Try GOLD - Free

A symphony in timber

Country Life UK

|

March 02, 2022

The Carpenters’ Company, Throgmorton Avenue, EC2 One of the most remarkable Modernist interiors of post-war London was created by a City Livery Company to celebrate its craft, as John Goodall explains

- John Goodall

A symphony in timber

ON the night of May 10, 1941, the City of London was the object of the last large-scale air raid of the Blitz. Among the architectural casualties was Carpenters’ Hall, which was gutted when the gas mains on London Wall were ignited by a ‘land mine’. Fortunately, most of the Company’s treasures had been stored for safety in the vaults of the building and survived the blaze. The Victorian hall, designed in an Italian Renaissance style by the architect and liveryman of the Company, William Wilmer Pocock, and begun in 1876, was otherwise left a roofless ruin. It was only the second hall to have stood on this site since the 15th century, its much-adapted medieval predecessor having been damaged by fire in 1849.

The halls of the City Livery Companies suffered badly during the war and more than 30 were seriously damaged or destroyed. Repairing them was complicated by the shortage of materials, the byzantine operations of the War Damage Commission (which paid for war damage less dilapidations) and a licensing system for construction managed by the Ministry of Works. Even so, in some ways, these Livery Company rebuilding projects led the field in the post-war resurgence of London, just as they had done after the Great Fire in 1666.

Carpenters’ Hall is one of the best and most intriguing examples of this generation of buildings, being at once historically informed yet consciously contemporary. It occupies the shell of Pocock’s building, but without attempting to re-create it. This treatment creates striking juxtapositions of old and new and is in contrast to the mainstream of restored Livery Halls, most of which opted for reinstatement or complete reconstruction. No less remarkable, however, is the manner in which Carpenters’ Hall seeks to celebrate in architecture the spirit of the Company’s craft.

MORE STORIES FROM Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Dogged work uncovers Rembrandt secret

ALTHOUGH history doesn't record how passionate Rembrandt van Rijn was about dogs, he clearly liked them enough to feature them in several of his paintings, such as his Self-portrait in Oriental Attire with Poodle (1631-33).

time to read

1 min

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

The royal treatment

Edward VII swept away the cobwebs of mid-Victorian style, Queen Mary had passion for all things small and the Queen Mother bought rather avant-garde art. In a forthcoming talk, Tim Knox, director of the Royal Collection, charts a century of regal taste

time to read

3 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

The garden for all seasons

The private Worcestershire garden of John Massey

time to read

5 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

When in Rome

For anyone considering tweaking pasta alla carbonara-a work of art as fine as the Trevi Fountain-the answer is always: non c'è modo! Or is it, asks Tom Parker Bowles

time to read

3 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

The scoop

\"The planned article was on the damson harvest; instead, we got Donald Trump's ally's taps turned off\"

time to read

3 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

The goddess of small things

For Rita Konig, interior design isn't only about coherence and comfort: it should be a celebration of stuff. Giles Kime charts her transatlantic career

time to read

4 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Farmers vent fury at Labour's conference

THE Labour party's controversial proposed reforms of farm inheritance tax were the catalyst that led 1,200 disgruntled British farmers to converge on Liverpool and stage a protest at the Labour Party Conference.

time to read

2 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Vested interest

Favoured by Byronic bluesmen, Eton pops and rotund royalty, the waistcoat and its later iterations are an integral part of the Englishman's wardrobe, says Simon Mills

time to read

5 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

The easel in the crown

Together with ancient armour, Egyptian cats and illuminated manuscripts, this year's Frieze Masters sees a colourful work by an even more colourful character, a Nigerian prince who set out to make 'contemporary Yoruba traditional art'

time to read

5 mins

October 08, 2025

Country Life UK

Country Life UK

Everything you need to know about trees and shrubs

SOMETIMES, it is difficult to remember how we functioned before the internet took over the way we garden.

time to read

3 mins

October 08, 2025

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size