575 Wandsworth Road is a seemingly ordinary house in South London, yet inside holds beautiful and unique interiors hand crafted by Kenyan poet and civil servant, Khadambi Asalache (1935-2006).
575 Wandsworth Road was acquired by the National Trust in 2010, because of the rich and striking interiors created by Khadambi Asalache (1935-2006), a Kenyan-born poet, novelist, philosopher of mathematics and British civil servant. He bought the house in 1981 while working at the Treasury, and over a period of 20 years (from 1986) turned his home into a work of art.
Prompted by the need to disguise persistent damp in the basement dining room, he initially fixed pine floorboards to the damp wall. He went on to embellish almost every wall, ceiling and door in the house with exquisite fretwork patterns and motifs, which he hand-carved from reclaimed pine doors and floorboards found in skips.
The house stands as he left it, with his painted decoration on walls, doors and floors and with rooms furnished with his handmade fretwork furniture and carefully arranged collections of beautiful and functional objects, including pressed-glass inkwells, pink and copper lustreware, postcards and his typewriter.
The National Trust is proud of what has been achieved over the last 126 years and is determined to maintain those high standards of conservation, stewardship and curatorial care for which it has been recognised throughout the world.
575 Wandsworth Road is an incredibly unique and inspiring place and we often work with local groups to provide our community with new opportunities and a sense of togetherness. Our mission is to make sure every person who steps through our doors leaves feeling inspired and empowered, and through our outreach programme we hope to support our local community by tackling issues such as lonliness and mental health through the power of creativity.
The most important qualities we look out for is passion and an aspiration to get involved. Our staff and volunteer team is made up of friendly people who care about making a difference, people, and ensuring that we can protect heritage so that everyone can enjoy our property for posterity.
Curious to find out more about what its like to volunteer with us? This summer we have had the pleasure of working with Fatima, a BA Liberal Arts student who came to us through the King's College London Civic Leadership Academy and has helped us explore new ways of connecting to our local community. In a recent blog post, she has reflected on her experiences at 575 Wandsworth Road in a recent blog post which you can read here.
