Etiquetado con: "L. Frank Baum"

HOLLAND HOUSE, Kensington, London. An interior view of the bombed library at Holland House with readers apparently choosing books regardless of the damage. Photographed in 1940. The House was heavily bombed during World War II and remained derelict until 1952 when parts of the remains were preserved..Holland House, originally known as Cope Castle, was a great house in Kensington in London, situated in what is now Holland Park. Created in 1605 in the Elizabethan or Jacobean style for the diplomat Sir Walter Cope, the building later passed to the powerful Rich family, then the Fox family, under whose ownership it became a noted gathering-place for Whigs in the 19th century. The house was largely destroyed by German firebombing during the Blitz in 1940; today only the east wing and some ruins of the ground floor still remain..In 1940, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth attended the last great ball held at the house. A few weeks later, on 7 September, the German bombing raids on London that would come to be known as the Blitz began. During the night of 27 September, Holland House was hit by twenty-two incendiary bombs during a ten-hour raid. The house was largely destroyed, with only the east wing, and, miraculously, almost all of the library remaining undamaged. Surviving volumes included the sixteenth-century Boxer Codex..Holland House was granted Grade I listed building status in 1949, under the auspices of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947; the Act sought to identify and preserve buildings of special historic importance, prompted by the damage caused by wartime bombing. The building remained a burned-out ruin until 1952, when its owner, Giles Fox-Strangways, 6th Earl of Ilchester, sold it to the London County Council (LCC). The remains of the building passed from the LCC to its successor, the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1965, and upon the dissolution of the GLC in 1986 to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea..Today, the remains of Holland House form a backdrop for the open air Holland Park Theatre, home of Opera Holland Park. The YHA (England and Wales) "London Holland Park" youth hostel is now located in the house. The Orangery is now an exhibition and function space, with the adjoining former Summer Ballroom now a restaurant, The Belvedere. The former ice house is now a gallery space. The grounds provide sporting facilities, including a cricket pitch, football pitch, and six tennis courts..In 1962, the Holland estate sold a piece of land immediately to the south of what is now the sports field for the construction of the Commonwealth Institute.

La última palabra

5 comments

Amaba al Gran Hermano. George Owell, 1984. La primera frase de una novela se escribe para el lector. La última es la que escritor guarda solo para él. Sin la responsabilidad de que alguien siga leyendo. Sin el peso de la seducción. THIS IS NOT A EXIT. Escribió Bret Easton Ellis al final de American Psycho. No sospechaba entonces lo […]

Atrezo ilustre: historias detrás de objetos de cine (I)

Atrezo ilustre: historias detrás de objetos de cine (I)

1 comment

Las props cinematográficas son todos aquellos objetos fabricados para ser utilizados en la ficción del cine. Cachivaches, enseres, trastos comunes o artefactos fantásticos diseñados de manera exclusiva para formar parte del atrezo que embellece las historias. Algunas han alcanzado un estatus icónico y otras son meras anécdotas, pero casi todas esconden alguna historia interesante detrás. Kurt Russell contra la guitarra […]

El malo tenía razón

El malo tenía razón

7 comments

La clave de todo buen villano es que tenga razón. (Mads Mikkelsen sobre su personaje en Doctor Extraño) La Cruel Bruja del Oeste de El mago de Oz (1939) se suponía maléfica por definición porque no se puede ir por ahí siendo verde, vistiendo sombreros puntiagudos o utilizando «Cruel» como nombre artístico si la meta vital no es cometer maldades. […]