paul messerschmidt (europe)
the gamble room (4)
14:13, Sunday 28th July 2013 ·
Victoria & Albert Museum,
South Kensington, London, England ·
Pentax KX (35mm SLR camera) ·
Kodak Portra 160 (colour negative film - ISO 160) ·
Pentax-A f2.8 28mm lens · f5.6|8 · 1 sec ·
by James Gamble (1835-1919), architect, a pupil of the artist Alfred Stevens and one of the museum's own design team.
The Refreshment Rooms
The Gamble, Poynter and Morris Rooms are interlinked rooms that made up the restaurant of the South Kensington Museum. These rooms are today again being used as part of the Museum's Café. Although they were functional spaces, the Refreshment Rooms belonged to the Museum's public face, so they were also given some extremely lavish decorations. ...
The Gamble Room was the original Refreshment Room. It would have been the visitor's first view of the Museum's interior and even the Victorians would have been struck by the extraordinary decoration. The main doors to this room were immediately opposite the main entrance of the Museum. Henry Cole's concept of a museum restaurant was completely new, a world first for South Kensington, yet another way of getting people to enjoy culture.
Henry Cole was responsible for many innovations: the V&A was the first public museum in the world to be artificially lit so that workers could come in the evenings. (In the ceilings of some rooms the ornamental metal gratings which took away the heat and fumes from the open gas jets can still be seen.) The ventilation grilles in the ceiling of the Gamble Room are surrounded by enormously heavy and ornate enamelled iron plates. Cole is thought to have got the idea from the enamelled name plates on railway stations. Here, with the ceramic tiled walls and columns, they were a hygienic, washable covering for an eating place and also formed a fireproof cell within the museum. The Victorians were very conscious of the dangers of fire. It would have taken horse-drawn fire engines a long time to reach South Kensington, still a very rural place in the 1860s. As an additional precaution, food for this main refreshment room was prepared in kitchens outside the walls.
The windows are full of Victorian maxims and mottoes about the joys of eating and drinking, such as such as 'Hunger is the best sauce' and 'A good cup makes all young'. The frieze with its inscription from Ecclesiastes II, 24 reads 'There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy the good of his labour - XYZ.'
www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/architectural-history-of...
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Tags:
uk "great britain" england "south kensington" knightsbridge "cromwell road" "victoria and albert museum" "victoria & albert museum" "v and a" vanda v&a "the v&a cafe" "the v&a café" cafe café cafeteria restaurant "refreshment room" victorian "high victorian" "james gamble" "william morris" "edward poynter" "the gamble room" architecture columns pillars arches ceiling decoration decorative ornate "wide-angle lens" "angled up" "looking up" upwards summer 7/2013
[film2013-21] [film2013-21-37] [2013-21-37] · neg 35(A)
Uploaded 15 Apr 2017
the gamble room (4)
14:13, Sunday 28th July 2013 ·
Victoria & Albert Museum,
South Kensington, London, England ·
Pentax KX (35mm SLR camera) ·
Kodak Portra 160 (colour negative film - ISO 160) ·
Pentax-A f2.8 28mm lens · f5.6|8 · 1 sec ·
by James Gamble (1835-1919), architect, a pupil of the artist Alfred Stevens and one of the museum's own design team.
The Refreshment Rooms
The Gamble, Poynter and Morris Rooms are interlinked rooms that made up the restaurant of the South Kensington Museum. These rooms are today again being used as part of the Museum's Café. Although they were functional spaces, the Refreshment Rooms belonged to the Museum's public face, so they were also given some extremely lavish decorations. ...
The Gamble Room was the original Refreshment Room. It would have been the visitor's first view of the Museum's interior and even the Victorians would have been struck by the extraordinary decoration. The main doors to this room were immediately opposite the main entrance of the Museum. Henry Cole's concept of a museum restaurant was completely new, a world first for South Kensington, yet another way of getting people to enjoy culture.
Henry Cole was responsible for many innovations: the V&A was the first public museum in the world to be artificially lit so that workers could come in the evenings. (In the ceilings of some rooms the ornamental metal gratings which took away the heat and fumes from the open gas jets can still be seen.) The ventilation grilles in the ceiling of the Gamble Room are surrounded by enormously heavy and ornate enamelled iron plates. Cole is thought to have got the idea from the enamelled name plates on railway stations. Here, with the ceramic tiled walls and columns, they were a hygienic, washable covering for an eating place and also formed a fireproof cell within the museum. The Victorians were very conscious of the dangers of fire. It would have taken horse-drawn fire engines a long time to reach South Kensington, still a very rural place in the 1860s. As an additional precaution, food for this main refreshment room was prepared in kitchens outside the walls.
The windows are full of Victorian maxims and mottoes about the joys of eating and drinking, such as such as 'Hunger is the best sauce' and 'A good cup makes all young'. The frieze with its inscription from Ecclesiastes II, 24 reads 'There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy the good of his labour - XYZ.'
www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/architectural-history-of...
• Press L to view full-screen in Lightbox (and L again to return)
• Click on the image to see it bigger still (and again to return)
• View my photostream (old style)
Tags:
uk "great britain" england "south kensington" knightsbridge "cromwell road" "victoria and albert museum" "victoria & albert museum" "v and a" vanda v&a "the v&a cafe" "the v&a café" cafe café cafeteria restaurant "refreshment room" victorian "high victorian" "james gamble" "william morris" "edward poynter" "the gamble room" architecture columns pillars arches ceiling decoration decorative ornate "wide-angle lens" "angled up" "looking up" upwards summer 7/2013
[film2013-21] [film2013-21-37] [2013-21-37] · neg 35(A)
Uploaded 15 Apr 2017