Work begins to transform New River Head into Quentin Blake Centre's forever home
Friday 8th November 2024
A project to create the world’s largest arts space dedicated to illustration is now underway. From a restored waterworks in London’s Clerkenwell, the new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration plans to mount exhibitions of illustration from around the world and undertake creative projects with schools, families and community groups.
Local illustrator Marion Deuchars and Quentin Blake’s Creative Consultant Claudia Zeff, both trustees of the Centre, joined the project team onsite to observe demolition of a modern partition within the historic Coal Stores, opening it up to become the largest of four new exhibition spaces.
£12.5 million has been raised to restore and convert the New River Head heritage site, which played an essential role in supplying Londoners with clean water from the early 1600s onwards. The atmospheric Grade II listed engine house, windmill base and cobbled courtyards will become galleries, learning spaces, a café, shop and new public gardens. The Centre is due to open in early 2026.
The project realises Quentin Blake’s long-held vision for a permanent national centre for illustration: art that is used every day, all over the world, to tell stories, capture discoveries, inform and persuade. Alongside a wide-ranging programme of exhibitions and events, it will eventually provide a permanent home for Blake’s archive.
Support for the project includes a £3.75 million grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, investment by the London Borough of Islington and support from trusts, foundations and philanthropists. A public campaign is underway to complete the funding target. To find out more go to qbcentre.org.uk/support.
Lindsey Glen, Director of Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, said: “We’re so excited that work has begun! Thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and our generous supporters, the Quentin Blake Centre will breathe new life into New River Head’s atmospheric engine house, windmill base and stores, offering exhibitions, creative projects, gardens and play. It will be a welcoming, vibrant place where everyone’s stories and ideas matter, and every visitor leaves looking differently at the world around them.”
Quentin commented: “New River Head will be the most extraordinary home for the art of illustration; the building could not be more appropriate if we’d designed it specially, and its setting is especially charming and sympathetic. One day soon it will show some of my archive
of several thousand original drawings but, much more importantly, it will be an international centre for the display, discussion and celebration of the extraordinary wealth of illustration. We’re thrilled and thankful to have The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support behind us.”
Local illustrator Marion Deuchars and Quentin Blake’s Creative Consultant Claudia Zeff, both trustees of the Centre, joined the project team onsite to observe demolition of a modern partition within the historic Coal Stores, opening it up to become the largest of four new exhibition spaces.
£12.5 million has been raised to restore and convert the New River Head heritage site, which played an essential role in supplying Londoners with clean water from the early 1600s onwards. The atmospheric Grade II listed engine house, windmill base and cobbled courtyards will become galleries, learning spaces, a café, shop and new public gardens. The Centre is due to open in early 2026.
The project realises Quentin Blake’s long-held vision for a permanent national centre for illustration: art that is used every day, all over the world, to tell stories, capture discoveries, inform and persuade. Alongside a wide-ranging programme of exhibitions and events, it will eventually provide a permanent home for Blake’s archive.
Support for the project includes a £3.75 million grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, investment by the London Borough of Islington and support from trusts, foundations and philanthropists. A public campaign is underway to complete the funding target. To find out more go to qbcentre.org.uk/support.
Lindsey Glen, Director of Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, said: “We’re so excited that work has begun! Thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and our generous supporters, the Quentin Blake Centre will breathe new life into New River Head’s atmospheric engine house, windmill base and stores, offering exhibitions, creative projects, gardens and play. It will be a welcoming, vibrant place where everyone’s stories and ideas matter, and every visitor leaves looking differently at the world around them.”
Quentin commented: “New River Head will be the most extraordinary home for the art of illustration; the building could not be more appropriate if we’d designed it specially, and its setting is especially charming and sympathetic. One day soon it will show some of my archive
of several thousand original drawings but, much more importantly, it will be an international centre for the display, discussion and celebration of the extraordinary wealth of illustration. We’re thrilled and thankful to have The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support behind us.”
