Calls to turn late civil servant's exquisitely carved south London house into a museum

1/5
Robert Dex @RobDexES18 January 2019

The capital’s world-famous museums could be about to get an unusual new addition — in the shape of a humble south London terrace.

Civil servant and poet Khadambi Asalache spent 20 years decorating his home at 575 Wandsworth Road with elaborate carvings and artwork before leaving it to the National Trust on his death. They have now asked Lambeth council to formally declare it a museum, saying the move will help “preserve the extraordinary artistic work”.

Kenyan-born Asalache started to transform the inside of the house when he attached pine floorboards to the basement wall to cover up a damp patch. He went on to embellish other walls, the ceiling and the doors with paintings and hand-carved patterns and made furniture from wood he found in skips and rubbish dumps.

His work was inspired by a mixture of British, African and Islamic design with the ornate Moorish Alhambra Palace in Spain among his direct influences.

One bedroom includes a hand-painted African scene while other rooms are filled with Ethiopian Coptic crosses and his collection of pottery. A published poet and novelist, Asalache is said to have only bought the house because it was near a bus stop that took him to his work at the Treasury in Whitehall.

The National Trust have kept it exactly as he left it when he died in 2006, and even mark where every object sits so they are put back in exactly the right spot after cleaning or restoration work. House manager Laura Hussey said Asalache’s work turned a “modest” house “into a work of art”. She added: “Having small museum status would mark the culmination of this work and give it greater importance, at the heart of Lambeth’s conservation area.”

The move to make it a museum is also to protect the house from being converted back into residential use.

Town halls normally prioritise keeping houses open for “residential use”, but a statement submitted by the trust to Lambeth council’s planning committee states that “the unique circumstances of 575 Wandsworth Road should be taken into consideration when determining this application. The National Trust have an ongoing programme of conservation to preserve the fragile fretwork and painting contained within the property. Returning the property to active residential use would almost certainly destroy the valuable cultural and historic assets within the property.”

Planning officers have told the committee, which meets next Tuesday, that the museum move “would preserve the extraordinary work of Khadambi Asalache in its original setting” and are recommending they give permission.

The trust runs tours of the house three days a week between March and November, and is considering landscaping the back garden for visitors.

12 weird and wonderful museums in London - In pictures

1/12

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT