Upcoming Events
17 Apr 2025 by Tudor Allen
The Irish in Camden Town - An Illustrated Historical Talk
Tudor Allen, Archivist at Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, tells the story of the long and deep connection between the Irish and the part of London today known as Camden, the areas where they lived - including “County Kilburn” and “Little Dublin” (in St Giles in the Fields) – their home lives, their working lives, and how they spent their leisure time. He also looks at some of the notable Irish people who have lived or worked in the locality.
15 May 2025 by Michelene Wandor
Book Talk on Orfeo's Last Act: A Novel in Two Parts
Michelene Wandor will talk about her work as a writer over many decades and many genres. 'Orfeo's Last Act' is her first novel, with half set in the seventeenth century and half set in the present. The story of Salamone Rossi, Jewish composer who worked with Monteverdi, melds into the present and a detective story about the early opera, 'Orfeo'.
19 Jun 2025 by Leyla Daybelge & Magnus Englund
Isokon & the Bauhaus in Britain -
The Intriguing Story of the Only Listed Grade I in Belsize Park
In the mid-1930s, three giants of the international Modern movement, Bauhaus professors Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy, fled Nazi Germany and sought refuge in Hampstead in Britain’s most exciting new apartment block. The hugely influential Lawn Road Flats, or Isokon building, was completed in 1934. It had been commissioned by visionary couple Jack and Molly Pritchard and designed by architect Wells Coates. The building also became home to the crime writer Agatha Christie, as well as no less than five Soviet spies.
Leyla Daybelge and Magnus Englund are trustees of the Isokon Gallery, the museum in the building, and have written and lectured extensively both in Britain and abroad on Isokon and the Bauhaus in Britain. Their richly illustrated talk is not just about design and architecture but also war, sex, death, espionage and famous dinner parties.