50 Glebe Place, Chelsea (1985-87). Rebuilt to the specifications of Frank Lowe. Left: Perspective view. Right: One of the windows with its metalwork and ivy-covered wall. Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner's later twentieth-century dates for this eccentric building (see p. 576) are surprising but perfectly accurate, although they give no hint of its complicated history before those years. [Click on this image and those below to enlarge them.]
Left: Front elevation. Right: Window in the tower.
Sculpture on and around the house. Left two: Terracotta statue of a kneeling girl on a pillar, which has the same pattern of raised leaves as the building. Middle right: One of the six standing statues on the roof of the building. Right: Bas relief frame inside left of the doorway.
Commentary
The history of Glebe Place goes back to the earlier part of the twentieth century. It was originally intended for artists’ studios: the advertising executive Frank Lowe bought it after it had been used as a photographic and commercial art studio with some residential accommodation. Notes on the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's planning portal indicate that the building was “substantially rebuilt” by Lowe to turn it into a single family dwelling, with staff accommodation.
Lowe's architects stated that he wanted “to build upon and restore the building’s links with the Arts and Crafts movement”. A concerned neighbour supporting the change of use suggested that parts of the building had been designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, including fittings and two remaining fireplaces, but this cannot be verified. Mackintosh had certainly been busy in this area: he had had a studio at 43A Glebe Place and designed 49 Glebe Place next door to no. 50. He had also designed a studio house for 50 Glebe Place itself, for the sculptor Derwent Wood (including at least one fireplace), but his overall design had never been built. Instead, Wood had built a "much less ambitious building" on the site in 1923 (see "M341 Design for a building..."): his initials were (perhaps are) on the water hoppers.
The final building at no. 50, which won a local award, is not exactly a restoration, then, given not least the significant additions of three dormer windows at the front and the raising of the tower with a third floor conservatory - the urns and tiles are also new. It is surely more a palimpsest. — Chris Dawes
Many thanks to Chris Dawes for writing in to explain the building's history, especially the ways in which it has been linked to Mackintosh and Derwent Wood. Photographs and captions by George P. Landow, and formatting by Landow and Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Cherry, Bridget, and Nikolaus Pevsner. London 3: North West. “The Buildings of England.” New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002.
M341 Design for a building containing studios for Francis Derwent Wood, Chelsea, London. Mackitosh Arcrchitecture: Context, Making and Meaning (Catalogue entry). Web. 3 May 2024.
Last modified 14 September 2011