Restoration work begins on historic Coronation Gardens drinking fountain

Restoration work has begun on the historic Coronation Gardens drinking fountain in Southfields, Wandsworth. Read more about the project in the press here.

Stonemason Florian Kirchertz and his team from London Stone Conservation have started work, dismantling the pink granite structure and reconnecting the fountain to a fresh water supply. This exciting restoration project includes fixing the fountain’s base and restoring the ornamental bowl.

In addition, a brand-new, beautiful bronze statue of the UK’s first professional female landscape gardener, Fanny Wilkinson, will be added to the fountain. Wilkinson was a feminist pioneer who was responsible for laying out more than 70 parks and gardens in London, including, fittingly, Coronation Gardens itself. Read more about Wilkinson in this Guardian article: 'She changed the face of London': statue to be unveiled of suffragist gardener.

Local sculptor Gillian Brett is currently working on this inspiring art project.

Children from Riversdale Primary School listen as stonemason, Joe, talks about his work

School children examine a fork chisel tool on site at Coronation Gardens

As part of HOLT’s Proud Places programme young people from Francis Barber Pupil Referral Unit visited the project to learn about stonemasonry.

Teacher, Alberto, explained the impact the workshop had had on his students: ‘Isaiah doesn't normally engage in lessons anymore so the fact that he participated in the stone workshop is amazing.

'That he came back to do it again with the other class shows just how much he enjoyed it,’ Alberto said.

Arlo, aged 15, was particularly inspired by the Proud Places workshop: ‘I didn't really know much about stonemasons before today. But now I'm considering a career as a stonemason.’

Younger children from next door Riversdale Primary School were delighted to learn about the new statue of Fanny Wilkinson. ‘This will be a great way of remembering her,’ said Kenna, aged 7.

• Work on the Coronation Gardens drinking fountain is due to be completed in early July.

Commerce Welcoming All Nations frieze restored

Heritage of London Trust with support from the Jones Day Foundation and Islington Council has completed restoration of a stunning 73-ft-long Victorian frieze in Islington. 

Heritage of London Trust, guests, local residents and school children visited the frieze last week.

The frieze was created in 1842 and was once set into the façade of the Hall of Commerce building in the City of London. When that building was torn down in 1922, the frieze was saved and put into storage.

In 1975, the frieze was repaired and re-installed in the newly created Battishill Gardens in Islington, and unveiled by Sir John Betjeman.

‘We are thrilled to have been able to restore this spectacular frieze,’ said Dr Nicola Stacey, Director of Heritage of London Trust.

‘The artist Musgrave Watson had had a very chequered career before he came to this commission. He’d trained at the Royal Academy, had worked for three years in Italy, and set up studio near the British Museum. But he had got few commissions to turn his plaster designs into actual stonework. He was unhappy, frustrated and living in poverty. And he was very slight, with a delicate constitution, and he suffered with ill health, anxiety and depression throughout his life. 

‘But he finally managed to win this big commission “to set forth the blissful influences of commerce”. And the frieze shows off his rare talent.’ 

Watson died a few years after its completion, aged 42, from tuberculosis and heart failure.

Stacey also paid tribute to the work of Sir John Betjeman and said 'today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the unveiling of this frieze.’

James Grant, from Sally Strachey Conservation, was also present at the event. Stacey thanked Grant for his impressive work. ‘James has removed quite a lot of the damaging concrete infill from the 1970s and has replaced those parts with lime mortar, which matches the Portland stone.’

Islington Council has removed the railings, laid out new plants for the beds and will be working with Heritage of London Trust on an interpretation panel to accompany the frieze.

HOLT restores three important William Mitchell murals in artist’s centenary year

Heritage of London Trust, the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Dr Dawn Pereria and the Twentieth Century Society have all worked together to save a rare William Mitchell mural. 

The Brooklands mural is one of three William Mitchell works that Heritage of London Trust will be restoring in 2025, the centenary of the artist’s birth.

In Greenwich, one William Mitchell mural that used to adorn a wall in the Brooklands Community Centre will be now be relocated to Brooklands Primary School. Two other murals which decorate the bases of housing blocks in Lewisham will also be restored this year.

Dr Nicola Stacey said of the Brooklands mural,‘So much of London’s 50s and 60s fantastic public art is under threat or neglected. We’re thrilled to have been able to rescue this mural and relocate it nearby. We look forward to a burgeoning interest in London’s wonderfully eclectic post war art.’

Catherine Croft, Director of C20 Society said, ‘This mural shows the amazing William Mitchell at his most characteristically inventive – using cheap, everyday materials in an innovative and unexpected way to make a robust and accessible artwork. It’s been loved by many generations – and it’s great that it’s being sensitively restored and moved, not to an art gallery, but to a primary school where we’re sure it will delight and intrigue those who will see it on a daily basis, inspiring them to be creative too.’ 

Royal Borough of Greenwich Cabinet Member for Planning, Estate Renewal and Development Cllr Majid Rahman said, ‘From the time we learned of the cultural significance of this mural, located on a site where we are building much-needed new council homes, it has been our priority to protect and preserve it for future generations.

We are delighted that with help from Heritage of London Trust and the Twentieth Century Society, this rare example of William Mitchell’s work will be restored and moved to a place where it can enrich the lives of young people in our borough.’

Read more about the William Mitchell mural projects in the Guardian.