V&A East Storehouse

The V&A Storehouse, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in Stratford ((not-upon-Avon), a northeast suburb of London), opened in the spring of 2025. It is a massive, purpose-built museum warehouse that also includes facilities for research, education, preservation, and other museum activities. It is perhaps modeled after the Luce Center for the Study of American Art, at the Met in NYC, which also integrates storage with study, preservation, and so on, and which also employs a system whereby one can order up an item (get its QR first) and be able to examine it closely, in person. Both the Luce and the Storehouse are open to the public. For museum-lovers and for V&A-lovers, the Storehouse is a must-see. We were there June 17th.

We took the bus to Tottenham Court Road, then the tube some miles
to Stratford; at least it was the brand-new Elizabeth Line

Adequate signage

Stratford is no sleepy suburb; the Westfield mall where the
station empties is twice the size of the Westfield Mall at Les
Halles in Paris

Part of the Olympic park

Ditto: sculpture/observation tower

It's about a half mile walk from the station/mall to the
Storehouse

Note Lego anti-tank obstacles

One of the two giant warehouses

Stepping off the elevator

Like the V&A itself, it's all a bit overwhelming...

But at every turn, there are things of interest; no interpretive
signage, however...get the QR code, click on it, and, voila!, the
description is there on your phone

You can discern all four floors in this view

Interesting space-saving up-right piano

Paintings everywhere, but in warehouse presentation mode

A double-bass; must have been 8 feet tall

Peering into the second building

Pull-tab purse; we must have missed the pull-tab chain mail vest

Looking down into one of the research/preservation/whatever areas

Kaufman's office--a complete Frank Lloyd Wright room; see below

Thus; click to enlarge; Kaufman's was the great department
store of Pittsburgh; Kaufman's son was a FLW disciple...

Up closer; gorgeous cypress plywood

Spare doll houses

1920s kitchen design from Frankfurt, revolutionized kitchen
design, emphasizing efficiency and hygiene

Perhaps this is not the place to go if you have to have themed or
chronological presentations...

Fashion

Ceiling of a Moorish chapel from Spain

Boots worn by David Bowie; inexplicably, to us, the
Storehouse has a large and high-tech David Bowie collection
and research center...yes, he gave them the money, but why
would they accept it?!

Queen Mary's Rose Garden

On June 14th we visited The Regent's Park and its Queen Mary Rose Garden. We were there a couple years ago, but a bit late for the height of the bloom. This year we were nearly on target, the first dry day in a while, and everything was as good as one could want. The Park dates from the Regency, early 1800s, and is one of the city's most popular.

Busy bee paradise

Georgeous place (The Regent became George IV)

 

Sky Garden

Granted, we have never done the London Eye...not good for my mal de debarquement syndrome, and Vicki had bad childhood experiences...so we opted to do the Sky Garden, a sort of viewing station/botanical garden atop one of London's city center skyscrapers. It takes a reservation, etc., but the views were great, and it was certainly a once in a lifetime experience.

In time, everything becomes a restaurant

Down river

Us, there; 36th floor

Tower and Bridge

Greater London has many CBDs

Neighbors

St. Paul's and west, the BT Tower in Fitzrovia

The garden bit, nice, but not overwhelming

Up river

The Globe down there somewhere

Yes, there

The Great Fire monument

Up river, more

The Shard

Not our most expensive drink ever (that was in Milan, but also
very special; or more likely Florian, Venice, pre-retirement)

Parting shots

Sky Garden at the top there, in a building, 20 Fenchurch St.,
Londoners call the "walkie-talkie"