Leighton House

Leighton House is unique among the capital's museums in that it combines outstanding collections of High Victorian art with the atmosphere and intimacy of a private home. It was built betweewn 1864 and 1879). The house has maintained the opulent decoration like a monument to the Victorian time. It is especially outstanding the Arab Hall with a great collection of Islamic mosaics, some with the inscriptions from the Coran.

Leighton House was the home of the artist Frederic, Lord Leighton (1830 - 1896) and is one of the most representative buildings of the 19th century. The house was extended and embellished to create a private palace of art. The Leighton Drawings Project catalogues, has photographs and exhibits the collection of 700 drawings by Leighton at Leighton House Museum.

Leighton house has 81 oil paintings by Leighton . 9 of these 81 paintings are on loan to Leighton House from other private institutions . Some of the paintings of Leigthon House are:

-The Death of Brunelleschi

- A Noble Lady of Venice

- The Countess of Brownlow

- Clytemnestra From The Battlements...

- The Vestal

- And the sea gave up...

Sketchbooks and Albums

The Museum has five albums and sketchbooks of drawings and water colours by Leighton

Prints of Leighton’s work

There are 54 prints of Leighton's works at the Museum

Material related to Leighton

14 items of personal material including documents embroideries, enamels and caricatures.

Leighton House Museumis exceptional for entertaining, providing an unforgettable setting for corporate and private dinners, receptions, lectures, concerts and photographic or filming shoots.

The exotic Arab Hall is a perfect setting for drinks and canapés. Leighton's Studio on the first floor caters for 80 people and is ideal for both corporate and private dinners.

Berta G 1st bat A

Fournier Street

Fournier Street, formerly Church Street, is a street of 18th century houses in Spitalfields, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs between Commercial Street and Brick Lane.

One of the finest examples is Howard House, No. 14 Fournier Street, a mansion house, built circa 1726 by 'carpenter and gentleman', William Taylor, for his own occupation but subsequently leased by silk weavers, 'Signeratt and Bourdillon'. It has three floors and a large attic which once contained the loom. It is here that the silk for Queen Victoria's Coronation gown was woven. The unique hardwood staircase balustrade is carved to display fluted columns with Ionic capitals placed on each turn for one hundred steps.

No 23 Fournier Street is perhaps the best surviving example of a classic, single-fronted early Georgian town house of simple but elegant design. This house retains the original, typical arrangement of cellar-basement, three brick storeys and a mansard garrett with a weather boarded front and wide weaver's windows.

Lara V. 1^st bat A

Oranges and Lemons

Here is another nursery rhyme. Which famous building is it related to?

Saint Paul's Cathedral

A Cathedral dedicated to St Paul has overlooked the City of London since 604 AD, a constant reminder to this great commercial centre of the importance of the spiritual side of life.

The current Cathedral – the fourth to occupy this site – was designed by the court architect Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1675 and 1710 after its predecessor was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. Its architectural and artistic importance reflect the determination of the five monarchs who oversaw its building that London’s leading church should be as beautiful and imposing as their private palaces.

Important services have included the funerals of Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill; Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria; peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars; the launch of the Festival of Britain; the Service of Remembrance and Commemoration for the 11th September 2001; the 80th and 100th birthdays of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, to Lady Diana Spencer and, most recently, the thanksgiving services for both the Golden Jubilee and 80th Birthday of Her Majesty the Queen.

In the crypt are effigies and fragments of stone that pre-date the Cathedral, relics of a medieval world. From Wren’s original vision, Jean Tijou’s beautiful wrought iron gates of 1700 still separate the quire from the ambulatory; children still test the acoustics in the Whispering Gallery; and the 1695 organ which Mendelssohn once played is still in use.

Nicolás O, Cristian E & Benji B 1st Bat C

Saint Mary-Le-Bow Church and Bells

St Mary-le-Bow is a historic church in the City of London, off Cheapside. According to tradition, a true Cockney must be born within earshot of the sound of the church's bells. The bells are also credited with having persuaded Dick Whittington to turn back from Highgate and remain in London to become Lord Mayor (three times in the story but four times in reality).The church is also immortalised in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons. Traditionally, distances by road from London have been measured from the London Stone, or the "Standard" in Cornhill, but, on the road from London to Lewes, the mileage is taken from the church door of St Mary-le-Bow. To emphasize the difference, mileposts along the way are marked with a cast-iron depiction of a bow and four bells.

History

Archaeological evidence indicates that a church existed on this site in Saxon period England. A medieval version of the church had been destroyed in 1091 by one of the earliest recorded (and one of the most violent) tornadoes in Britain, the London Tornado of 1091. During the Norman period, a church known as “St Mary de Arcubus” was built and was famed for its two arches (“bows”) of stone. From at least the 13th century, the church belonged to the Diocese of Canterbury and the seat of the Court of Arches, to which it gave the name. The church with its steeple had been a landmark of London and the “Bow bells”, which could be heard as far away as Hackney Marshes, were once used to signal a curfew in the City of London. This building burned in the Great Fire of London of 1666.

The current building was built to the designs of Christopher Wren, 1671-1673, with the 223-foot steeple completed 1680.

In 1914, a stone from the crypt of Bow Church was placed in Trinity Church, New York, in commemoration of the fact that King William III granted the vestry of Trinity Church the same privileges as St Mary-le-Bow. A recording of the Bow Bells made in 1926 has been used by the BBC World Service as an interval signal for the English language broadcasts since the early 1940s. It is still used today preceding some English broadcasts.

Much of the current building was destroyed by a German bomb during the London Blitz on May, 10th 1941. Restoration was begun in 1956 and the bells rang again only in 1961 to produce a new generation of Cockneys. The church was formally reconsecrated in 1964 and was designated a Grade I listed building on the 4^th of January 1950.

In the churchyard is a statue of Captain John Smith, founder of Virginia and former parishioner of this church. St Mary-le-Bow ministers to the financial industry and livery companies of the City of London. There is a memorial in the church to the first Governor in Australia, Arthur Phillip, who was born nearby. Through this connection the Rector of St Mary le Bow is the Chaplain of the Britain-Australia Society.

Angel F, Raquel L & Cristina R 1st bat C