“Reminiscing the Past”
In 1953, St Olave’s Grammar School commissioned a famous artist, Alan Sorrell, to visit the school on several occasions and paint four watercolours – one of the exterior and three of the interior scenes. Sorrell was an important artist at that time. This painting was made while he was sitting on the balcony that ran around three sides of the main hall.
Being a Victorian building, the hall has large windows on the south side to let in as much daylight as possible. The hall was designed in a mock-Tudor style, with huge beams supported by hammer beams along each side. From the main beams, large lamps were suspended. They were removed when the building was converted into the Lalit Hotel. The artist sat at the eastern end of the balcony, looking west at the stage complete with a table, a large chair, a reading lectern, and a grand piano. The hall was used for assembly which was held for all the 600 boys first thing in the morning, at 9.00 am, and at the end of the afternoon which was about 4.00 pm.
Although 600 boys could be accommodated standing or sitting on stackable chairs, in the middle of the day for school lunch there were two sittings. The space occupied by the tables and the chairs only allowed sufficient space for 300 boys. The tables on the far left were reserved for the masters and mistresses. Rather than queuing up, the boys eating lunch were required to find a seat at one of the tables and they were waited on by boys from the sixth form who took their order and carried the plates of food to the appropriate table. This happened twice – once for the main course and once for the desert. Every day there was a choice of two for each course.
In passing, note the school pipe organ at the far end of the balcony. That organ was removed and is now installed in the present school hall, at Orpington. In the far left-hand corner of the hall at ground level is the war memorial, commemorating ‘Old Boys’ who died in the two World Wars. That is also installed in the new school.
The hall looks very different today. The ceiling has been painted deep blue and the oak paneling has been stained in a darker colour. The old lamps hanging from the wooden beams have been replaced with modern glass chandeliers. The first link contains a page with a recent view.
See also – St Olave’s Grammar School is now a Hotel
https://knowyourlondon.wordpress.com/2017/09/11/st-olaves-grammar-school-is-now-a-hotel/
See also – St Olave’s Grammar School – Classroom Painting
https://knowyourlondon.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/st-olaves-grammar-school-classroom-painting/
-ENDS-
Know Your London 
This brings back memories. I was at St Olave’s from 1965 to 1971 and recall serving lunch as a first year. We quickly learnt to carry four plates at a time on each trip from the kitchen.
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