Page 87 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - London

WHITEHALL AND WESTMINSTER  85

t Guards Museum
Birdcage Walk SW1. Map 13 A5.
Tel 020 7414 3428. 1 St James’s Park.
Open 10am–4pm daily (last adm:
3:30pm). Closed mid-Dec–end Jan &
ceremonies. & (free for under-16s). ^
7 = ∑ theguardsmuseum.com
Entered from Birdcage Walk, the
museum is under the parade
ground of Wellington Barracks,
headquarters of the five Foot
Guards regiments. A must for
military buffs, the museum
illustrates various battles in
which the Guards have taken
part, from the English Civil
War (1642–8) to the present.
Weapons and row after row
of colourful uniforms are on
display, as well as a fascin ating Baroque interior of St John’s Smith Square
collection of models.
and the catechism”. All pupils incongruous. They were left
y St James’s Park were boys until 1713, when bare because the project ran
out of money. Eric Gill’s dramatic
girls were admitted; they were
Station permitted to attend until 1876. reliefs of the 14 Stations of the
55 Broadway SW1. Map 13 A5. In 1899 it became an elementary Cross, created during World War
1 St James’s Park. school, which it remained until I, adorn the pier of the nave,
the mid 1920s. It was used as an which is the widest in Britain.
The Underground station is built army store during World War II, The organ is one of the finest in
into Broadway House, Charles and was bought by the National Europe, and there are often free
Holden’s 1929 headquarters Trust in 1954; it now houses an recitals on Sunday afternoons
for London Transport. It is notable exclusive bridal shop. at 4:45pm.
for its sculptures by Jacob
Epstein and reliefs by Henry i Westminster o St John’s Smith
Moore and Eric Gill.
Cathedral Square
u Blewcoat School Victoria Street SW1. Map 20 F1. Smith Sq SW1. Map 21 B1. Tel 020
7222 1061. 1 Westminster. Closed to
Tel 020 7798 9055. 1 Victoria.
23 Caxton St SW1. Map 13 A5. Open 7am– 7pm Mon–Fri, 8am– public except for concerts. Box office:
1 St James’s Park. Closed to public 7pm Sat & Sun. & for bell tower lift Open 10am–5pm Mon–Sat (to 6pm
(Bridal shop by appt: 020 7222 2877). (9:30am–5pm Mon–Fri, 9:30am–6pm on concert days). ^ 7 phone first.
Sat & Sun) and exhibition. 5 Check 0 ∑ sjss.org.uk
This red-brick gem hemmed in website for details of Mass and
by the office towers of Victoria services. 7 9 = Described by artist and art
Street was built in 1709 as a ∑ westminstercathedral.org.uk historian Sir Hugh Casson as one
charity school to teach pupils of the masterpieces of English
how to “read, write, cast accounts One of London’s rare Byzantine Baroque architecture, Thomas
buildings, the cathedral was Archer’s plump church, with its
designed by John Francis Bentley turrets at each corner, looks as
for the Catholic diocese and if it is trying to burst from the
completed in 1903 on the site confines of the square, and
of a former prison. Its 87-m rather overpowers the pleasing
(285-ft) high red-brick tower, 18th-century houses on its
with horizontal stripes of white north side. Today it is principally
stone, stands out on the skyline a concert hall. It has an accident-
in sharp contrast to the Abbey prone history: completed in
nearby. A piazza on the north 1728, it was burned down in 1742,
side provides a good view of the struck by lightning in 1773 and
cathedral from Victoria Street. destroyed by a World War II bomb
The rich interior decoration, in 1941. There is a reasonably
with marble of varying colours priced basement restaurant that
Statue of a Blewcoat pupil above the and intricate mosaics, makes the is open on weekdays for lunch
Caxton Street entrance domes above the nave seem and on concert evenings.

084-085_EW_London.indd 85 21/03/17 2:20 pm