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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.

How 2020 affected my reading: A curmudgeon's top 6 books this year

In looking back over my reading list for this year I was surprised to see that the great majority of books I read were on my Kindle. more

By Hugh Gilmore | 12/30/20

“Aisha Gaddafi” provided me with this photo: Proof that she is willing to trust me with her undisclosed fortune if I share with her my banking credentials.

So long chumps! I'm taking my Burkina Faso money and hitting the road.

Thanksgiving may be over but it's never too late to be grateful. In this time between White House administrations, nobody's looking if you want to get some international business done. You can't … more

by Hugh Gilmore | 12/3/20

An Eastern White Pine at about 2,640 feet above sea level along the Ridge Trail on the northeast side of Old Rag Mountain within Shenandoah National Park, in Madison County, Virginia (Photo by Famartin/wikicommons)

Local White Pine groves: Magical, but imported

Spending more time outside during this pandemic gives us the opportunity to explore new places and learn more about our neighborhood. Ever popular are the paths on either side of the Cresheim … more

by George McNeely | 11/12/20

This cable news junky can finally turn off the TV.

Detoxing from my 4-year cable news addiction

I was at work one day in 2001 when my wife phoned and said I should come home. An airplane had crashed into the World Trade Tower in New York. Something was going on. It didn't seem like an accident. … more

by Hugh Gilmore | 11/12/20

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Mt. Airy development plan addresses community concerns, adds affordable housing

Developer Stuart Udis adjusted his proposed development plans for the former Fred's Mt. Airy Motors site to address community concerns and provide affordable housing.

Conservancy Chronicles: Innovative housing in Chestnut Hill, part 2

This is the second of three articles about innovative urban housing in south Chestnut Hill.

Welcoming spring with a silken, custom-ordered garden room

Welcome Spring! It is the time of renewal, revival and redecorating. The time to put away the blankets and bring out the bunnies. And what goes with bunnies? Flowers.

Three churches host concerts that suggest a return to normalcy

Three local churches hosted a trio of varied concerts, providing a glimpse of how concert life used to be before the outbreak of COVID.

Germantown theater group’s ‘The Seagull’ flies west

The Drama Group of Germantown wraps up its inaugural season with "The Seagull" (1896), Anton Chekhov's seminal drama about troubled souls who gather on a country estate.