Archive for March, 2007
The Concrete House
Since living in East Dulwich, I have often passed the derelict house at the top of Lordship Lane.
Obviously way beyond any form of economic repair, it has been a mystery as to why it is still there when building plots are at such a premium. A chance conversation with the owners of number four revealed all…
Apparently this house is a Grade II listed building and was one of the earliest concrete houses to have been built (in 1873 or so) by a bloke called Charles Drake ( according to English Heritage that is). He apparently used a method of shuttering the concrete in iron rather than wood ( which, I suppose must have been revolutionary to be of note).
According to Jack, the owner of number four, the house was very grand in it's time and had a lovely garden of about half an acre. Over time, the house deteriorated although up until about 1980 was occupied (owned?) by a family who gave many foster children a home there. Indeed, Jack's children played with the foster children (about 14 of themhe recalls!) in the garden at that time.
Although Jack cannot remember exactly when, the lovely extended family moved out and the property was purchased by a new owner. Mysteriously (or not as it transpired) the developer removed parts of the roof and then disappeared. At the time there was much speculation that the roof had been removed to cause the property to fall into grave disrepair so that it could be demolished and the land developed.
More recently a very similar building has been built on the plot with the original house still standing nearby. I understand from the English Heritage website that some building work on the plot had breached planning conditions and as a result the Concrete House (and the plot) would be/or has now been,made subject of a compulsory purchase order.
What is astonishing is that if the Concrete House is of historical importance,why it has been allowed to deteriorate to such an extent.What will a compulsory purchase do for a property that is apparently all but lost I wonder?
Ivy the joint owner of number four put it rather succinctly when she lamented the loss of this lovely building,which she passed daily, saying “such a dignified house which I always rather admired, but what can be done for it now?”
What goes up must come down.
I stripped what will be the master bedroom today.
Fearful that the plaster would come down with the 60's wallpaper, I was pleasantly surprised to remove most of the paper and very little wall. As the house has only very rarely been decorated in it's lifetime the old lime plaster in this room is in pretty good condition.
Because the plaster is still so tight to the lathes this room will only be skimmed and this means that all of the original cornicing and skirting will be saved.
I discovered today what appears to be original paper below the cornice. It looks as though it is handblocked onto silk and is incredibly delicate. Sadly, this gem could not be saved as there had been an historical guttering problem which had been rectified but the sodden plaster not cut away. The resulting damage from damp had damaged every last fragment of the paper in that area. The remaining paper is too stained and damaged even to take a piece to keep. Luckily the embossed grey 60's number survived intact…..
While chatting to the present owner I discovered thatat least twomore fireplaces than we knew of are still in the house in their original positions. I'm looking forward to seeing them when the place is gutted out for work to begin in earnest.
One of the rooms has been used as a darkroom and it was revealed todaythat behind the boarded door is the original coloured glass panel which seems to be in perfect condition. There is also an abundance or Bakelite light switches which can be salvaged and some matching fingerplates. The internal doors have been finished in an early from of paint effect, and although they are the original pine panelled doors they look like burr walnut. I am definitely going to look into having these restored as they look really contemporary in a way. They are very heavy, wide and tall and beautifully framed in wide architrave, all of which would suggest the quality of the house in it's heyday.
Most of the floors are covered in lino and I have yet to pull up any significant amount to see what is below. I guess the boards are largely intact - one of the upsides of not having been chopped into for central heating. The down side of no centralheating is that it is bloody freezing of course.
We might have struck lucky and have some shutters in their original boxes in the main reception area. The present owners have never opened the boxes either side of the bays for fear of damaging them and so on completion day I shall be wielding a screwdriver like a woman possessed.
All before images are at the websitefor viewing….
So here it is - number four
Following our visit to the house, we have some images at last. The house was clearly rather fine in it's time but has suffered from a serious lack of maintenance and is in grave disrepair. We hope to return this to a fine family home over the next eight months.
We are planning to demolish two later additions which were, bizarrely, constructed using garden wallsand have, unsurprisingly, fallen away from the main house. The garden is full of temporary structures which house the extended families various collections and, we are told, may take as many as five roll on/off skips to remove!
We will start work on the 30th April and will post regular updates to show our progress (or otherwise..)
Quite a scary day
Today the house was opened in all it's glory for the first time in a while. With access to every room ( bar the bathroom -why?)
We got lot's of before shots for the website. It all looks slightly Hammer House at the moment.
We should have some sketches for the loft and rear extensions shortly and can begin to finalise our plans for the renovations.
Having viewed the amazing tiles at Surface on Queenstown Road this weekend we shall have to patiently wait for the sale. In the meantime more mundane purchases prevail, such as concealed cisterns and and guttering. Oh the glamour of it all…
and on with the show…
Have been to the house with the architect today. She did not faint with shock but was nearly floored by the giant bulldog who bounded up to us in the hallway. He is neither fixture nor fitting so should not prove a problem in the future although the mattress mountain which has appeared in the back garden might…..
It’s ours……
And so we have exchanged - after months of negotiation and compromise on both sides.
This has been driving us all slightly mad and so this blog will take the place of late night rantings and obsessive discussion of Number Four.