PalenQ

One of London's neatest parks to me is the rather out of sight Holland Park, known for its wildfowl such as a gaggle of peacocks and the evocative remains of Holland House, a historic Jacobean mansion dating from 1605. Of the remains the Orangery is the most intact.
The park is popular with locals, especially moms who bring their kids here to one of London's best children's playgrounds.
Also in the park is the Holland Park Youth Hostel, dating from i believe the early 50s when it was built to commemorate the founding of the Commonwealth or some such event.
And The Commonwealth Institute nearby is a fine museum of contemporary life throughout the vast British Commonwealth - somewhat akin to Amsterdam's Troppen Museum with re-creations of real street scenes, etc. (Though i have not been in the institute in a long time and it may have changed.)
So for something a bit different head for Holland Park (tube stop of same name).

Holland Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London in England. Holland Park is widely ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_Park

PatrickLondon

Sadly, the fate of the Commonwealth Institute is a minor scandal. It closed to its original purpose some years ago, and there are plans to demolish the rather striking building.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Institute

sprin2

PalenQ -- Holland Park is one of our favorites specifically because of the playground. It is excellent and we've found never as crowded as others. Well worth a visit!

flanneruk

The Great Commonwealth Institute Squabble, though little reported, has been one of London's most colourful.

Everyone agrees the building has outlived its use: the exhibits are now in the Bristol's Empire + Commonwealth Museum. The Institute wants the site sold, using the money so raised for Commonwealth educational charities - the money plundered by successive waves of Nigerian (and Pakistani, and...) rulers from their people being unaccountably doifficult to release from the Swiss bank accounts the kleptocrats have stuffed it into.

The architectural lobby claims it's a great 20th century building (well,you'd have thought there must be one somewhere in London), and have got the site listed as, in effect, undemolishable.

The Commonwealth Secretary General claimed preserving our heritage "could have realised funds for education programmes for 75 million children in the Commonwealth who have never seen the walls of a classroom." (at that rate, if the Nigerians gave back the money they've stolen, the entire population of the world could be sent through Harvard). He went on to acuse us of perfidy and "selfish imperialism"

In reply the arties go on about "asset stripping our heritage".

All good clean fun - and only 100 yards from Whole Food Market.

PalenQ

well certainly as i remember it this is a unique structure for London and should be preserved.

wonder which will last longer - Commonwealth Institute building or Whole Foods Market?

flanneruk

The argument for preserving the Barkers building is near-universally accepted: there are strong political arguments for surreptitiously demolishing the Commonwealth Institute, and little agreement, outside the usual Arts mafia suspects, that the building is in any way different from the acres of crap the Arts mafia dumped on London in the second half of the 20th century.

So, of the buildings, it's a great deal more likely the Commonwealth Institute will turn to dust. Of the organisations: the Commonwealth Institute has recognised it's out of date in many ways and is reorganising itself accordingly. I doubt WFM has the brains or humility to do anything of the kind.