Artelier Curation: Public Art Commission for Former Women's Lodging House, Palliser Road, London

Jun 24, 2025
5 min read

In the realm of public art, Artelier specialises in research, strategising and developing significant art collections for high-end projects of any calibre. Beyond acquiring contemporary pieces from renowned global artists, we engage in partnerships with local artists to craft bespoke public art commissions specifically designed for each project. Southern Housing Group, renowned for its expertise in high-end residential projects, enlisted the services of Artelier to commission a public art mural for a residential development on Palliser Road, London.

Jump straight to:

About the Project
Historical location
1. The Building
2. The Residents
About the Artist
Inspiration
Stained Glass Cutting & WeldingTechnique
Our Public Art Services

An eye-level, medium shot shows a stained glass window over a doorway, scattering colored light on the ceiling and adjacent wall.

The window is comprised of square and triangular panes, some colored and some clear with dark lines. The colored panes are at the bottom and include shades of red, orange, blue, yellow, and green. The clear panes each have a different line drawing on them, including images of tea pots flower pots, windows, a man in various poses like drawing lifting weights, an old record player, and people sitting at a table together. At the very center of the window is a pane that is half-clear, half-blue with a drawing of a person running to a door exit symbol with an arrow pointing down on it. The window is outlined in black and is part of a wall and door frame that is painted white. Reflected on the white ceiling above the window are abstract squares and lines of orange, red, yellow, purple, blue, and green light. A rectangular light fixture hangs in front of the window from the ceiling. Reflected on the white wall to the right of the window is a pale blue light.

Below the window is a black metal door frame and a doorway that leads out to another building with brick walls and white windows. An alarm and an electricity box are mounted on the white walls on either side of the door.

The finished public art commission displayed on Palliser Road, London

About the Project

Artelier was onboarded to commission a public art mural for 2 Palliser Road, London, in collaboration with Southern Housing Group—a not-for-profit charitable housing association providing 27,000 homes for over 66,000 people in London—and CGL (Child Graddon Lewis), an award-winning architectural practice founded in 1992 with a team of 70 dedicated staff.

Renders of Proposal for Palliser Road, London © Southern Housing Group / CGL

The site is located within the Baron’s Court Conservation Area, a residential area in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham characterised by its strong east-west morphology of terraced housing and open spaces like Queens Club Gardens, Margravine Cemetery, and Normand Park. The area is known for its architectural and historic interest, with regulations in place to preserve and enhance its character.

The image shows an architectural drawing of the "Sketch Elevations of Proposed New Lewis Hostel for Women- Barons Court S.W." The drawing displays three views of the building, each labeled with the street it faces: "Elevation to Barton Street" on the left, "Elevation to Palliser Road" in the center, and "Elevation to Comeragh Road" on the right. The scale is noted as "Sixteen Feet to an Inch."

All three views depict a three-story building with a distinct architectural style. Each elevation shows evenly spaced windows over three floors. The windows have various designs, some with shutters and others without. The central "Palliser Road" elevation notably features a small balcony above the ground floor entrance. The building appears to have a continuous sill or course separating floors.

Topping the building in all three elevations is a Mansard roof, with dormer windows cut into it, hinting at additional living space on the top floor. The roof appears to slope gently on the sides, then steeply upward.

The lower right text block indicates the architects as "Mess Joseph" and provides an address at "2, Pauls Bakehouse Court" in "E.C.A." There's also a date below, likely December 1925. Overall, the drawing presents a cohesive visual of the proposed women’s hostel from different perspectives.

Artist Jenny Kay took inspiration from the local archives for her proposal, including a feature of Mrs Ada Lewis-Hill (1844-1906)

Historic Location

The Building

Originally known as Ada Lewis House, the original building was constructed in the 1920s to offer housing for single, low-income working women in London. It has been expanded over time to include other accommodations, such as a games room, which was developed in 1950 by converting a former air raid shelter. The scheme was funded by Ada Lewis, the spouse of a wealthy philanthropist who established the Samuel Lewis Housing Trust, now known as Southern Housing Group. The site stopped operating as a women's hostel five years ago. Due to the layout of the rooms and modern living requirements, Southern Housing Group demolished the old structure and developed a new architectural plan. The new design incorporates elements of Edwardian Mansion architecture, such as red brick, iron railings, and terracotta finishes, along with outdoor amenities and shared communal gardens. From past to present, we see see the same housing association that built it from the past to the present day conserve its historical legacy.

While these interiors are not from Ada Lewis House, they are from a neighbouring building Driscoll House, another women's lodging house also founded by Ada Lewis. You can see the emphasis on community space, accentuated with tall round arched-windows for height and light. It was the Capital’s largest women's lodging house when built, accommodating 214 women in single cubicles and a further 46 in double bedrooms or 'special' rooms. To learn more, visit Historic England's dedicated page to the building © Historic England

The Residents

After the end of the First World War in 1918, the war had claimed the lives of approximately 700,000 British servicemen, leading to a surplus of 1.5 million women compared to men. As industries expanded to fill the gaps left by fallen soldiers, women began to enter the workforce in unprecedented numbers. By the early 1920s, a greater number of women were supporting themselves financially, However, despite these advancements in employment opportunities, women faced significant challenges in securing adequate housing. Many landlords were reluctant to rent properties to single women, viewing them as less desirable tenants. In these boarding houses, men were often prioritised for accommodations, as they were more likely to pay for additional services, such as meals and laundry. This led to a situation where women were frequently forced to reside in boarding houses or hostels, which came with strict regulations, including curfews and a lack of privacy.

A portrait of a young woman with a slight smile. The soft lighting indicates the time of day. The woman's dark, shiny hair flows over her shoulders and frames her face. She has brown eyes, and her skin appears dewy and moisturized. The woman is wearing a white top with a maroon pattern, and a simple silver necklace with a circular pendant. The background is a soft tan color, possibly a wall. — © Jenny Kay

About the Artist

Jenny Kay grew up in London, UK and studied Civil Engineering at the University of Sheffield. Being drawn to both math and art she hoped that engineering would be the marriage of the two. She worked as a civil engineer in the water industry and later for an architectural firm. She left engineering in Feb 2020 and studied Stained Glass at Richmond Adult Community College the following year. She is drawn to make modern and contemporary pieces of stained glass and has a great love of colour. She takes great inspiration from water and scientific principles and loves the way that glass can mimic water and its interaction with light.

An eye-level view of building windows, separated into vertical white columns, is shown in a watercolor sketch.

The buildings are made of horizontal rows. The top two rows are varying shades of gray, light blue, and charcoal. Each has black lines, indicating building windows, roofs, and door frames. The bottom four rows are brightly colored, primarily in shades of blue, yellow, orange, and purple. Each contains black lines representing various characters reading books, playing the piano, or talking to one another, as well as furniture, window frames, and doorways. — Initial sketch proposal for 2 Palliser Road, London © Jenny Kay

Inspiration

"I wanted to honour the original building that stood before this new development so was inspired to use the facade of the building that was demolished as part of the design. I was inspired by the notion of having your own space, the space to individuate. This made me think of a kind of patchwork quilt, each room in the building containing an individual woman. I also wanted to honour it being a home and the different every day aspects of this such as laundry and a mug of tea. I find it interesting combining these everyday, mundane objects with the medium of stained glass. A medium that has traditionally been associated with religious depictions, the divine, and so making the everyday divine. Speaking with a former resident of the building who lived there during the 80s, I found out that one of the ground floor corridors was assigned to disabled women, at a time when it was unusual to have disabled and non-disabled women living together. I wanted to represent this in the piece. I also wanted to show the different time periods the housing was in operation, tying elements from the 1920s when it opened to the later days. Looking up historical records and reading entries in the house meeting minutes book, I saw entries such as it being decided to buy a gramophone for the house in 1927. The gramophone is such an iconic image I thought it would be great to have this image depicted, showing not just the historic periods of the building but also the things that would have brought the different women together. I also wanted to represent Ada Lewis, the woman who's endowment made the building possible and who the building was named after."

Extract from Jenny Kay' who explains the strategy behind her artwork commissioned by Artelier for 2 Palliser Road, London

Close-up shot of a multi-colored glass pane being cleaned with a small hand brush by a person wearing work gloves. Directly to the right of the shot a person in a long black sleeve is seen with their hands down giving the appearance they are working on cleaning the glass, wearing work gloves. It seems the glass the person is working on is reddish-brown with a grey design on the corner and clear liquid resting on the glass. The brush the person is holding down on the glass is small with brown wood for the handle and darker bristles. The other glass panes directly to the left have other colors, one being green and the other appearing to be reddish with a grey design on it. The outside of the panes are grey, and the glass is set on top of an aged wooden surface.

Each piece of glass is put into a lead channel, then the lead is soldered together and the gap between the lead and the glass is filled with cement. The top photo is Jenny polishing the lead, the bottom left photo shows lead cutting, and the bottom right photo is of whiting (ground calcium carbonate) being applied to the panel to help dry the cement.

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Captured in an outdoor daytime shot is a cobblestone square featuring a series of rectangular sculptures standing in a row. These unique art pieces each comprise a russet-brown base, capped with a teal-colored glass top. The bases appear to be textured, while the glass tops reflect the surrounding environment.

The background showcases a mix of architectural styles, with one prominent modern-looking building presenting a clean, white facade punctuated by evenly spaced square windows. Adjacent to it, a cylindrical-shaped tower adds an interesting contrast to the skyline.

Adding life to the scene, a person can be discerned walking in the background, and a blurred figure of a child runs across the cobblestone square, suggesting motion and activity in the open space. — **Public Art Commission near Paddington Station, London ©** **Danny Lane**

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