citylikeyou — The London Library — London by Vanessa Pelz Sharpe

London / Library

There are libraries full of screaming children and strip lighting, and then there are libraries like The London Library. Whenever I’m there it’s hard to believe I’m not caught inside a wonderful dream, because everything about this place is so perfect as to be almost unreal.

Website
londonlibrary.co.uk

Address
The London Library, 14 Saint James's Square, London, United Kingdom

Writer

Current city: London

pelzsharpe.com

Vanessa Pelz-Sharpe is a writer and broadcaster. Born and bred in London, she has written for a number of independent magazines and newspapers, including The Guardian, Illustrated Ape, and Pen Pusher, and was Contributing Editor for literary magazine Full Moon Empty Sports Bag. She co-hosts Letters You Never Sent, a monthly literary radio show on NTS. Pelz-Sharpe recently won a Cosmopolitan Magazine Blog Award for her blog Nightmares and Boners and is currently working on her first novel.

More Places in London 471

London / Architecture

2 Willow Road designed by Ernő Goldfinger and completed in 1939. It has been managed by the National Trust and is open to the public. Goldfinger lived here with his wife and their children until his death in 1987.

London / Library

The V and A houses a public collection of prints and drawings of every kind imagineable from old master drawings to photographs, playing cards, fashion plates and wallpapers. You have to select what you want to see from the collection http://collections.vam.ac.uk/and book in advance. The behind-the-scenes route up to the study room of v and a is a treat alone (pictured)

London / Museum

An obvious choice but no 'best of London' list is complete without the Barbican

London / Cinema

The most special and charming cinema (probably most deprived too) in London. A place to catch a classic or a new release. You can get a lifetime membership for £50, weekly £1 member screenings. A place where staff are as passionate about pictures as its visitors. A must visit for movie buffs.

London / Art Centre

Aside from the excellent cultural facility's the Barbican Centre has to offer, ranging from theatre, art, music and dance. The space outside the Centre holds personal value in its ability to evoke nostalgia of the Emerald City, in the slightly disturbing film 'Return to Oz'. I enjoy residing by the fountains, where I draw, read books and feed ducks.