Building    To 1872

Enfield school-house / station

the V&A (our picture source) hold in their collection part of the façade of this building (not just the photo but the bricks themselves). Alamy have a photo of the saved section of the façade erected inside a building, presumably the V&A. The section is that of the central first floor including the segmental pediment.

The V&A write: "This brick house frontage was possibly built by or for Edward Helder, a bricklayer (d. 1672), after the designs of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723). It formed part of the school-house in which the poet John Keats received the greater of his education (about 1803-1810). At a later date {the plaque says 1849} the building became part of Enfield Railway Station. The station was demolished in 1872; the façade however was saved, and originally purchased for the Structural Collection of the Science Museum, then part of the South Kensington Museum."

Literary By-Paths in Old England by Henry C Shelley is quoted by Alamy, as follows:  "Cowden Clarke, the son of the master of the school, narrates that it had been built by a West India merchant in the latter end of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century. It was of the better character of the domestic architecture of that period, the whole front being of the purest red brick, wrought by means of moulds into rich designs of flowers and pomegranates, with heads of cherubim over niches in the centre of the building. Because it was such an excellent example of the early Georgian facade of Keats's Schoolhouse domestic architecture, and not because it formed part of the building in which Keats was educated, the façade of this Enfield schoolhouse escaped the usual fate of demolished bricks and mortar, and may now be seen in an annex of the South Kensington Museum, London..."

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Enfield school-house / station

Commemorated ati

John Keats - Enfield

The house which stood on this site was built in the late 17th century. Later ...

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Keats, D'Israeli, Clarke at Enfield

According to Enfield Borough this plaque, together with the remaining plaque,...

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Other Subjects

William Brannan Collins

William Brannan Collins

Housing developer. Son of William Jefferies Collins. He and his brother Herbert designed the Rookfield Garden Estate - see there for more information. Local History has an 1975 interview with 'Bil...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Bridgwater Shepheard & Epstein

Bridgwater Shepheard & Epstein

Architects. The history of the firm, now (2019) Shepheard Epstein Hunter, is given here. We had to check whether the Epstein in the firm, Gabriel Epstein, is related to Jacob, and it seems not.

Group, Architecture

1 memorial
Newcastle House

Newcastle House

From the Picture Source website: In 1790, James Farrer bought the southern half of the fine building which we now occupy at 66 Lincoln's Inn Fields. This was originally the home of Lord Powys, whic...

Building, Architecture

1 memorial
Alfred Cross

Alfred Cross

Architect. Born Alfred William Stephens Cross in Blackheath. 1889-99 he was in a partnership with Henry Spalding. He specialised in designs for public baths. Died London. Information from Manchest...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Francis Golding

Francis Golding

Architectural expert:  honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), head of the Royal Fine Art Commission during the late 1990s and had worked on major projects such as the ...

Person, Architecture, Cyclist, Tragedy

1 memorial