However one thing you won't get the chance to do on Tuesday is tour the site. I took advantage of Saturday's event to join one of the tours, which included viewing the 400m-odd of river frontage which could come back into use with the redevelopment of the site.
At the extreme east end of the site you get a great view of the Master Shipwright's house, which is at the bottom of Watergate Street behind a very high wall and can only be seen from the river. It was built in 1708 by for master shipwright Joseph Allin who, dissatisfied with his existing house, persuaded the Navy Board to pay for a new one. However, Allin overspent on the house and, amidst rumours of corruption, was dismissed in 1715.
As you can see from this picture 'St Albans' Floated out at Deptford, 1747 by John Cleveley, the Elder, Allins house was right next to the dockyard (on the extreme left of the painting) and is very little changed today.
11 comments:
Did you get that shot from the other side of the river, or did they take you out in a boat?
I have been lucky enough to get to see inside the Shipwright's House, when it was in Open House. It is an amazing space, which has been very sensitively worked on by the owners and if you ever get the chance to see it, take the opportunity!
@gareth - it was on a pier that handily juts out just in front of the house!
@fabhat - I've been inside too and agree, it's lovely. Apparently the owners are obliged by the terms of the lease to open it for public events a couple of times a year, but I've missed them or not heard about them for the last few years.
When I was down at Convoys on Saturday one of the Shipwright's House owners was there berating the developers/architects for ignoring them when they developed their plans for Convoys Wharf.
A bit of background on the house since 1998......
The Shipwright's Palace was open during the 'String of Pearls" Millennium Festival and has been open on many occasions since, including Open House, Big Draw, May Day Jack in the Green, attracting over ten thousand visitors. From 1998 to the present the house has provided inspiration for numerous arts events, from Not Nothing Nowhere in 1998 to it currently being used by Laban students for the creation of new works. In 2002 Athina Vahla staged House of Kurtz http://onesquareyard.com/localExamples/houseOfKurtz/. The house is also used for filming, see Eastern Promises, Sylvia, Flyboys, Fingersmith, Tipping the Velvet, Layer Cake, Spooks, Silent Witness, and many more, for an exquisite portrayal of the interior of the house see the video made for Vidler and Nixon, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqUA_buoeKo We also made the cover of Uk Vogue with Kate Moss Oct 2008.
We have always welcomed proposals from artists be they film makers, sculptors, photographers, choreographers, musicians and have accommodated their projects when possible. We've staged London Bubble, National Youth Theatre, Lewisham College BTEC theatre project, University of the 3rd Age, London Film School, RADA, Bartlett School of Architecture, East London University Architecture and Artandadventure in collaboration with Lewisham Film, to name only a few!
There is no lease, and no obligation ( or public funding!) to create these events. We appreciate any interest in the Master Shipwright's House, Offices and Garden and have been trying for the last five years to engage in a dialogue with developers concerning how to maximise the assets that are concentrated in the north eastern area of the dockyard, namely House, Offices, Dock, Landing Place, Stairs and Causeway. Over the years we have amassed a wealth of material on the dockyard from numerous archives and are happy to share this with anyone who is interested. We are planning an alternative consultation day for early in the New Year and welcome everyone's ideas and thoughts. Chris and Willi can be reached on msh1708@yahoo.com.
sorry i forgot to say thanks to the dame for her on going passion about deptford, after 21 years here, and a hard rain of regeneration schemes we need to draw inspiration from all quarters!
(hey, can you get the phone number for Richard Amatage???) oh well.
Do these guys have a website???
I met Willi a while back and cannot for the life of me get in touch.
@steve they have a blog, it's on my blogroll on the right hand side (shipwright's palace)
@steve and their email address is in one of the earlier posts......!
is this standing been all around this building the stairs and flooring was decaying i hope its been saved
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