By Christine Swan

Is there anything more elegant than a fan? A beautiful accessory to hide your blushes, and an elegant companion to cool you on a hot day. This summer, there were many hot days. Last year, I bought a rather lovely version in France with a wooden frame and fabric leaves. I would not be without it, and it proved its worth and effectiveness in the recent roasting weather.

A hand-painted fan on silk with a mother of pearl skeleton

Last weekend was cooler, but still very pleasant. It was the opening weekend of Open City’s Open House Festival, which I have attended for the previously two years. I had built myself an itinerary several weeks ago but on Saturday morning, I looked at my choices and realised that I would spend the whole day travelling from one corner of London to the other, rather than having selected sites in one locality. Silly me. I reselected my choices, withdrawing from others, and headed towards Westminster station to take the Circle Line eastbound.

My anticipatory joy was cut short by engineering works leading to no service on this and the District Line, which might have scuppered my plans, but, I was saved by the Jubilee Line. I boarded a train heading East to Canary Wharf. Coming up above ground, among the tall glass and steel buildings, I located the Docklands Light Railway station, and settled down at the very end to watch the receding skyscrapers, as one might watch the diminishing coastline from a boat. Everything was unfamiliar, I haven’t travelled on the DLR for about fifteen years. There are some fragments of the old Isle of Dogs, the one where my newly wed parents lived in a little prefabricated bungalow in Strattendale Street, hastily constructed after the almost complete destruction of the London docklands during World War II. My parents were given the opportunity to buy their property, if they could afford to erect a fence around its perimeter. They could not, so did not.

Rear view window on the DLR leaving Canary Wharf

I realised that I had missed the approximate location of Strattendale Street, and now the train had entered a tunnel to traverse the Thames. I almost missed my stop, not realising that the station platform was shorter than the train, so had to stumble to the middle carriage to disembark. Legs, bags and small children created a veritable obstacle course. Despite these impediments, I did not miss my stop. Coming up above ground, I arrived in historic Greenwich and saw a view that could have been seen nearly one hundred and fifty years ago. The mighty masts of the Cutty Sark rose up into the early autumn sunshine.

The mighty Cutty Sark

Some time ago, I took our family collection of 8mm cinefilm to be converted into a digital file. I had not expected the results to be successful but hoped that it may have amused my elderly parents if it was. In fact, the outcome surpassed my expectations. One short film was of my maternal grandparents walking around the Cutty Sark, arm in arm, with my parents. My mother said that, unlike a photograph, to see her parents walking again, was as if she were back with them again, there in Greenwich – and here I was, today. The memory, and the sunshine, made me smile.

I turned away and headed past the Greenwich Theatre, where my ancestor, Elena Ann Crudgington, as ballet mistress Madame Elena Estelle, had choreographed little girls in the annual pantomime at Morton’s Theatre, now the Greenwich, when the Cutty Sark was the fastest ship on the wool run to Sydney, after having been the fastest tea clipper some twenty years earlier.

The Greenwich Theatre and Old Rose and Crown pub

I continued up Crooms Hill a short distance to the Fan Museum, housed in two beautiful Georgian houses. One of the joys of the Open House festival is the discovery of new and hidden gems. The fan museum contains exhibits of fans from around the world, and across history.

The Fan Museum is house in two Georgian houses

Various materials are used to create the skeleton of the fan, including tortoiseshell, mother of pearl, bone, horn, and wood. Many are beautifully carved and incredibly beautiful. Exquisitely painted silks are works of art. The Museum also houses a collection of royal fans. These are the only items that cannot be photographed.

A stunning mother of pearl brise fan

A selection of painted fans

Everything you ever wanted to know about fans is here. Materials, construction, etiquette, and history. Many are works of art and the level of detail and range of themes, is very impressive. The craftsmanship requires working at a miniature scale. Fans have moving parts so need to be carefully constructed to open at the flick of a wrist, and also collapse smoothly for easy transport and storage. I would imagine that carving mother of pearl may also result in breakage and considerable waste. Fans were more than a functional accessory, they had status and statement.

Downstairs, there is a garden and a beautifully painted orangery. Although this appears to be an original feature, in fact, it was painted relatively recently, for the opening of the museum. It is intricately detailed includes local features such as the distinctive former Royal Naval College buildings.

The stunning orangery

The museum also hosts fan making workshops, talks and concerts all in this amazing setting. On leaving, I began chatting with another Open House devotee who also had more places to visit. We parted ways and I continued down the hill, past the theatre, and back towards the Cutty Sark, and on to my next Open House venue.

More information

Open City Open House Festival – https://programme.openhouse.org.uk/

The Fan Museum – https://www.thefanmuseum.org.uk/