Six Properties in Grade II-Listed Buildings
Welcome to my third Substack newsletter. These are coming thicker and faster than I had imagined, largely because Spring brings with it a glut of new properties for sale and also due to the current sluggish state of the market. I’m trying to theme these newsletters so if you have an idea for something you’d like me to focus on, I’m all ears.
Around this time last year, a friend of mine was interested in buying a maisonette in Golden Lane Estate. As I can’t stop myself with this kind of challenge, I took it upon myself to keep my eyes obsessively peeled for any that came on the market. One soon did, but before you could blink, it was under offer. Said friend was on holiday and that was the end of that. Now suddenly there are three — no, four (one came on halfway through writing this newsletter) such flats for sale, so I thought it would be fun to compare them (I know how to have a laugh, eh?).
Situated in the City of London, Golden Lane Estate was built on land devastated by World War II. In 1952, the City held an open competition for keyworker housing. The winning design was by Geoffry Powell of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon and comprises several buildings of varying heights: colourful, low-rise, two- and three-bedroom maisonette blocks, and a 16-storey tower with yellow curtain walling and a sculptural concrete hat. Central to the project were the community centre, the swimming pool and leisure facilities, surrounded by generous outside spaces—which include a piazza, a lawn, and a pond. I lived here for quite a few years, and it’s still one of my favourite places. Don’t tell anyone, but I prefer it to the Barbican.
If you’re considering buying on the estate it’s worth noting that there’s a window replacement programme for the entire estate. Great Arthur House (the tower) was done a few years ago at circa £90k per leaseholder. The City of London, however, never seems to do anything fast, so when that will actually happen is anyone’s guess.
The estate was Grade II listed in 1997, except for Crescent House which is Grade II* listed.
2 Bedroom Maisonette
Bowater House
Golden Lane Estate EC1
£720,000
(59.2 sqm—£12,162. per sqm)
There are essentially four different types of maisonettes on the estate. The majority are two-bedroom duplexes, with open-tread cantilevered staircases like this flat. (The top flats are slightly different in layout as the staircase is off the hallway as you enter. There are also a number of three-bedroom flats, but they rarely come up for sale.) This particular maisonette is on the ground and first floor of Bowater House which is situated on the south edge of the estate—the kitchen looks over the pond, and the living room faces Fann Street and the Barbican Estate. As you enter the flat, there is a compact kitchen to the left, with a hatch through to the dining/living room. A double-height window opens out to a private balcony. Upstairs are two double bedrooms and a bathroom. As you can see, it needs a bit of updating, although a modern bathroom has apparently recently been installed. Worth noting the lease has only 83 years left.
View the listing here
Images: Hurford Salvi Carr
2 Bedroom Maisonette
Bowater House
Golden Lane Estate EC1
£750,000
(58 sq m [I’m sure they are actually the same size!]—£12,931 per sqm)
This maisonette is also on the ground and first floor of Bowater House so you can literally compare like for like—although there’s no mention of how long the lease is. The flat retains a lot of original details such as the parquet floor and built-in wardrobes, and what has been modernised has been done sympathetically so you could move into this one without lifting a finger…
View the listing here
Images: Nicola Lee
2 Bedroom Maisonette
Bayer House
Golden Lane Estate EC1
£750,000
(58 sqm—£12,931 per sqm)
Thirdly, this maisonette is in Bayer House — arguably the better block as its outlook is either the pond to the south or Basterfield lawn to the north. Again, it’s on the ground and first floor, so there’s direct access to the communal garden, which I think is the prettiest of all the blocks, not least down to the green fingers of residents Buffy and Fred (you can read an interview with them in my book Golden Lane Estate—An Urban Village). Something is going on with that divide between the living room and kitchen, I’m not sure if it’s been rebuilt or what, but it’s the first thing that jumped out when I saw the pictures. Other than that, it features a parquet floor (the original but stained, maybe?), the original built-in wardrobes, a modern kitchen, and bathroom.
View the listing here
Images: Nicola Lee
2 Bedroom Maisonette
Basterfield House
Golden Lane Estate London EC1
£750,000
(58 sqm—£12,931 per sqm)
The final maisonette came onto the market yesterday morning. I can’t keep up! This one is on the second and third floors of Basterfield House which is on the northern edge of the estate. Again, in largely original condition bar a sympathetic modern kitchen and bathroom.
Which one do you fancy?
View the listing here
Images: Nicola Lee
2 Bedroom Maisonette
Dunboyne Road Estate
London NW3
£625,000
(67 sqm—£9,328 per sqm
Also fresh to the market is this two-bedroom maisonette in Grade II listed Dunboyne Road (or Fleet Road as it was originally named) in Belsize Park. The scheme forms part of ‘Cook’s Camden’ — progressive post-war council housing built in the London Borough of Camden led by its chief architect Sydney Cook. His team of architects rejected high-rise towers, which had proved problematic for some families, in favour of street-based, low to mid-rise high-density schemes (see my previous newsletter for more on this).
Fleet Road was designed by Neave Brown in 1967 and was his first housing commission for Camden (he went on to design Grade II* Alexandra Road in Swiss Cottage). The scheme comprises two- and three-storey blocks running in parallel rows. Each dwelling has a private terrace and its own front door from ‘the street’. There are communal gardens and car parking is integrated below. The estate was gated off several years ago, no doubt much to the annoyance of Brown, who lived here until his death in 2018, shortly after winning the RIBA Gold Medal.
The layout of this flat is the same as the one Neave lived in (another little plug, if you have my book Modernist Estates, there’s an interview with him as well as photographs of his home). Unlike his flat which opens out towards the communal gardens, this flat is east-facing, which means the living rooms and private garden look over the less quiet Southampton Road. You enter on the raised ground floor where there is a good-sized kitchen with space for a dining table. Up the short flight of stairs, is a large living space with full-width windows that open out to a balcony with steps down to the garden below. On the lower floor are two double bedrooms and a bathroom. If original features are your thing, you might need to do some work here, but the good thing about these flats (and I speak from experience) is that the character is in the plan, and it’s more a case of ripping things out than putting things in.
Worth noting these flats (although facing the other way) were selling for around £750,000 a few years ago, so this seems fairly good value for location and space.
View the listing here
Top image: Stefi Orazi. Estate agent images: Wentworth Estates
2 Bedroom Flat
Keeling House
Claredale Street
Bethnal Green
London E2
£600,000
(72.5 sqm—£8,276 per sqm)
Finally, a two-bedroom duplex in Grade II*-listed Keeling House, designed by Denys Lasdun in 1955, and built between 1957 and 1959. The architect took the concept of Victorian streets of terraced houses, but rotated it 90 degrees by stacking two-storey maisonettes on top of each other in four towers. Noisy services—lifts, rubbish chutes, stairs—are positioned in a central core with the maisonettes wrapped around it, creating a ‘cluster block’. Unable to afford the expensive renovation and maintenance that the building needed, Tower Hamlets sold it to private developers in 1999, who commissioned architecture practice Munkenbeck + Marshall to refurbish it—with Lasdun’s approval.
The apartment spans the first and second floors. Upon entry, you step into a hallway. To the left, stairs lead upstairs, while straight ahead is the lounge with access to a private balcony, and to the right is the kitchen (I’ve been in a few of these flats before, and they’ve all had open-plan living room/kitchen which makes the full-width windows and views more impressive). Upstairs are two bedrooms, one slightly larger than the other, and the bathroom.
View the listing here