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What is the Commonwealth Institute?

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Now that the new version of the Design Museum has now opened in the former Commonwealth Institute building it seemed like a good time to look again at the old place. I’ve written about it as an empty vessel and a near forgotten building but not really as a going concern.

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So,  according to this explanatory pamphlet: “What is the Commonwealth Institute? Put simply it is a centre for information about the Commonwealth; a supermarket of resources and activities……The Commonwealth Institute exists to promote a better understanding of the Commonwealth and its people in Britain.”

Or was it a place for children to race around on school trips or during the holidays?

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I never went there myself but I know that a generation of London school children frequently did so I asked one of them, my wife, what she remembered and this odd object on the central platform was one of them.

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She recalls some kind of globe in there, but I’m happy to get further information. Most of this week’s images come from Commonwealth Institute publications from 1964, 1965 and 1973. My wife would of course have been too young to have been there in the early years.

She also remembers this sort of time honoured activity, still happening in museums today.

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The institute shop, featuring a brownie. At this point my wife gave me a detailed account of the changes in uniform she remembered. This will strike a chord with some of you.

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The art gallery has a distinctly 1970s look in this picture.

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And a 60s look here:

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The exhibition: “Commonwealth Art Today”.

Many people also remember the entrance hall, with its stained glass.

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And some of the exhibits.

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This one was recalled by more than one person.

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The lion was described as “a bit mangy”, but he had his fans.

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Diplomats were also a significant category of visitor.

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“Well, that’s our bit, now shall we go to the shop?”

The Institute also had a library, in the now demolished administrative wing.

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And this place, the Resources Production Unit, which used all sorts of new-fangled equipment.

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Not to mention the restaurant with its view of the park, which some people I’ve spoken to remember fondly.

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Another feature now gone, much recalled by many was the walkway to the entrance. (My wife remembers it as “a bridge” which is how it would have seemed to the groups of children passing over it.)

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You can find some other views of it in my previous posts.

As we started with a postcard, let’s finish with an artist’s impression of the new building as it would look in 1962, the start of an new era.

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And let’s wish the Design Museum success in its new home.

Postscript

The Commonwealth Institute was one of those buildings I have photographed myself on many occasions. I’ve used a few of those picture in previous posts but there will be some more next week in a supplementary post featuring more images of the building’s fallow years. If you have any memories or pictures of this quirky but much loved building please feel free to share them with us, so that the Commonwealth Institute does not ever become a forgotten building.



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