Beth Chatto — A Retrospective
Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1, until 19 April
The Garden Museum, situated in the old church of St Mary’s, hard by Lambeth Palace, has undergone a major refurbishment. It looks tremendous, much better than in the old days of slight muddle and a feeling of temporary storage. A new freestanding structure of pale wood has been built within the church, a Belvedere, as the architects, Dow Jones, call it. It complements beautifully the limestone columns and interior walls of the former church. Rarely have I seen a renovation look so elegant and so satisfying. The architects thought of the new structure as ‘a raised platform from which to view the landscape of the existing building, as a way of giving a new perspective on to an existing place both spatially and thematically’.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in