Joseph Pike by James Downs

Author:James Downs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2018-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

A smaller set of twelve black-and-white reproduction postcards was available in a paper pack, entitled London Illustrated: The Story of London’s Landmarks in Twelve Pencil Sketches with Historical Notes. This selection featured: Buckingham Palace; Marble Arch; The Houses of Parliament; The Embankment; Big Ben; Regent Street; St James’ Palace; The Artillery Memorial and Hyde Park; The Cenotaph; Westminster Abbey; Horseguards; and Trafalgar Square.

It was natural for a freelance artist who never owned a car and had little money to spend on train fares to choose subjects that lay within walking or cycling distance, and it comes as no surprise to learn that Joe produced more illustrations of London than any other single location.33 His reputation as a London artist with a gift for rendering precise details of buildings could lead to prestigious commissions, such as the 1932 brochure for the Prime Minister’s reopening of Abbey House, the headquarters of the Abbey Road Building Society in Baker Street. Founded in 1874 by a London Baptist congregation to assist its members in buying their own homes, it flourished to such an extent that new premises were required, and in 1927 the building society acquired a large property in Baker Street which promptly underwent substantial renovation. The new building, refurbished in the Art Deco style with a bell tower and sculpted façade, was opened on 18 March 1932 by Ramsay Macdonald, the Labour Prime Minister, along with the President of the Abbey Road Building Society, Sir Josiah Stamp. A special Souvenir Brochure was printed for the occasion, illustrated with Joe’s drawings of Abbey House. A similar commission came in 1935 when he was asked to illustrate a commemorative brochure written by V. A. Halford: Cornhill in London and the Cornhill Insurance Company Limited which celebrated both the company’s magnificent new building as well as the multi-layered history of the location, which claimed to have been the earliest site of Christian worship in England (179 AD) as well as home to London’s first coffee house. Joe’s 24 drawings show many local landmarks, some drawn from life and others adapted from old prints. Among those showcasing the new building at 32 Cornhill was an impressive centrefold illustration of The Main Hall.

Around this time Joe, Constance and their three young children moved the short distance from their home at 14 Gerard Road to a larger – also rented – semi-detached house at 22 Nassau Road, the adjacent street running parallel down to the river. This would remain Joe’s home for the rest of his life. It had five bedrooms, a small garden to the front of the house with a larger one at the rear. Not far from the house he set up a little shrine with a statue of Our Lady. Situated at the bottom of the garden was a small hut which served as Joe’s studio, allowing him a degree of seclusion in which to work undisturbed by his three young children. A routine was established, in which he would head down to the

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