Bursting from the shadows
In 1818 Cheltenham architect George Allen Underwood was elected to his local Masonic Lodge. Two years later, work began on the Lodge's new hall, near the centre of the town, and Underwood was the designer. Underwood was a pupil of John Soane, and Soane would have been impressed, I think, with this building – the confident niches, the mix of carving and stretches of plain wall, the way it looks massive although it's not much bigger than a couple of three-storey houses, the fact that the facade manages to work even though it has virtually no windows. The way it stands there like a rock amongst the pale stuccoed facades and delicate iron balconies that its neighbours present to the world is also remarkable. I have been admiring this exterior for years, and others agree: "probably the finest of the early purpose-built Masonic halls," says Pevsner, and John Russell in his Shakespeare's Country calls it a masterpiece of occasional architecture.
One day, not the day on which I took this picture showing the building bursting out of the shadow that envelops its lower portion, but on another occasion when the light was more even, I loitered across the road for a while, admiring the building and watching the passers-by. There were quite a lot of people walking past because a couple of hundred yards to the right is a large car park and a couple of hundred yards the other way is the centre of the town. Not one person appeared to pay any attention to the building at all. Of course these were probably busy men and women with work to go to or shopping to do. But is was still interesting that a building that is so assertive, a design that is very much in the Regency style but has little of the delicacy or gentility of much of Regency Cheltenham, a structure that would, I'd have thought, divide opinion quite strongly, inspired hardly a glance. Presumably none of those passers-by reads this blog.
They are probably all locals who don't give it a second thought. That said I have given talks on shops and shop fronts in Market Harborough to audiences including born and bred locals in their retirement which has elicited responses 'I never noticed that before'. It makes you wonder what people do look at as they go down a street.
ReplyDeleteStephen: I've had the same experience. It seems old-hat to keep telling people to look up, but many people do need to be told. In fact some need to be told to just look, period. On the other hand there are those, like the Resident Wise Woman, who can spot an interesting bit of carving or an edible mushroom at 100 yards through her eye-corner, when driving at speed down a winding road. It takes all sorts, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteOne of the joys of living in Paris (but it would be true in any city or town with good buildings; there just is a lot of depth and variety here) is looking up to find interesting details, trying to guess the structure’s age, seeing how it fits in with its neighbours, what its original purpose was and how it has changed over time.
ReplyDeleteFrançois-Marc Chaballier
Trying to remember this one, suppose I'm guilty of this too. Think it's next to that car park/bus station behind The Promenade? Talking of which, have a feeling that a group of marvellous Regency buildings were destroyed to make way for this? Expect you've got that interesting book, "Cheltenham Betrayed"?
ReplyDeleteHope you're well.
Françcois-Marc: Absolutely, You can do this in many towns - but Paris is an especially rewarding place in which to look up.
ReplyDeleteLuke: Good to hear from you. It's not behind the Promenade where the bus station is – that space was long ago the walk down to the spa at Bayshill, then to the spa at Montpellier, so if I remember rightly there wasn't much interesting architecture there, but there was an area of garden and trees - must check this in Cheltenham Betrayed (I'm writing this at speed because I should be doing something else!).
ReplyDeleteThe Masonic Hall is in Pitville Street, the road that runs north from the High Street towards the Pitville area. It's only a couple of minutes' walk from the High Street.
Yesterday I walked to work, past two Masonic temples--one Scottish Rite and with an Egyptian look, one with a Greek look save for the sphinx. Nor did I spare a look for either of them. I remember persons who passed me or whom I passed, and the notice for a lecture involving P.T. Barnum at the Unitarian Universalist Church. But I didn't pay much attention to the architecture, perhaps because I have been commuting up and down this street for years.
ReplyDeleteIts true that sometimes you have to look (often upwards I find) to appreciate your surroundings, and this is a building that I'm very familiar with as I pass it quite often. I'm glad that its not at risk though - unlike the former Odeon cinema a few streets away.
ReplyDeleteGeorge: Yes, indeed. One doesn't look at architecture all the time – although some people seem to think that I do!
ReplyDeleteVK: That cinema is quite worrying. It does seem to be difficult to find a use for it in these challenging times. I always try and glance at it when I pass, for fear it will not be there next time.
ReplyDelete