Monmouth House, Soho Square, London

Monmouth House was built for the handsome and roguish Duke of Monmouth, bastard son of Charles II, who had royally been given the lease to this rural part of London, which remained so popular with serious huntsmen. It occupied a commanding site on the south side of the then King’s Square, and was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built in 1677 by a Mr Ford. Indeed, the square itself was almost certainly first laid out around this grand building by the famous architect. The Duke of Monmouth is now remembered for starting the doomed Rebellion which bears his name, and which brought him more fame and notoriety than his magnificent town house, which was demolished in 1773 to make way for several smaller houses. The splendid wrought iron gates and their elegant piers provided an imposing entrance for this Renaissance-style palazzo masquerading as an Italianate mansion in this newly fashionable square. In the Eighteenth Century it became the French Ambassador’s residence, but its fate was perhaps entwined with that of its beheaded former owner, and it was scheduled for demolition. Monmouth House boasted some remarkable interior decoration by Thornhill and others, but no fragment of this has survived or been preserved elsewhere.

Many more pictures of Soho can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

This edited article about Sir Christopher Wren originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 261 published on 14 January 1967.

The golden cross being placed on the top of St Paul's Cathedral, watched by Sir Christopher Wren, by Peter Jackson

Among the cranes and warehouses of London’s Bankside is a tiny segment of old England. At the corner of Cardinal Cap Alley, you may find an unusually decorative plaque on the house Sir Christopher Wren is said to have lived in while building St. Paul’s Cathedral. The first of Henry VIII’s unlucky wives, Catherine of Aragon, once stayed here too.

Christopher Wren, the son of a clergyman, is best remembered as an architect, but he was a man of many roles, and he played this, his most famous part, almost by accident. Indeed, but for his success in other spheres, it is unlikely that he would have been appointed surveyor-general to King Charles II. He was 29 at the time and already well-known as a scholar, scientist, mathematician and astronomer.

In his early years he had achieved more than most people manage in a lifetime. As a boy he was unusually interested in mathematics and the natural sciences. At 14, in the interval between school and college, he was for a short time a demonstration assistant to a surgeon-lecturer, an experience that roused his interest in medicine and the mysteries of the human body.

He graduated at Oxford and was elected a fellow of All Souls College, where he remained, engrossed in scientific study and experiment, until 1657.

When still quite young, Wren invented a method of making fresh water at sea. He also devised an early method of making blood transfusions, and he found a means of fumigating sick-rooms. He tried to harness the explosive force of gunpowder for lifting weights – and curing smoky chimneys! He invented a method of etching, and he applied astronomy to theology to explain seeming miracles.

The Great Fire of London gave him his biggest architectural opportunity. Tramping among the hot ashes, he planned a fine new city built of stone. Within four days of the fire he submitted a sketch for its reconstruction to the King.

His ideas were too advanced and too expensive, so that they were never carried out. Instead, Wren was commissioned to rebuild St. Paul’s, over 50 churches, 36 guild-halls, a new customs house and several private houses. One would have expected him to make a fortune from such a commission but he asked only ¬£300 for designing the cathedral and the parish churches.

His original designs for St. Paul’s were unorthodox and roused great opposition from the clergy, whose ideas once reduced him to tears of despair and frustration. The present building was the result of his third attempt to find an acceptable design.

Wren was also responsible for the tall, Roman Doric column which commemorates the fire near Billingsgate. It was not to be solely as a memorial. Its hollow stem was intended for use as a telescope to study the stars, but it proved to be too small for the purpose. Now a long, spiral staircase enables the energetic sightseer to get a good view of London.

Royal Hospital of St Katharine, Regent's Park, London

The ancient Royal Collegiate Hospital of St Katharine had stood on the banks of the Thames, next to the Tower of London, for nearly 700 years before it was relocated to Regent’s Park to make way for the massive excavations for St Katharine’s Dock. Founded in 1148 by Matilda of Boulogne, wife of King Stephen, it was a charitable institution providing spiritual rather than medical care. The new buildings provide an early example of Gothic Revival architecture in the capital, and add to the variety of prospects around the park itself. The design by Ambrose Poynter follows a collegiate plan with a central chapel and college wings to each side, the whole giving a pleasing impression of a mediaeval Oxbridge college.

Many more pictures of Regent’s Park can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

The seat of G B Greenough, Regent's Park, London.

Grove House dates from 1824-28 and was designed by Decimus Burton, who was soon to begin work on laying out the Zoological Gardens. This perfect villa was built for G B Greenough, President of the Geological Society and of the Royal Geographical Society. A cultivated bachelor, he held numerous charity parties and balls, and at other times specially invited guests were able to see his important fossil collection. The house was altered in 1877 and during the early twentieth century, but the substance of it and the splendid simplicity of Burton’s original conception have survived. Each elevation had views of the park and was different; in this picture we can see the grandest, the south front, with its roof-height portico of four Ionic double columns.

Many more pictures of Regent’s Park can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park; note the addition of a baby elephant.

Like the great national museums, The Royal Zoological Society was started in the nineteenth century, eleven years before the long reign of Queen Victoria began, in 1826 during the reign of her uncle, George IV, who granted it a Royal Charter in 1829. Located in an expansive site north of the Regent’s Park, it was the first animal collection in the world assembled for scientific purposes, and the animal houses and insititution remained private until 1847, when the Regent’s Zoo was opened to the public. The Zoological Gardens were laid out by Decimus Burton, who was also commissioned to design several of the scattered animal buildings. Unfortunately, only two of his original architectural creations have survived: the elegant brick Buffalo and Giraffe Houses which overlook the Regent’s Canal.

Many more pictures of Regent’s Park can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

This edited article about the Crystal Palace originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 255 published on 3 December 1966.

Crystal Palace; the Great Exhibition of 1851; Transept (external views) of the Industrial Palace, from Prince of Wales's Gate by Charles Burton

The Great Exhibition, opened by Queen Victoria in 1851 – an Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations – was an enormous success; and when it was over, many people found that they had grown attached to the giant glasshouse, the Crystal Palace, which had been built specially for the exhibition. Clearly, it had to be removed from Hyde Park, but where could it be taken?

The beautiful estate of Penge Park, at Sydenham, in South London, was offered as a new home for the ‘crystal elephant’. It was taken down piece by piece and re-erected. Queen Victoria opened it for the second time in 1854. Thousands of people passed through the massive glasshouse, visiting the art collections, hearing music and delighting in the glorious gardens surrounding the glittering, airy palace.

Entertainments were arranged on a magnificent scale: particularly famous were the firework displays held regularly in the summer. Such monster explosions as the ‘Niagara of Fire’ used nearly a ton of iron filings in its short, spectacular life.

Meals were served in the many restaurants at prices to suit every pocket. Oysters or chicken patty were priced at sixpence, roast lamb and mint sauce cost one shilling, a chop or steak with vegetables, bread, butter, cheese and attendance cost one shilling and ninepence.

Before the First World War (1914-18) the Final of the Football Association Cup was played in the grounds of Crystal Palace, but on the outbreak of war it was taken over by the Admiralty as a base for recruiting and training naval volunteers. When the war was over, the Palace opened again as a centre of entertainment, but its days were numbered.

On the cold night of 30th November, 1936, it was destroyed by a fire which gutted it from end to end, sending up into the sky firework-like cascades of sparks which were seen for miles around. For three days the building simmered. It was completely wrecked, except for one high tower, later to be pulled down.

Of the old Palace, nothing had remained but the name, for today on the site of the Crystal Palace there stands an enormous modern sports arena.

This edited article about New York originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 249 published on 22 October 1966.

Scenes and behind scenes at the Metropolitan opera by Henry Mayer

The Metropolitan Opera House, New York, has established itself as one of the world’s principal centres for the production of opera.

Sponsored by a group of millionaires, the first theatre was completed in 1883 and opened on 22nd October, with a production of Gounod’s ‘Faust’. The public was at this time beginning to take opera more seriously, partly because of Wagner and the Bayreuth festival of opera, which he founded. The introduction of new lighting techniques also had a surprising effect, for when electric lighting was installed at the Metropolitan in 1893, the theatre lights could, for the first time, be turned off completely. The immediate effect was to stop idle gossiping during performances, a practice which had always caused complaint from serious students of opera.

The Metropolitan Opera House was responsible for the launching of such stars as Caruso, Melba and Toscanini.

This edited article about World War Two originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 249 published on 22 October 1966.

The Taj Mahal

The pilot of the big American C-87 transport lined up his machine at the end of the heat-hazed runway at Agra near the Jumma River in India.

At the far end of the narrow concrete ribbon lay a patch of trees, and beyond them, on the far side of the river, he could see the tops of the graceful minarets which marked the position of one of India’s most beautiful monuments, the Taj Mahal.

Slowly he increased the engine revs, released the brakes and settled back in his seat as the huge machine began to rumble along the runway.

He needed to reach 120 m.p.h. before he could ease back the control column and lift the plane clear of the ground. Half-way down the runway – to his horror – his dials told him he had reached only 60 m.p.h. He wondered whether to slam on the brakes or hope for a rapid increase in speed.

Eighty miles an hour, and the trees loomed dangerously nearer . . .

Past the point of no return, he glanced anxiously at the airspeed indicator. It still showed only 100 m.p.h. At 110 m.p.h. he eased back the control column and the great mass of metal lunged precariously into the air, bumped, and then rose up, skimming the trees.

The shimmering dome of the Taj Mahal now lay dead ahead. “Full flap!” yelled the pilot. The plane lost speed, then ballooned upwards, barely missing the spike of a minaret. Workmen on scaffolding repairing the monument cowered back in terror, but the last-second manoeuvre by the pilot had saved them – and India’s priceless memorial.

The pilot was American Ernest K. Gann who was one of many U.S. airmen engaged on flying vital supplies to Burma during World War II.

The (New) Athenaeum, one of the grandest London clubs, was founded in 1824 and its first home designed by Decimus Burton, himself a founder member, who had already completed some impressive commissions in Hyde Park at the youthful age of twenty-four.

The New Athenaeum, Waterloo Place

The style he chose was Neoclassical, which lent an appropriate air of Graeco-Roman erudition to an establishment which was primarily for the artistic and literary celebrities of the day. The porch of Doric columns leads into an entrance hall which embraces without partition a grand staircase, splitting into two flights which thereafter approach the first-floor landing. It was at the foot of this staircase that a famous reconciliation took place, when the ailing Thackeray was offered a helping arm by Charles Dickens, neither man having spoken to the other for some ten years due to a literary quarrel. Not long afterwards, Thackeray died at least happier to have made it up with his old and valued friend.

Many more pictures of The Athenaeum can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.

The Duke of York Column was completed in 1834.

The Duke of York Column, Waterloo Place

It occupies a commanding central position in Waterloo Place which, along with Lower Regent Street, formed the expansive approach to Carlton House, whence Nash’s ceremonial way (via triumphalis) travelled north up Regent Street and Portland Place to Regent’s Park. After the demolition of that mansion, it commanded the ample space between the East and West wings of Carlton House Terrace. The column, which is of the Tuscan order, was designed by Benjamin Wyatt, and borrows some ideas from Wren’s Monument in the City. It commemorates Frederick, the ‘Grand Old Duke of York’, second son of George III, who died in 1827. The nearby magnificent public steps down to the Mall are always referred to as the Duke of York Steps.

Many more pictures of the Duke of York Column can be found at the Look and Learn picture library.