As I was walking through an unfamiliar section of the City at lunchtime today, I remembered that Peter Palumbo had said that the only building Mies van der Rohe wanted to see when he visited London was the headquarters of the Dutch shipping company, Wm. H. Müller & Co. in Bury Street, which was designed by H.P. Berlage in 1914 and built during the early years of the first world war, using Delft tiles on the exterior and with elaborate ornamental interiors designed by Berlage and Bart Van Der Leck, one of the founders of De Stijl:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Wonderful ! I’ve always wanted to see the interior.
This must be one of the greatest buildings to have been completed in Britain during the First World War. How could I have missed it – as it is so close to Houndsditch where Whistler executed a fine series of etchings almost 30 years before. It must be one of those hidden treasures forgotten because the street was never a thoroughfare. It must be close to the Bevis Marks Synagogue, also worth photographing
The best Dutch architecture was so wonderful at this period.
I do not know much about Berlage, but suspect that he visited London much earlier and was interested in the side elevation of Gilbert Scott’s St Pancras Station [opposite the British Library]
Has anyone written a book on architecture 1914-18? There are so many excellent and fascinating buildings it seems like a particular ‘period’.
Doesn’t James Fox work in this area ? Charles
He also built the wonderful St. Hubertus Hunting Lodge, Hoge Veluwe National Park where the Kroller Muller Museum is, not far from Arnhem & Apeldoorn. A sort of Dutch arts & crafts interior. And of course there is the The Beurs van Berlage (Amsterdam Commodities Exchange)
Yes, both buildings were, I think, commissioned by Anton Kröller who was a crook. Charles
not to mention the Gemeente Museum the Hague and a marvellous designer of domestic glass and crockery. I think Holland House is his only building outside Holland.
Dear Charles ..I remember a marvelous BBC series called “Building Sights” back in the 1980’s, each programme was only 10 minutes long with different presenters. Some have recently been put on iplayer. Holland House was Peter Palumbo’s choice for the episode he presented. It had the unforgettable image of him perched on the top balcony of the roofline talking to camera. This deserves to be repeated. Complimentry to this is the episode by James Stirling talking about his admiration for Newnham Rare Books Library, Cambridge. There is so little footage of both these two men talking passionately about architecture, I dearly would like to see these again. We can only hope long term that more programmes will be put in the public domain, for those of us that are interested. Piers Gough talking about the Isle of Dogs Pumping Station etc ..I could go on and on.
Have you checked on iPlayer ? There are some wonderful architectural films available in the BBC archive, including early Nairn. Charles
I agree there are wonderful gems on iplayer and You Tube. You mentioned “Ours To Keep” about Spitalfields in 1980’s with Dan Cruikshank and Dennis Severs as young men, which I have watched many times. It’s human nature to want to see programmes that have not been put on the internet yet, makes them all the more illusive