Duck Island Cottage: St. James's Park
It's drizzleing which is why it looks slightly misty.
There is a sign with details about the cottage . . . .
This pretty cottage was built in 1841 as home of the bird-keeper in St. James's Park. It also had a club room for the Ornithological Society of London, which once helped to look after the park's ducks and geese.
The design, like a Swiss chalet was intended to be a contrast to the grand architecture of government buildings nearby.
The cottage has been altered several times and it's use has also changed. It was once a store for bicycles confiscated in the park but it's now used as offices. www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/st_james_park/history.cfm
Cottage or lodge. 1840 by John Burges Watson for the Royal Ornithological Society. Rendered facing with hipped gable patterned tiled roofs. Picturesque "cottage orné" consisting of 2 asymmetrical single storey pavilions linked by tree trunk colonnade 'bridge'. Patterned leaded lattice casements and 'rustic'
doors. Ornate, carved bargeboards and finials. Perfectly suited to Nash's 1828 landscaping of the Park. British Listed Buildings