suburbs in Melbourne and Auckland; it had that lovely fresh, wholesome, sunny vibe.
Not sure if Abnel Park commands a sense of serenity and respect but the place felt peaceful even though teeming with life. We had two oat flat whites at a café selling Climpson & Son and no Minor Figures local bullshit even though we were in the very borough of Hackney where this hideous oat milk is being produced. Thank you for choosing quality over British produce. We munched on two average sweets I had bought from Lower Marsh that morning unlike the walnut sourdough which was exceptional. We wondered a little more and then went for a nice stroll at Abnel Park pushing our bikes. We saw the house this time from inside the window view of 11 Collison Place - and we also saw the ugly care home - is vast - but most of all we enjoyed the play of the sun rays through the tall trees, the overgrown death tombs leaning to one side, the half broken statues and all the impeccably preserved names inscribed on them some as recently as the 1960s, others from the 18th century. Over 200,000 people are buried in the Grade II listed Abnel Park. Who are these people? It could take a life time to find out.
Go on, pick a name Sweetheart? Meet you at the Library.
Founders of the Salvation Army.
Famous for travelling the world with an amazing menagerie.
Famous aeronaut and the first British woman to make a solo balloon flight in 1826.
Welsh nurse, 'the forgotten Florence Nightingale'.
Daughter of Olaudah Equiano (alias Gustavus Vassa), Britain's first Black activist.
An autodidact intellectual who published essays, poetry, novels and several works on famous (and infamous) women.
Abney Park also has strong links with Abolitionist history:
Rev Dr. Thomas Binney (1798-1874)
Rev Aaron Buzacott (1829 - 1881)
Josiah Conder (1789 - 1855)
Rev Dr. Alexander Fletcher (1787 - 1860)
Samuel Morley (1809 - 1886)
Rev John Pye-Smith (1774-1851)
The chapel, which is central to the design of Abnel Park, is the oldest surviving non-denominational chapel in Europe, and is the only surviving public building designed by Hosking who was considered a controversial architect at the time. Hosking carefully planned the chapel to reflect a lack of bias towards any one Christian sect and the cruciform plan adopted the equal arms of the Greek cross, giving perceptual strength to the concept of equality before God.
Source abneypark.org: https://abneypark.org/
From Stoke Newington we cycled to Homerton - the café on Chatsworth Rd. is sadly always closed on weekends - through Victoria Park - brief stop at Mare street Market so I could visit the loo and then a grand escape from Broadway market mayhem via the quiet back streets passed Haggerston Park, down Columbia road, Shoreditch, down to Old street avoiding the round-about and ending up at the Barbican.
THE BARBICAN
We initially thought of taking a brief stop to admire the apotheosis of Brutalist Architecture - the cluster of buildings that is THE BARBICAN only to find ourselves gradually being sucked in a hole in space into the Barbican universe. Someone was practicing the cello, a couple was rehearsing their 1920s Charleston duet... An environment totally unique, vast, individual and varied in form yet a unifying and coherent grid of sharp edges, curves, tall structures and long rectangles. The space commanded a certain attitude. You were in concrete awe but mysteriously so was I. You noticed how spotless it was, if only Perronet House could be transported here, eliminated by its less attractive council residents… it wouldn't feel out of place.
As we descended the steps passed the Barbican centre we saw vasts amounts of people sitting in the sun, softly talking in small formations overlooking the beautiful waterways; it was like a concrete, modernist version of George Seurat's 'The bathers' at the National Gallery. There was a kind of peace, like a layer of sound insulation so that no one conversation took precedence as if everyone was a practicing Buddhist, non- drinking and strictly vegetarian. We had both visited the Barbican Centre before for concerts, exhibitions and cinema screenings but we were unaware that it housed three restaurants, the Barbican Library and a conservatory.
You wondered about the old church across the water so I did my research and it's St. Giles in Cripplegate. It has been standing there for seven centuries, it's where Oliver Cromwell in August 1620, just a few months after his twenty-first birthday, married Elizabeth Bourchier. It's where John Milton is buried who was paid £5 for his great epic poem 'Paradise Lost'.
The model of the scheme below, includes a diagonal road across the site, and the proposed use of the circular Coal Exchange. Both were later taken out of the plans. Credit: Barbican Archive
We looked up and imagined the residencies inside - a city within a city - and sure enough I had a good look afterwards online. My favourite Barbican property for sale at the moment, is on one of the large towers, high up, possibly a penthouse with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and sweeping views across London and a wrap around verandah at 1.8 million. A studio at the prestigious Frobisher Crescent is available for £575,000 and a 2-bedroom Penthouse at the Ben Johnson House for £1,345,000. There are beautiful gardens for the residents, a laundrette and a gym with a big pool. All the apartments come with underfloor heating included in the service charge. Parking by a separate negotiation.
The Barbican Estate started in 1965 and took eleven years to complete. The complex, designed by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, was Grade II-listed in September 2001. It covers an area of 40 acres and houses over 4,000 residents living in 2,014 flats. Also part of the complex is the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the City of London School for Girls.
Could I live at the Barbican? Almost four years with a brutalist at heart and the longest stay in a single residence being Perronet House, I'd say all is possible.