Somerset House
— — a courtyard that fills with skaters in winter.
Not only on a wall.
“A great neoclassical block on the Strand, above the north bank of the Thames between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges. William Chambers designed it from 1776 on the site of a Tudor palace. The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court holds 55 jets in summer and a skating rink each winter. The Courtauld Gallery sits on the north range, looking out across its own pillars.
Somerset House, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Somerset House stands on the Strand in central London, on the north bank of the Thames between Waterloo Bridge and the Temple. The current building was designed by William Chambers from 1776 onward, replacing a Tudor palace that had served as a royal residence and later as government offices. Chambers's neoclassical block was the first purpose-built government office complex in Britain, originally housing the Navy Board, the Stamp Office, and the Royal Academy. Today it holds the Courtauld Institute of Art, the King's College London east wing, and a busy programme of exhibitions and outdoor events.
Chambers worked the building in Portland stone, the same fine-grained Jurassic limestone that faces St Paul's Cathedral and most of central London's neoclassical public buildings. The river façade once rose directly from the Thames, with watergates at the level of the tide; the construction of the Victoria Embankment in 1864-1870 pushed the river back and left those gates marooned, still visible at the building's base. The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court at the centre measures roughly 100 metres across and is paved in granite. Conservation work on the stone runs continuously.
The courtyard works as a public square that turns with the seasons. From mid-November through mid-January it holds Skate at Somerset House, the city's largest open-air rink, set against the floodlit north wing and a tall Christmas tree. In summer the floor switches to 55 choreographed water jets that visitors walk through. Across the calendar the building hosts London Fashion Week shows, the Summer Series concerts in July, and Film4 Summer Screen in August, with films projected on the south wing above the audience.