{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O185391"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O185391/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KK8274/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KK8274/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KK8274","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O185391/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O185391","accessionNumber":"324:1 to 10-1907","objectType":"Architectural façade","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"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).\r\n\r\nIt formed part of the school-house in which the poet John Keats received the greater part of his education (about 1803-1810). At a later date 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.\r\n\r\nThe acquisition of the façade is recorded in a contemporary publication about Enfield by Edward Ford. He noted: '...it was taken down brick by brick, with the greatest care, all being numbered and packed in boxes of sawdust for carriage. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the workmanship, the bricks having been ground down to a perfect face, and joined with bee-wax and rosin, nor mortar or lime being used. In this manner the whole front has been first built in a solid block, the circular-headed niches, with their carved cherubs and festoons of fruit and foliage, being afterwards cut out with the chisel....'\r\n\r\nSir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) was a designer, astronomer, geometer and one of Britain's greatest architects. He designed 53 churches in London, including St. Paul's Cathedral, and many other secular buildings, for example the Greenwich Naval Hospital. He was a founder of the Royal Society, and its President from (1680-82). He also carried out scientific research, and was a respected colleague of both Sir Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal.","physicalDescription":"The flat façade is divided into three by four pilasters with Corinthian capitals supporting a cornice; the central division with an opening for a window, the outer two each with a niche, the top which is filled with a cherub's head and crossed palm branches surmounted by a swag of fruit and leaves. Above the whole cornice is a swallow lunette.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Wren, Christopher (Sir)","id":"A24399"},"association":{"text":"architect","id":"AAT24987"},"note":"possibly built by or for Edward Helder, after a design by Sir Christopher Wren"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"brick","id":"AAT10463"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Brick","categories":[{"text":"Architecture","id":"THES48993"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2017KK8274"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"48W","id":"THES400071"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"A","id":"THES397245"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"B","id":"THES397246"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"B","id":"THES397246"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"C","id":"THES397247"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"D","id":"THES397248"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"D","id":"THES397248"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"E","id":"THES397249"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"F","id":"THES397251"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"F","id":"THES397251"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"facades","id":"AAT2526"}],[{"text":"Architectural elements","id":""}],[{"text":"Architectural elements","id":""}],[{"text":"Architectural elements","id":""}],[{"text":"Architectural elements","id":""}],[{"text":"Architectural elements","id":""}],[{"text":"Architectural elements","id":""}],[{"text":"Architectural elements","id":""}],[{"text":"Architectural elements","id":""}],[{"text":"Architectural façade","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1680 - ca. 1700","earliest":"1675-01-01","latest":"1704-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"506","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"535.94","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"It is possibly built by or for Edward Helder, a bricklayer (d. 1672) to the designs of Wren.\r\nThis façade formed part of the school-house in which the poet John Keats (1796-1821) received the greater part of his education (about 1803-1810). The building became part of Enfield Railway Station in 1848. The station was demolished in 1872, the façade however saved, and originally purchased for the Structural Collection of the Science Museum, then part of the South Kensington Museum.\r\nBought, £50.","historicalContext":"The acquisition of the façade is recorded in a contemporary publication about Enfield by Edward Ford. He noted: '...it was taken down brick by brick, with the greatest care, all being numbered and packed in boxes of sawdust for carriage. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the workmanship, the bricks having been ground down to a perfect face, and joined with bee-wax and rosin, nor mortar or lime being used. In this manner the whole front has been first built in a solid block, the circular-headed niches, with their carved cherubs and festoons of fruit and foliage, being afterwards cut out with the chisel....'","briefDescription":"Architectural façade, brick, from a former school-house and later part of the Railway Station of Enfield, possibly built by or for Edward Helder, after a design by Sir Christopher Wren, England, before 1672","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"List of Works of Art Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in the Years 1905 - 1908. <u>In</u>: <u>List of Works of Art Acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, During the Year 1907, Arranged According to the Dates of  Acquisition with Appendix and Indices</u>. London: Printed for His Majesty's Stationery Office, by Eyre and Spottiswoode, Limited, 1909, p. 51"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bilbey, Diane and Trusted, Marjorie. <u>British Sculpture 1470-2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002, p.21, cat.no. 24"}],"production":"possibly built by or for the bricklayer Edward Helder","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"pilasters","id":"AAT2737"},{"text":"cherub head","id":"x42904"},{"text":"palm branch","id":"x43658"},{"text":"swag","id":"AAT204891"},{"text":"fruit","id":"AAT11868"},{"text":"leaves","id":"x34654"},{"text":"lunette","id":"AAT3034"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["324:1-1907","324:2-1907","324:3-1907","324:4-1907","324:5-1907","324:6-1907","324:7-1907","324:8-1907","324:9-1907","324:10-1907"],"accessionNumberNum":"324","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1907,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Architectural elements [1]","Architectural elements [2]","Architectural elements [3]","Architectural elements [4]","Architectural elements [5]","Architectural elements [6]","Architectural elements [7]","Architectural elements [8]","Architectural elements [9]","Architecture facade from house at enfield"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-03","recordCreationDate":"2009-01-28","availableToBook":false}}