How often do you turn around with the feeling that you're being watched? For anyone who's been in the London Center in the evening when there aren't many other people around, did you find it just a bit eerie? The ICLC is an old Victorian home, so I suppose haunting goes without question, but you never expect to see a manifestation of of all the creepy ideas swimming through your head as you hesitantly check to see if the London Center really is empty. So consider my surprise when I stood up from in front of the fireplace in the Common Room to see a pair of eyes trained on me. Not a pair I was expecting. This happened in broad daylight, during a moment when I had a confident grasp of how many people were in the building. Sarah and Bill were working downstairs in their offices. No students were in. And yet I was being watched. Not by one set of eyes, but as I took closer note of my surrounding, I discovered it was by nine sets.
All of a sudden my eyes were opened to all the faces around the London Center! I don't mean students or Elsie, I mean bizarre, expressive, character faces. They're all over the place! Paranoid much, you ask? These Victorian features, coated in over a century of paint, are nearly hiding in plain sight. I've compiled what I doubt is an extensive list of the ICLC's hidden faces. Doubtless they watch the building day and night, noticing comings and goings, weighing in on who their favorite ICLC directors have been.
So, I'm introducing you to the faces of the London Center:
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| Tilly- Over the fireplace in the Common Room |
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| Benjamin- Mantel in the Common Room |
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| Melbourne- Mantel in the Common Room |
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| Bobby- Mantel in the Common Room |
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| Palmerstone- Mantel in the Common Room |
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| William- Mantel in the Common Room |
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| Derby- Mantel in the Common Room |
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| Cecil- Mantel in the Common Room |
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| Tony- Mantel in the Common Room |
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| Harvey- Front Hall post |
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| Al- Front Hall post |
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| Louise- Front Hall fireplace (probably not Victorian?) |
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| Frank, Lorraine and Suzanne- Exterior Facade above Entryway |
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| Henry- Front Door (almost definitely not Victorian) |
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| Francis- Front Office |
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| Tilly and the boys listen from over the fireplace to Diana Rigg talking to an Interrelationships class in 1982. |
-Claire
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