Walking with Vincent - Covent Garden to Van Gogh House, Hackford Road,Stockwell
- Em Flem
- Jun 4
- 5 min read
May 2025
Best known for his vibrant landscapes in the South of France and as the creator of auction record-breaking images of sunflowers and irises, Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh spent time in England and in 1873 – 4 as a young man lodged in Hackford Road, Stockwell while employed at Goupil & Cie in Covent Garden. He has transferred from The Hague to the London branch of a firm dealing in art, of which his Uncle was a Director. Vincent wasn't yet an artist and he worked in what was more of a art store or warehouse facility.
On a sunny May morning a number of students on the Become a Lambeth Tour Guides course, together with tutors and friends, stepped out to trace Vincent's likely route from work to home on a specially arranged walk with Footprints of London’s Stephen Benton.
There are still enough landmarks that survive from the 1870s to feel one is viewing the capital as van Gogh would have seen it. Though with the bustle of noise and people, Cup Final supporters and hen party groups you can never quite forget its 2025. Stephen shared a number of images, both period photos and Vincent’s sketches, to keep us focused on the nineteenth century, as well as pointing out how the City has developed.
We crossed Westminster Bridge as Vincent’s letters tell us he did. Once South of the River the cityscape is less changed with rows of Georgian terrace houses along Kennington Road as Vincent would have seen, then on to Kennington Cross and beyond, to the site of Ivy Cottage where Vincent and his sister Anna lived after Hackford Road. Next, to leafy Kennington Park, with a pause at the Model Dwellings, now Trees for Cities, and St Mark's Church, both of which were known to van Gogh.
At Brixton Road there are signs of the artist, ‘Café van Gogh’ at Christ Church, Brixton Road, though sadly it is just a sign as the café has closed. We turn the corner of Hillyard Street and Stephen reveals how our destination could have been lost in war-time bombing that destroyed homes on the corner of the street. The house itself is now the end of terrace, with a white façade which sets off the Blue Plaque from 1973, 100 years after Vincent first arrived. It was given Grade II Listed Building conservation status from Historic England in 1981, because of its association with the artist.
A short break after our three-and-a-half-mile walk was followed by a tour of Van Gogh House, 87 Hackford Road. It’s something of a work of art itself, since 2019 it has been an Artists’ House - rather than a Museum – hosting creative residences and it retains a domestic feel. The ground floor has artefacts and images to amplify the story of the house along with, wait... are those Van Gogh paintings on the wall ? Yes – and no. These are copies signed by the artist, Paul Chalcroft. The display cases below chart Paul’s research in 1971 into the artist whose work he admired and how, when looking for the address of Vincent’s lodgings, he discovered the former St Ann's Road had been renamed as Hackford Road. Why did Paul have an interest in road and place names? Because he was the local postman. Since then there has been more research and the play Vincent in Brixton by Nicholas Wright, produced by the National Theatre in 2002. Set entirely in one room of the house it outlined 20-year-old Vincent’s relationships with the other occupants including landlady Ursula and daughter Eugenie. It appears Vincent and sister Anna left the Loyer's abruptly (and went to Ivy Cottage) but was this because he had been in love with Ursula or Eugene - or both, or neither?
The house was bought at auction in 2012 by the Wang family for £565,000 going on the market for the first time since 1947, saying that while they couldn’t buy a van Gogh painting they could afford to buy the house he lived in. It’s been sensitivity restored, sash windows with black not white woodwork, appropriate for the age of the house, of around 1840. But it is a house to be lived in now, not intended to replicate exact 19 th century living conditions, so there’s a modern bathroom and kitchen with electric light and power. And it was the changes in domestic life that struck me most: how do you prepare a hot meal if you have no gas cooker or oven, with electricity still years away, and where does your hot water come from ? I can remember outside toilets at my grandparents’ London home but they at least had an ‘Ascot’ water heater. In the Loyer household a maid was likely rise before dawn to light fires and heat water for washing and drinking.
An immersive day like this is certainly thought provoking - about the young visitor to London and artist-to-be. It is evocative of the life and conditions of an ordinary family in the 19th century and gives a real insight into Lambeth before technology gave us faster transport, communications and labour-saving appliances.
Vincent was one of the many workers whose commute was on foot, in all weathers and on unmade-up roads. We have a record, in Vincent’s letters to brother Theo, of an activity that most would have found too common-place to mention. So as we walk for pleasure or exercise remember that for hundreds of years a walk or 3, 4 or more miles was simply how most working people got around.
A big thank you to Stephen who guided us along a route that Vincent said took him 45 minutes and took us, with stops, nearer three hours, followed by the tour of the house, which was a little under an hour. Shout out to Lambeth Guides Course Director Sarah-Jane Miller for arranging this opportunity.
This is just one of a number of activities for students on the Become a Lambeth Tour
Guide Course. In past years students have been on tours including the International Maritime Organisation, Florence Nightingale Museum, Lambeth Palace Library,
London Fire Brigade HQ and backstage at the National Theatre. If you would like to join September’s students on this year’s Course, applications are now open. For details see www.lambethtourguides.org
• Next date, at time of writing is July 26th with places booking fast, for Footprints of London walk to Van Gogh House
• Guided Tours of Van Gogh House take place last weekend of the month.
ALISON RAE
LTGA member
