16. Kennington Walking Tour

Ellis Woodman led us on our first bespokely organised tour, showing us the architectural gems of Kennington and the Stockwell area. The tour started in the grounds of St Mark’s Church Kennington – In 1824 St Mark’s was built on the old gallows corner of Kennington Common, one of four ‘Waterloo’ churches built in south London following the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. A gem of a building that Ellis pointed out to us within Kennington Park was the Prince Consort Lodge. Originally part of the 1851 Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, the building was intended as a model for working class family homes.

As Ellis guided us around the streets towards Stockwell he read extracts from Nairn’s London. Pit stops on the route included the red bricked Belgravia Hospital for Children, The Foundry Social Justice Centre by 00 Architecture and Newport Street Gallery by Caruso St John. The tour terminated in front of Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure 03 at the Brandon Estate. The combination of towers, low-rise blocks and refurbished terraces meant, according to Nikolas Pevsner “most of the buildings blend successfully into the surrounding urban fabric”.