Welcome to the Underworld

The Building Centre

I had a morning trip to London to accomplish two things - see an exhibition and go Blue Plaque hunting in Bloomsbury.

The exhibition is Welcome to the Underworld at The Building Centre. I'd never heard of the place but there it is situated close to Goodge Street tube station. I'm not sure what I expected but it seems to be a building dedicated to small show rooms for businesses with everything from bathroom fittings to pipes in all their shapes, joins and colours. The upper floors seem to be business premises. On the ground floor there was a huge model of London but there was a bunch of people milling around so I couldn't get a photo. I looked at a scheme for renovating older properties rather than building new units (has my vote!). The photos of the properties were accompanied by layout plans.

Downstairs in the basement (of course) was the exhibition. It's a small affair with three short films (only one has sound) and photos. It's amazing what has been built underground and how the work is done. There is everything from a sewage plant to an adventure walk in Welsh caves and of course Crossrail. Also featured is the mosque featured in Civilisations (BBC2) and the Seed Bank in Norway. Very interesting exhibition, which is free, by the way.

Next up was my hunt for the house where the Bloomsbury Group met. On my way I walked along Bloomsbury Street and came across the house where The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded. That was exciting! I seem to have a thing for art groups - Glasgow Boys, East London Group, Pitman Painters etc. I am at present reading a book about a group of artists who went to the Slade and The Bloomsbury Group came up. Anyway, I found the house overlooking Gordon Square Gardens. The gardens have a board explaining who the Bloomsbury Group were. The gardens are lovely, a haven from the busy roads. They also have a nice refreshment hut that serves vegan food. I wasn't going to eat just get a cup of tea but I ended buying sweet potato and coconut soup and a vegan carrot cake to take home. The soup was delicious (as was the cake).

Here are a few photos.