Dulwich, a couple of weeks ago, with Harry, for the Salvator Rosa at Dulwich. I.N.'s not sure, or rather, he is.
"One of Soane's most original, least satisfying designs... A great curiosity, not a masterpiece".
Remember though, that I.N. is reporting on this building in 1968, when the restoration was new and sparkly. Forty+ years have mellowed the brick considerably. And of course, the great man's generosity of spirit spurs him to a footnote:
"*If you don't agree, and would like to look up an opposite view, read Sir John Summerson, in Georgian London. It is one of the most incisive and brilliant descriptions of a building that has ever appeared in print."
And so it is. See pps 158/159. And if you haven't got a copy, buy one.
Then a pint or two in the Crown and Greyhound, a pleasant pub in Dulwich Village. The exuberant decorations described by I.N. swept away without trace, even before Gasson's revision, which may or may not be a pity. Ole!
Thence to the spiked London bridge and the drinking houses of the Borough, via Guy's Hospital Chapel to see the Thomas Guy memorial. I.N.:
"...The nobility of that grave, concerned face is universal, and in a way we are more than ever in need of it now. Every autocratic hospital matron and bureaucratic Ministry of Health official should be exposed to this for an hour a day, as to a heat lamp, until the humility and true concern sinks in."
Well... easy on the nursing staff, Ian, but stick it to the administrators. So no photo - go and see.
