A visit to Temple Place

I'd read about Temple Place in Spitalfields Life - Jay had told me about this wonderful blog - I subscribe to it now - I feast my eyes there upon photographs of late Victorian streets - I ponder the biographies of intrepid Somali immigrants - I read humane essays about Bethnal Green cats -

I must confess that I have spent hours, waltzing dreamily through the archives of this inspired miscellany -

So, in January this year, I set off to visit Temple Place, much praised by the Gentle Author -

The house is located in Temple Place, just across from the Victoria Embankment - I went up by train, clutching my moleskine -

The house was like one half seen in a dream - I wondered why I'd never noticed it before - what had hidden it from me?

I was much taken by the golden sailing ship, topping the weather vane - there were tall chimneys, walls of light coloured stone, high windows catching nervous sunshine - a wooden door, fit for a palazzo off the Campo Santo Stephano, opened easily to my touch -

Once inside, I stood within a shadowy hallway, panelled with rich gleaming wood - high above was a roof of stained glass - bright designs glittered - a staircase, with carved figures, climbed upwards - the floor was inlaid with jasper, porphyry and onyx -

There was an exhibition of Cornish Painters in progress - a brusque man with a white beard and a navy blue Breton cap told me photography was not permitted -

I gazed upon the paintings - they depicted the austere worn faces of fishermen, great silvery heaps of fish, workmanlike boats, exhausted women - I had the impression of a fierce wild poverty, a beautiful heartless sea -

When I walked into the Great Hall, with its hammer beam roof, I thought I must be in the Magician's House - surely I would soon see Lucy, peering into the book of spells -