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In this colour photograph Chris Schüler, Cath Harries and Melanie Backe-Hansen sit at a table with microphones and show illustrations from ‘Doors of London’ on a large screen.

Evening Talk on Doors

Written by Sheldrake Editor on . Posted in News.

Last Wednesday the Authors’ Club welcomed a sell-out audience of 54 for an evening talk on Doors of London, the newly published book by Cath Harries and Melanie Backe-Hansen.

Chaired by the writer and editor Chris Schüler, the event at the Authors’ Club also featured Tom Chivers, who presented his book London Clay: Journeys in the Deep City. 

The theme of the evening was Portals to Another London. As Chris Schüler explained, the authors of the two books were exploring different, often overlooked aspects of the capital – the doors we pass unnoticed every day, and what lies deep beneath the ground on which we walk. Each book, in its own way, opens a new perspective on the city and encourages the reader to see familiar scenes with fresh eyes. 

Poetry beneath our feet

The front cover of Tom Chivers’ book ‘London Clay’ is a red-brown illustration of the little-known seams and strata beneath the surface of the city.
Journeys underground.

Tom Chivers spoke eloquently, even poetically – he admits to being ‘a retired poet’, much to the approval of his wife – about going underground in London and mapping its districts according to their geology. He read one of his poems and excerpts from his book, shared his selection of slides and took the audience with him on a few of his journeys back to pre-history.

Stories behind the doors

The discussion then shifted to Doors of London, a project ten years in the making, as Chris explained. Walking mile upon mile through the city, Cath Harries took the photographs and plotted the architectural styles of the inner London boroughs. Melanie Backe-Hansen provided the text.

‘My task was to give context on each of the boroughs,’ explained Mel, ‘and to explain the different ways they developed down the centuries. In the City of London, you’re going from Roman and medieval history through to the story of the livery companies. But then you look at an area like Fulham, and it was rural, with market gardens and large country houses until the 19th century. Its development was influenced by trades and railways. Each has its unique story.’

Flashing up pictures on the screen, Cath Harries took the audience on a visual journey past some of her favourite doors. Among them were striking Art Deco entrances, doors with intricately carved wooden panels in the City and street-art doorways in Shoreditch.

‘Now here is a padded door in Bethnal Green, which looks like a Chesterfield sofa. I’m not sure how effective the door knocker is!

‘This is Wilton’s Music Hall,’ she continued. ‘The door is distressed to the point of being an art form. I was lucky with the lighting, because I got a shadow of the lamp.’

‘Do you have a problem with lighting?’ someone asked.

‘If it’s too sunny, you get too many shadows. Some doors would have a lot of shadow at the top and be way too bright at the bottom. I wasn’t carrying any lighting equipment with me, because people might have started asking questions when I was standing outside their house. So, sometimes when I saw a door which I really loved and the lighting was completely off, I would make a note of it, go back and hope next time that it was just right.

The front cover of ‘Doors of London’ features Denis Severs’ house in Spitalfields with the book title printed in white on the black front door.
Back to the 18th century.

‘Spitalfields is one of the most interesting locations for doors. You can see Huguenot weavers’ doors on Fournier Street and off Brick Lane. Then there are Georgian doors, like the entrance of Denis Severs’ house on the front cover of the book. This area is packed full of history.’

‘Yes,’ said Mel, ‘it’s just one street over from Liverpool Street Station. One minute you’re among towering glass boxes, the next you’re back in the 18th century.’

‘Now here is Barbara and David’s door in Forest Gate. It is one of my favourites,’ said Cath, pointing out a Victorian entrance filled with Art Deco stained glass. 

‘Do you have any doors through which extraordinary people have passed?’ asked someone.

‘Yes, we certainly do,’ said Chris. ‘Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Oscar Wilde. We have a whole section on Authors’ Doors.’

The discussion touched on architectural oddities such as the false façades of Leinster Gardens, which were built to disguise gaps left by the Underground railway’s cut-and-cover construction. 

Chris interjected that each chapter ends with a choice of two pubs.

‘After all,’ said Mel, ‘you need a drink after walking so many miles.’

In this colour photograph taken in the Authors’ Club in London, Cath Harries and Melanie Backe-Hansen pose with their new book ‘Doors of London’ in front of a wall hung with framed 19th-century cartoons.
Cath Harries and Melanie Backe-Hansen pose with ‘Doors of London’ at the Author’s Club.

A way into the city’s past

The discussion had celebrated not only London’s architectural heritage but illustrated how doors – so often overlooked – can reveal fascinating insights into the city’s past.

There is more about the genesis of the book, the architecture of the building in which the Authors’ Club resides and the styles of doors across the centuries in our blog post entitled No Minimalism Here.

Make the journey now

If you would like a copy of the book, use the coupon code 74LD0625 and you can get it directly from the publishers for £21.25 (full price £25), post and packing included. Just click here.

Architecture