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.)

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Correspond via: kenwoodlennon@googlemail.com

Monday, 22 June 2015

Apple: Inside Crazy World Thereof.


In June 1969, august organ the TV Times (of all things) published a 3-part eye witness snapshot of goings on inside 3 Savile Row. Much of interest, and so, without the usual level of ado, here 'tis:


As ever, click and zoom to read. Huge thanks to Andy Neill for PDF and pint.

Sunday, 21 June 2015

Kew: 79 Mortlake Road.


Freddie Lennon stayed at Kenwood for a time in late 1967, before deciding that he'd be better off somewhere a bit less isolated. To this end, a ground floor flat was found for him in nearby Kew, at 79 Mortlake Road (above). John came here at least once, after Fred had happened upon Cynthia in a local club and drunkenly admonished her. Cue cussing, as John hammered on the door here and allegedly advised Alf that, "If you can't keep your bloody mouth shut, the feud between us will be on again and we'll see what Fleet Street makes of that."
Now, those who feel, with some reason, that the flagrantly trivial is taken to self-parodic depths round these parts may wish to avert their eyes at this point, but amongst Dot Jarlett's clippings was a folder of related ephemera; for example, a luggage tag with the word "Beatles" scrawled on it, a postcard of Hoylake, some fan-related stuff from Japan, and then several items that are less obviously connected, including the following sheet from esteemed local bakers o' cake Cook & Butler, headed Christmas 1967:


The aforementioned Yule was unique in being the only Chrimble that John, as an adult, spent with his father. Fred joined the celebrations at Kenwood, and, though pure conjecture on my part, I bet that Dot was asked to look after Christmas dinner and get the cake in, and thus kept this sheet as a memento:


Edible nonsense. My thanks to Mr Mark Lewisohn for the Kew pic, and for sleuthing the address.

Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Kenwood: "mad, mad pad."


I've been after this for a long time, so was pleased to find it amongst Dot Jarlett's clippings; from the Evening News, March 1969, a guided tour of Kenwood, then being used as little more than storage by John and Yoko:


Note the last Kenwood sighting of the Fool piano, which has for some reason migrated to the "library":


These have all been scanned hi-res, so download and zoom in to read.

Thursday, 14 May 2015

Chelsea: Luna Street.


Above: Luna Street, just south of the King's Road, Chelsea, Schwingin' London. During the early part of 1967, one of these terraced houses was home to Cass Elliot of the Mamas and Papas. Ye will no doubt have guessed where this is heading...
Yep, here it was, probably in late April of the aforementioned year, that Sgt Pepper received its first public airing. Over to Aspinall: "It was six in the morning and we went down the King's Road in cars to see Cass Elliot... We had the album with us, finished at last. She had a great sound system. Her flat was in a block of houses, back to back, really close together, and we put the system on the window ledge and the music blasted through the neighborhood. It sounded great. All the windows around us opened and people leaned out, wondering. A lovely spring morning. People were smiling and giving us the thumbs up."
Macca, when asked to recall in 1994, couldn't really, but did offer this: "It's a dim recollection but I think that's true, yeah. The weekend we finished the album is a bit of a blur. I just remember that we all felt so exhilarated. Pepper had taken 6 months to make - longer than any other album. When we first heard it back, we knew we'd pulled it off."
(As for a precise date, my guess would be either Sunday 30th April, or else the previous weekend 22nd/23rd . Harry Moss cut the final mono version at EMI studios on Friday 28th, and acetates would have been run off for interested parties to be collected over the weekend. Actual work on the album had finished on Friday 21st, so it's possible "rejected running order" acetates were done then, and taken to Chelsea.)
Anyway, whither Luna Street? Those still conscious will note that it doesn't appear on modern maps:


This is because the whole area was demolished a couple of years post-Pepper to make way for the World's End Housing Estate:


All that remains of the titular flat is this photo, showing an interior wall decorated contemporaneously by John under the influence of the dreaded you-know-wot:


And then there is this tree, visible at the southern end of Luna Street in the vintage pics, and still there today, a mute witness to the whole thing, as Prince Charles would no doubt have it:


Palpable nonsense.
A doff o' the cap to the excellent Kensington & Chelsea Library Time Machine blog for local information etc.

Sunday, 26 April 2015

Tittenhurst: summer, 1971.


More from the Jarlett archive. She continued clipping long after John had moved on - and a good thang too; here, for example, from the Woman's Own, dated January 15th 1972 (but clearly taken the previous summer), a tour of Tittenhurst, accompanied by comments thusly:

"Their bedroom cum living room (1)(above) has areas for relaxing, areas for working. This very private room has a cluttered lived-in atmosphere. A large, low bed covered by a continental quilt stands at one end. An enormous colour television faces it (in the foreground of the picture), lamps, cigarettes are within easy reach, and it is surrounded by their favourite objects - paintings, a stereo record player - all stacked against the wall. Yoko says that she longs for the end of the day when she and John are finally alone up here. Beautiful Persian rugs partially cover the white carpet and at the far end of the room, out of the picture, stands Yoko's desk where she does most of her work."


"The Gallery (2 and 3)(above/below) is John and Yoko's favourite room. Starkly simple, all in white, it has been designed to show off Yoko's exhibition pieces and does so to perfection. John loves to come up here and tinkle away on the piano. "I worked very hard for what I've got. I earned every penny of it. I'm not awed or amazed anymore by what I've got," John says.But still he worries about the white carpet getting marked and visitors are asked to change into slippers on entering the house in typical Japanese fashion."


"The outside of the Lennon's new dream home (4)(below). They spent some time looking for their ideal house set in beautiful grounds with a lake - it had to have a lake. Nowhere they looked at came up to their ideal, either the house was right but the gardens weren't, or vice versa. Then they came across this one. The only problem - it didn't have a lake. So they made one. "It looks like it has been there for ever," says John, "but it has got a rubber bottom." It's got an island, too, topped with an enchanting little white summer house."


"The beautiful and enormous kitchen (5 and 8)(below) is John's pride and joy. Cool looking, modern stainless steel units have been successfully married with the warm tones of old pine furniture, a terracotta tiled floor. Yoko designed it herself and it gives a fascinating insight into the new John and Yoko, who were publicised a few years ago for chopping in half every piece of their furniture. This kitchen had to be big, because the house is always full of people. It had to be streamlined and easy to run. Every modern appliance is here, even an infra red oven so that meals can be heated in seconds. The curving iron staircase (5) rises to John and Yoko's apartments. This part of the house , consisting of their bedroom, bathroom, another tiny kitchen and the terrace, is private - apart from John and Yoko, only the cleaners enter this very personal area."



"A private bathroom (6)(below)leads off their bedroom. Focal point of this room is an enormous curving bath designed for use by two people. "We do everything together," says John. "We want always to be together. We even bath together." Behind the bath, in an alcove, are bottles of beautiful smelling goodies and a telephone sits on the bath edge, a constant reminder of the world outside. Two heavy marble basins, a his and a hers, stand against one wall, and a small Gothic patterned chest, standing against another, hold reading matter and music scores."


"The terrace (7)(below) has traditional white wrought iron garden furniture standing among a mass of pot plants and trees. A dove-coat perches on the end of the terrace, the home of cooing white doves."

Kenwood: July, 1964.


I recently acquired Dot Jarlett's clippings archive, for the princely sum of 50 quid. Lots of innaresting bits and, moreover, bobs. The earlier ones were apparently cut out by John himself... and here is the very earliest, providing shurely the first press mention of Kenwood, from the Daily Herald, Wednesday July 15th 1964.
This picture, then, taken before the Lennons took up residence - and one wonders what they were doing giving interviews about the place when it was supposed to be a big secret.
Download and zoom in to read.

Wednesday, 1 April 2015

Kenwood: Cyn.


Via Truth About The Beatles Girls.

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Kenwood: ca. February 1967.


Dot Jarlett's archive is up for auction, and amongst other examples of Kenwoodalia are these; "innaresting" because they show a small slice of vérité from what I'd guess is the early part of 1967. Have a look at the pic above, for example. That at least appears to be Cyn and a fully tached-up John peering down from the sunroom:


Another one of Julian messing about by the pool, but again there seems to be someone in a chair in the sunroom, gazing out over the grounds:


Note feline on the left:


A little seen corner of the pool. Note the door in the wall on the left, and the collection of junk under the garage:


To wit:


There are also a number of photos showing a visit to a local park by Cynthia, Julian and another couple of people, who look to me like John's aunt Mater, and his cousin Stan:


I could well be completely wrong about that, but once again have a look at the sunroom in this one:


Mater chatting to Cyn as John sits looking out the window?:


Palpable nonsense. Finally, a shot of the interior sunroom. No Monterey poster yet, o' course, as the titular festival had yet to happen, but most of the other familiar elements in place:


Ahh, sweet flagrant trivia.