{"id":8944,"date":"2026-06-04T10:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T10:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/?p=8944"},"modified":"2026-06-05T15:10:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T15:10:05","slug":"historic-windmill-and-engine-house-transformed-into-quentin-blake-centre-for-illustration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/historic-windmill-and-engine-house-transformed-into-quentin-blake-centre-for-illustration\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic windmill and engine house transformed into Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Quentin<\/div>\n

UK studio Tim Ronalds Architects<\/a> has converted a series of 17th- and 18th-century buildings in Clerkenwell, London<\/a>, into the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Set to open to the public tomorrow, the Quentin Centre for Illustration claims to be the “world’s biggest public space for illustration”.<\/p>\n

\"Quentin
Tim Ronalds Architects has created the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The museum dedicated to illustration, which previously operated as the House of Illustration in King’s Cross, now occupies a site with a long history of providing drinking water to London residents.<\/p>\n

Tim Ronalds Architects<\/a> converted the cluster of Grade II-listed buildings into gallery spaces with the aim of retaining as much of the historic fabric and atmosphere as possible.<\/p>\n

\"Quentin
The historic buildings were converted into gallery spaces and a cafe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Our idea from the beginning was to leave the historic buildings as intact as possible inside and out \u2013 more difficult than it sounds,” said the studio.<\/p>\n

“We wanted the buildings to feel that they were occupied as ‘found space’ by the art of illustration.”<\/p>\n

\"London's
The base of an old windmill was renovated<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The site, known as New River Head, was once the end of an artificial river created in the early 1600s to channel drinking water into London.<\/p>\n

Many of the structures on the site were created as part of the endeavour to pump this water to people’s houses. The oldest of these was the base of a windmill dating back to 1707, which stands at the entrance to the museum’s site and has been converted into a gallery space for temporary exhibitions.<\/p>\n

\"Gallery
Gallery spaces were created in the engine house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Part of the engine house, which contained a steam engine that replaced the windmill powering the water pumps, was also converted into a gallery space with a library.<\/p>\n

As the site is a working water pumping station, a large part of the building was retained by water company Thames Water.<\/p>\n