Old Admiralty Building, Whitehall, London 2014
Winston Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty on October 25th 1911. He was only 36 years old. This cabinet post brought added responsibilities, opportunities, challenges, influence and status. It also came with an official residence, Admiralty House, which was part of the massive Admiralty complex, seen above from Whitehall. In the spring of 1913, Winston and Clementine, along with their growing family, finally moved into Admiralty House where they lived until May 1915. Sarah Millicent Hermione, their third child, was born here on October 7th 1914, just two months after Great Britain declared war on Germany on August 14th 1914.
From 1911 to 1914, prior to the outbreak of World War I, Churchill worked hard to upgrade the Royal Navy and ready it for war. It was during this time that Winston developed his life-long love of aviation. He took flying lessons and earned the nicknamed The Flying First Lord. After some mishaps, he stopped flying himself, but he did establish the Royal Naval Air Service in preparation for war with Germany.
The image featured above is part of the limited edition collector’s portfolio created by Leslie Hossack to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill. She presents locations that chart Churchill’s personal and political life, from his birth at Blenheim Palace in 1874 until his death in London in 1965. THE CHURCHILL PHOTOGRAPHS are part of Hossack’s larger body of work that explores Nazi architecture in Berlin, Stalinist structures in Moscow, contested sites in Jerusalem, a Cold War bunker in Ottawa, NATO’s Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, and buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during World War II.
To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com
HAUTE VITRINE 