Real fantasy.

Home of the ‘Peckham Experiment’, built by engineer Sir Owen Williams in 1935

Yesterday I went on a tour of the Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham as part of Open House weekend. It’s only a 5 minute walk from where I live and the building has always intrigued me. It’s been made into private flats now but the building has a very interesting past. Set up in 1935 by Drs Scott Williamson and Innes Pearse as an experiment to improve public health through preventative medicine, education and community care, it was opened in 1936 to the public who could pay 1 Shilling a week to become a member and use facilities such as a kindergarten, cafeteria, pool, gymnasium, theatre, and take part in physical excercise classes and other workshops. The project finished in the 1950s with the introduction of the NHS.

You can watch a film about the centre here

HOW IT LOOKS NOW…

I went to the Barbican last month to see the Bauhaus exhibition. I love the architecture which looks stunning on a sunny day. They even have a hot house there which wasn’t open when I visited but I’ll definitely be going back again soon. Photos taken using my Olympus Pen EE2 half frame camera.