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William Blake’s old flat in Mayfair could be turned into a cultural centre – if, that is, campaigners get their way and developers don’t go ahead with plans for luxury flats.
You might remember Romantic poet and painter Blake from your English lessons (he wrote The Tyger, which still slaps, as well as Jerusalem, popular at sports matches), and maybe your art lessons too, but fan-club the William Blake Fellowship wants to ensure that his memory lives on beyond recitations and rousing singalongs.
The fellowship hopes that Blake’s old flat on South Molton Street, where he lived for 17 years and wrote aforementioned banger Jerusalem, will be transformed from its current use as office space into a museum and cultural hub.
The London Assembly is on board with the campaign, and has called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to throw his weight behind it. Meanwhile, the William Blake Fellowship has submitted an application for Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy funding and will be meeting Westminster Council to discuss changing 17 South Molton Street’s use from a private residence to a cultural centre.
Property developer Grosvenor Group has apparently been eyeing the building for luxury flats as part of its plan to turn the whole street into ‘a new destination of international significance for the West End’, but has since told the Standard that it ‘remain[s] open to the William Blake Fellowship’s proposals and will continue this dialogue’.
Catherine Kelly, Chair of the William Blake Fellowship, said: ‘There has been a strong desire to save William Blake’s home since the 1970s, at least. We urge the Grosvenor Group and key stakeholders not to shy away from working in the type of partnership that has enabled other cities in Europe to create the long standing, successful, historic houses of their national icons.’
The Fellowship may struggle to secure funding for the project, even with political will behind them and positive communication with Grosvenor. The site’s development is already full-steam ahead, so it’ll need to act fast if the group wants to ensure it can open as a museum in time for the bicentenary of Blake’s death in 2027.
Marina Ahmad AM, who proposed the motion to the London Assembly, said: ‘We have a unique opportunity to transform Blake’s last remaining London residence into a world-class cultural and educational hub, honouring his legacy while boosting the local economy. The homes of Mozart, Rembrandt, and Burns are thriving visitor attractions – let’s do the same with William Blake’s house.’
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