Sad to see the demolition of the Glasshouse in Melior Place SE1 (opposite the Horseshoe Inn), home to the artist Andrew Logan and his architect partner Michael Davis for many years. When they moved in in the late 1980s the site 'contained a concrete garage with a flat on top. A year later, inspired by a trip to Mexico, Davis added another floor and painted it pink. He put stairs on the outside, cut windows in the front and installed the glass roof, resulting in the huge, conservatory-like studio' (Guardian, 2008).
I went there once, with Logan giving tours as part of an Open House event. The place was joyously crammed with his sparkling mirror art work. The writing was on the wall once planning permission was granted for a block of flats overlooking it. Who wants to live in a glasshouse when everybody can look into it from above? Logan moved out a few years ago, there was an art gallery there for a while but now it is gone for good (or bad).
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| Demolition site |
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| How it used to be |
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| The conservatory from above |
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| Peak glasshouse |
Logan can still sometimes be spotted cycling around the area, a queer legend famed for his Alternative Miss World parties and other events when he was living at Butlers Wharf in the 1970s. His warehouse space there was used for an orgy scene in Derek Jarman's film Sebastiene.
In an interview with World People Project a few years ago Logan said: 'I feel London is now in the grip of developers who are fuelled by greed. The face of London is quickly changing, a futuristic megatropolis is being built and the gap between the rich and poor is widening. Through all the changes the River Thames continues to flow.
In this particular case the issue is perhaps less gentrification - I don't think Logan was priced out - than the blandification of parts of London with more and more identikit blocks squeezing out anything quirky, interesting or unique.
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