Re-discovering and restoring the Doulton’s Carrara ware façade at Findlater’s Corner, London Bridge - a wonder material of Victorian London.
This talk celebrates one of the finest building materials of the Victorian and Edwardian period. Glazed terracotta or faience was an ideal facing material for Britain’s smoky and sooty cities.
The ambitious and inventive Doulton’s Pottery developed terracotta cladding, including Carraraware, which is seriously robust, more weather resistant than stone, and can be moulded into the complex shapes that the period demanded.
We will look at the restoration of the Beaux Arts shop at Findlater’s Corner, an eye catching wine merchant’s shop, at the south end of London Bridge. Through this work, Benedict has discovered and researched other buildings using Doulton’s Carrara ware, designed by Britain’s leading architects. This talk tells this story too.
Benedict O’Looney runs an architecture studio in south London, working on new build and conservation projects, particularly in Southwark, including the renovation of the Grade ll listed Peckham Rye Station for Network Rail and Southwark Council. Other recent work includes the nine new shopfronts for the restoration of Findlater’s Corner, at the south end of London Bridge, A women’s and children’s wing for the Croydon Mosque, a new Mosque for Purley and a war memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum commemorating the Muslim soldiers fighting for Britain in the First and Second World Wars.
Since obtaining his Master of Architecture degree from Yale University, Benedict worked with Grimshaw and Alsop Architects, where an interest in new architecture in historic settings was developed. Benedict taught architecture history and sketching for 11 years at the Architectural Association, at the Kent School of Architecture, the Canterbury School of Architecture, and for New York University’s London program. He is chairman of Southwark’s Conservation Areas Advisory Group, a member of the Victorian Society’s Southern Building Committee and a past president of the London Sketch Club.
Event organised by the Friends of Durning Library. For refreshments a £3 donation is requested.
