Heritage Statement Peabody House Greenman Street
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9652:GQ HERITAGE STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE PLANNING AND LISTED BUILDING APPLICATIONS FOR THE ALTERATION OF THE EXISTING BUILDING, KNOWN AS PEABODY HOUSE GREENMAN STREET ISLINGTON SUBMITTED ON BEHALF OF PEABODY BY GILES QUARME & ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS & CONSERVATION SPECIALISTS 7 BISHOPS TERRACE LONDON SE11 4UE TEL: 020 7582 0748 FAX: 020 7793 8807 Email: [email protected] Website: www.quarme.com © 2012 GQA W:\current work\Live Jobs\9600-9699\9652 Peabody Estate, Islington\12.02.22 Final Heritage Statement for The Peabody House.doc - 1 - 9652:GQ CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Site Description and History 3. Proposed Development 4. Legislation, Planning Policy and Guidance 5. Assessment of the Application 6. Conclusion Appendices: Drawings A: 1936 : Victor Wilkins B: 1964: FEF Atkinson FRIBA C: 1983 Peabody Trust’s Architect’s Department © 2012 GQA W:\current work\Live Jobs\9600-9699\9652 Peabody Estate, Islington\12.02.22 Final Heritage Statement for The Peabody House.doc - 2 - 9652:GQ Peabody Estate, Islington Job No. 9652 HERITAGE STATEMENT FOR THE PEABODY HOUSE, PEABODY ESTATE, ISLINGTON, LONDON N1W 1. Introduction: Giles Quarme and Associates, Historic Building Architects and Consultants, were commissioned by Mr Adam Preece of Peabody to produce a Heritage Statement in support of the proposed alterations by Neill McLaughlin Architects of the listed building known as Peabody House, The Peabody Estate, Islington, London N1. Peabody, formerly known as the Peabody Trust and before that the Peabody Donation Fund, recognises the Historic and Architectural significance of the Peabody House that is reflected in its Grade II statutory listing. The brief it provided to the architects required them to bring the building back into beneficial use and to convert it onto three self contained residential units. Peabody required the architects to ensure that the conversion work was done in a manner which preserved as much historic fabric as possible whilst at the same time providing the desired accommodation. The building was inspected by Giles Quarme in the company of Adam Preece and Tim Allen-Booth of Neill McLaughlin Architects on Wednesday 14th September 2011. Prior to visiting the site GQ was provided with the pre-application response from the local authority in relation to the initial proposals for altering the building. In addition GQ was provided with a copy of the Peabody Estate’s Conservation Guidelines produced jointly by English Heritage and The Peabody Estate in 2001. © 2012 GQA W:\current work\Live Jobs\9600-9699\9652 Peabody Estate, Islington\12.02.22 Final Heritage Statement for The Peabody House.doc - 3 - 9652:GQ 2. Site Description and History 2.1 Name and Address of Site Peabody House, The Peabody Estate, Greenman Street, Islington, London N1. The property is owned by the Peabody Trust. 2.2 History of the Peabody Estate George Peabody (1795-1869) was a wealthy American banker and philanthropist who established the Trust in 1862. The stock has over 17,000 homes, mostly consisting of densely-built sites in inner London. The first site purchased by the Trust was in 1863 in Commercial Street, Spitalfields. Henry Astley Darbishire (1825-1899) designed two long blocks that stretched along two streets meeting at the junction of Commercial Street. The site was small and rather awkward. The Commercial Street scheme was not entirely typical of subsequent ‘classic’ estates in that there were no shops in later schemes; also the ‘standard’courtyard had not yet appeared and the style of the buildings was to change from Gothic to Italianate. But there were certain similarities, such as the grouping together of the service areas vertically, the corridor system and the limited number of staircases, as well as the association with Cubitts, the contracting firm responsible for most of the subsequent estates. The earliest surviving ‘classic’ estate of Peabody Buildings in London is the Islington Estate, which dates from 1864, with others at Shadwell, Blackfriars and Chelsea dating from soon afterwards. English Heritage consider these early ‘classic’ estates as of “seminal historic importance” being among the first to address the problems of housing the poor in a consistent and systematic way. The ‘classic’ estates built between 1864 and 1885 were also all designed by one architect, Henry Darbishire and bear a coherent architectural design. The Islington Estate redesigned the approach to housing of the “deserving poor” and acted as a paradigm, not only for all the subsequent estates, but for other social housing in different parts of London. The foundation of the Peabody Trust in 1862 was of tremendous importance in London. Housing societies, such as the Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes, had sprung into existence within two years of the publication of Edwin Chadwick’s report on the condition of towns in 1842. © 2012 GQA W:\current work\Live Jobs\9600-9699\9652 Peabody Estate, Islington\12.02.22 Final Heritage Statement for The Peabody House.doc - 4 - 9652:GQ These associations tended to be small and not sufficiently funded to be effective in addressing the problems of housing the large number of poor. The Trust, which was generously funded with a substantial gift of £150,000, became one of the most successful of all philanthropic housing organisations. Peabody’s generous gift, which was then subsequently increased to £500,000, provided sufficient funds to make a significant difference. The Trust along with Sydney Waterlow’s Improved Industrial Dwellings Company, launched in 1863, proved that private enterprise could address the housing problem with an approach that was both philanthropic and commercially viable. In this period the local authority and the central government did not consider it a responsibility to house the poor or people who could not afford to purchase or rent adequately constructed properties. The Islington Estate, opened in September 1865, set the pattern for the rest of Peabody Estates throughout the capital until the architect’s retirement from the Trust in 1894. It is the oldest surviving Peabody Estate in the Trust’s ownership. The Peabody Trust selected “Ward’s Place” as the location for their new housing because by the middle of the 19th century the once salubrious suburb of Islington had degenerated into one subsequently described by Appleton’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Art as having been “formerly inhabited by a dense population of the worst character of the Metropolis, who herded together with little or no attention to morality or decency” (31 July 1869) Detail of Islington Parish Map, 1862 The Estate was fully occupied by 1866, the cost of the development inclusive of the sum paid for the land, amounted to £40,397. The arrangement of the housing at Islington on the Peabody Islington Estate was revolutionary. The traditional street, with back alleys and yards, was © 2012 GQA W:\current work\Live Jobs\9600-9699\9652 Peabody Estate, Islington\12.02.22 Final Heritage Statement for The Peabody House.doc - 5 - 9652:GQ replaced by four detached blocks arranged in a perfect square around a central open space, the aim being to permit a free circulation of air, and to serve as playgrounds for the children of the tenants. The iron gates closed the entrance at 11.00pm cutting out all undesirable neighboursstop. Internal courtyard to Peabody Blocks A to C To the East of the original four blocks was Peabody Yard which contained two ranges of workshops, twelve in total which were built for rent at six shillings and sixpence per week. Controlling access to the site was the Superintendant’s House which is the subject of this application. Provision for coal stores and, later, pram sheds were also made on the site. Some of these still survive. 1871: Ordnance Survey First Edition Subsequently in 1884 more land was bought from the Metropolitan Board of Works to the South of the square. Five further blocks in a similar Italianate style were constructed in 1885 including additional boundary walls. The new blocks backed onto Dibden Str © 2012 GQA W:\current work\Live Jobs\9600-9699\9652 Peabody Estate, Islington\12.02.22 Final Heritage Statement for The Peabody House.doc - 6 - 9652:GQ 1894-6: Ordnance Survey Second Edition The blocks are of nine bays wide and five storeys high with narrow blocks for baths and lavatories at each end. Each block originally housed sixty families or a total of two hundred and fifty people. The design is clearly taken from the Italianate style which had been made fashionable by Charles Barry at the Travellers and the Reform Clubs in Pall Mall. The new buildings were well publicised and illustrated in the Illustrated London News of March 1866.The illustration shows the blocks being surmounted by turrets placed in the centre of each block. These were subsequently taken down probably when the upper floor, which had been set aside for laundries, was converted into tenements. The provision of communal lavatories and sinks survived up until 1911 when private facilities were then introduced. Once people began to do their washing in their own flats, from around 1915, the old laundries on the top floor began to be converted into tenements. The blocks were subsequently modernised between 1957 and 1962. Internally the blocks have changed significantly over last century as the living standards required have been gradually improved. The original flats were extremely small with a four bedroomed flat having only 154 square feet, a three bedroomed flat having only 134 square feet and a two bedroomed flat having only 122 square feet. In order to increase space the spine corridor in the flats was removed in the 1950s to allow the enlarged rooms. © 2012 GQA W:\current work\Live Jobs\9600-9699\9652 Peabody Estate, Islington\12.02.22 Final Heritage Statement for The Peabody House.doc - 7 - 9652:GQ With the exception of the loss of the Turrets, the buildings survive externally much as they were originally designed.