Over the gate...

Designed in 1913 by Victorian/Edwardian/other architect Theophilus A Allen; John Lennon's house between 1964 and 1968; sunroom, attic and prisco stripe hibernice; Mellotron and caravan; Babidji and Mimi; mortar and pestle; Wubbleyoo Dubbleyoo; curios and curiosity; remnants and residue; testimonials and traces; (Cavendish Avenue, Sunny Heights and Kinfauns); Montagu Square; mock Tudor: Brown House: *KENWOOD*.

(Also available as a blog.)

Legal Blah: This blog is for historical research only, and is strictly non-commercial. All visual and audio material remains the property of the respective copyright owner, and no implication of ownership by me is intended or should be inferred. Any copyright owner who wants something removed should contact me and I will do so immediately. Alternatively, I would be delighted to provide a credit. The writing is by me, such as it is, unless otherwise stated, and this is the only Beatles related blog I am responsible for.

Comments Blah: Comments are moderated. Any genuine comments are welcome. Due to idiotic spamming, you'll have to press the "Follow" button on the right under "Kenwoodites..." in order to leave a comment. Offensive comments/advertising/trolling/other moronicisms are not welcome, and will be rejected.
Comments are the responsibility of the individual commenter, and commenters' opinions do not necessarily reflect my own. (NB: This blog revels in flagrant trivia. If that's not yer "thing", this won't be yer "thang".)

Correspond via: kenwoodlennon@googlemail.com

Friday 7 May 2010

Sunny Heights: then and now, part 4.


Ringo owned Sunny Heights for around 4 and a half years. Concurrently, he also had the lion's share of a construction company - Bricky Builders, and as a result went hog wild on the house. Immediately upon buying Sunny, what amounted to another residence was tacked on the side; it was this bit that played host to Ringo's exclusive club - called, after much thought, The Club. The Fabs spent more time socially at Sunny Heights than at any of the other Beatle houses; John, in particular, was always here between 1965 and 1967, when not...somewhere else. The Club had a bar, and a pool table imported from the States - unusual in the UK at that time.
There was also a garage to house the various de rigeur automobiles. Tammy recently posted a pic taken at Sunny shortly after the new extension had been completed; what's obvious is that in true St George's Hill style, an extension to the extension was put on at some point - the garage is considerably bigger these days:


Mind you, it's quite possible Ringo was responsible for that too; the news section of the Beatles Book monthly seemed forever to be recounting building work at Sunny Heights during the era o' Richie.
Bricky Builders also worked on Kenwood - I wouldn't be surprised if they built the large garage overlooking the swimming pool. What's more, the firm constructed quite a few properties from scratch in the Home Counties of England, though precisely where these are I don't know. It would be interesting to see if they bear any influence from Sunny/Kenwood or Kinfauns.
The last glimpse of Beatle-era Sunny Heights comes in the opening few seconds of the promo film for The Ballad Of John And Yokos, where said John and Yokos are seen coming out the front door and climbing into their Rolls, circa early summer 1969; three years previously, Ringo was photographed in the same location, dicking about on his girly wheels (for want of better expressions):


Thanks to Joe Baiardi for the bike pic.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.