Duck Island Cottage - Horse Guards Road, London, UK
N 51° 30.176 W 000° 07.790
30U E 699194 N 5709661
Duck Island, not really an island, is at the eastern end of St James's Park lake close to Horse Guards in central London. The chalet is now used as offices.
Waymark Code: WMH7J5
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/04/2013
Views: 14
The information board tells us:
Duck Island Cottage
Swiss Chalet for a British
Bird-Keeper
This pretty cottage was built in 1841 as the home of the bird-keeper in St James's Park. It also had a club room for the Ornithological Society of London, which once helped to look after the park's ducks and geese.
The design, like a Swiss chalet, was intended to be a contrast to the grand architecture of government buildings nearby.
The cottage has been altered several times and its use has also changed. It was once a store for bicycles confiscated in the park but is now used as offices.
The cottage is Grade II listed with the entry at the English Heritage website telling us:
Cottage or lodge. 1840 by John Burges Watson for the Royal Ornithological Society. Rendered facing with hipped gable patterned tiled roofs. Picturesque "cottage orné" consisting of 2 asymmetrical single storey pavilions linked by tree trunk colonnade 'bridge'. Patterned leaded lattice casements and 'rustic' doors. Ornate, carved bargeboards and finials. Perfectly suited to Nash's 1828 landscaping of the Park.
The Garden Visit website additionally tells us:
Duck Island dates from the original use of St James's Park as a hunting park. Charles II, who converted it to a baroque park, created the post of of 'Governor of Duck Island' and William III had the first lodge built. It was destroyed in 1771 and rebuilt after 1840, as a Picturesque cottage designed by John Burges Watson. In 1953 it was nearly demolished but, instead, was noticed by Royal Fine Art Commission and preserved as a keeper's cottage. In 1994 it became the HQ of the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust. They created a cottage garden in the Arts and Crafts style. Since this approach to planting grew out of the Cottage Ornée, it was a highly appropriate choice. Duck Island is now the best place in Central London to see this highly influential approach to gardens and planting design.