Listed Building Appraisal 18 Charles Rowan House, Islington, London wc1x 0eh Listed Building Consent Application by David Gibson Architects May 2013 David Gibson Architects 35 Britannia Row London N1 8QH (fax 020 7704 6946) 020 7226 2207 1315 / 130514 | | | page CONTENTS 1 LOCATION AND CONTEXT 2 SIGNIFICANCE 3 LISTING and DESCRIPTION 4 CONDITION 5 OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY 6 DESIGN AND LAYOUT PROPOSALS 7 DRAWINGS LIST David Gibson Architects 35 Britannia Row London N1 8QH (fax 7704 6946) 020 7226 2207 1315: 130514 Page 2 of 10 | | | Location and Context The intention of this report is to apply for listed building consent to renovate No 18 Charles Rowan House, a third floor, 3 bedrooms flat within the building. The building is surrounded by Margery Street to the north Amwell Street to the east Wilmington Street to the west and Merlin Street to the South. The internal court yard within offers bike cycle storage communal gardens and areas of seating, entrance to the court yard is from Margery Street and Merlin Street. It is a Grade II listed building and therefore the flat falls under the curtilage. Significance The building is within the New River Conservation area. Charles Rowan House was built as part of the development of Amwell Street in 1928 to 1930, built in the 1920s as married quarters for Metropolitan policemen to the designs of Gilbert McKenzie Trench, the Met’s architect. Sir Charles Rowan was one of the first Commissioners of the force when it was formed in the 1820s. Stylistically the building is unusual for the United Kingdom and exhibits a powerful Expressionist manner most often associated with continental design of this period. The eye-catching red brick building, between Amwell Street and Wilmington Square, became a Council estate in 1974, and is listed for its architectural interest by English Heritage (Grade II), which describes it as “massive and austere”; listing description below. When Islington Council took over Charles Rowan House it became run-down and “hard to let” block with its own housing list. In 2000 the courtyard was re-landscaped (largely with s.106 “planning gain” funds secured by CRH residents) and “Decent Homes” work done by the Council. Listing and Description Valued historic features; Charles Rowan House Margery Street; Charles Rowan House and Attached Iron Railings was Grade II listed in September 1994. The listing text is as follows; TQ3182NW 635-1/68/1031 GVII Includes: Charles Rowan House WILMINGTON STREET Finsbury. Includes: Charles Rowan House AMWELL STREET Finsbury. Includes: Charles Rowan House MERLIN STREET Finsbury. Former flats for married policemen, now council flats, on a steeply sloping site bounded by roads on all four sides. 1928-1930. G Mackenzie Trench architect and surveyor for the Metropolitan Police Authority. Red brick laid in Flemish and English bonds with moulded brick dressings to street elevations, and multi-coloured stock bricks to courtyard elevations; roofs obscured; projecting, picturesque red-brick stacks demarcate breaks in the roofline where the blocks step up the hill. Expressionist style. Four massive facades parallel to four roads: great arches lead into the central courtyard from Merlin and Margery Streets. Five storeys with David Gibson Architects 35 Britannia Row London N1 8QH (fax 020 7704 6946) 020 7226 2207 1315 / 130514 | | | basement; 6 bays (each of 3-window range to Amwell Street) and (2:3:4:4:3:2 to Wilmington Street); 8 bays (2:3:3:2:2:3:3:2 to Margery and Merlin Streets). Powerful, rhythmic street elevations with bays articulated by full-height moulded brick stacks treated as pilasters that create strong skyline. Decorative extradoses and dressings to great arched entrances. Metal casement sashes separated by narrow full-height moulded brick pilasters that become a decorative feature to brick parapets; decorative brickwork above top floor sashes. Stacks and intervening parapets read as battlements. Attached iron railings to exterior elevations. INTERIOR: : 96 two and three- bedroomed flats were originally provided on five floors, with a covered playground in the basement. Minor alterations have occurred. History: Nos. 22-24 Wilmington Square, formerly on this site, was demolished in order to build the austerely impressive Charles Ronan House Police Flats block. As early as 1904 the Metropolitan Police Authority planned housing for 500 married policemen. Records indicate that this early goal was not reached; a concerted effort at building police accommodation did not occur until the 1950s. Plans for those in Wilmington Square survive in the Public Records Office but they appear to be the only ones. At least three other police flats by Trench are extant: Crawford Street, Marylebone, 1925;Kintyre House, New Park Road, Lambeth, and Cornwall Street, Waterloo, but Charles Ronan House is the least altered and most architecturally assured of the group. Stylistically it is also unusual for this country and exhibits a powerful, Expressionist manner most often associated with continental design of this period. Source: (Historians File, English Heritage, London Division: 1990-; The Squares of Islington: Cosh, M: The Squares of Islington Part I: Finsbury and Clerkenwell: Islington: 1990-: 96). Listing NGR: TQ3118982659 Condition Charles Rowan House is an early 20th century five-storey building with basement in red brick. The structure of the building is brick and concrete. The building is of architectural distinction and is in a good state of repair. All the windows have single glazing and are metal framed. Internally the some windows have had secondary glazing fitted to guard against heat loss. The concrete wall structure to the flat is in good repair. There are original features on show which include skirting, fireplace, down stand beams, doors and windows. The interior spaces do have a quality that is noteworthy and generous. The highest point of the room measures at 2.4m floor to ceiling and the interiors gain natural light from the windows. The quality of day lighting is noticeable. The special quality of this space calls for an architectural intervention that will not compromise its spatiality but preserve it as much as possible. The condition of the flat was run-down and totally out of character with the surrounding well-kept flats. The revamping is seen beneficial for the flat itself, the building and local area. David Gibson Architects 35 Britannia Row London N1 8QH (fax 020 7704 6946) 020 7226 2207 1315 / 130514 | | | Objectives and Strategy The new owners of No18 CRH intend to live in the flat and will use it as their home. A suitable owner whose requirements are in tune with the building and who is in possession of sufficient funds to attend to essential maintenance and refurbishment is regarded as the best assurance for a sustainable future for the flat. The work proposed consists of the renewal of the existing flat, it must be clearly understood that this proposal requires limited intervention to provide the basic necessities of modern living. Interventions are required to equip the flat with safe efficient services to current standards. These proposals demonstrate that this is to be achieved unobtrusively and with minimal damage to elements of the existing fabric. The flat has been provided with new kitchen and sanitary facilities suitable for modern use. To maintain the historical continuity of the building, these facilities were upgraded in the planned locations that were originally designated for these uses. Refurbishment of No 18 CRH will follow the main objectives. Interventions will generally be governed by the principles of minimum interference, reversibility, transparency and discernibility. A) Maintenance To restore the maintenance deficit where there has been neglect. ● internal walls have been repaired, plastered and decorated. ● paintwork has been done to timberwork; doors, architrave and skirting boards. ● recently fitted kitchen units and bathroom furniture. B) Installation of modern services and features To install services capable of delivering amenities in line with modern standards ● hot and cold water delivery to washing machine. ● recently lowered hallway ceiling and recessed light fittings. ● recently laid timber flooring. C) Installation of restored utility rooms To provide modern facilities suitable for kitchen, bathroom. ● kitchen lowered ceiling, new raised section proposed ● bathroom lowered ceiling, new raised section, secondary glazing and ventilation proposed. The individual elements of proposed alterations and interventions are annotated in detail on the submitted drawings. David Gibson Architects 35 Britannia Row London N1 8QH (fax 020 7704 6946) 020 7226 2207 1315 / 130514 | | | Design and Layout Proposals The proposal is to refurbish the existing neglected flat into a family unit. In order to achieve this we will need to keep as much as possible the special qualities of the spaces, the intent is to provide accommodation by introducing specific bathroom, washing and kitchen facilities and amendments; 1) The newly formed lowered ceilings to bathroom and kitchen rooms will be undone at the window areas, forming a section/well exposing the existing ceiling. The rooms will be refurbished to preserve the quality of its present condition. 2) The recently formed lower ceiling to the hallway is to be maintained. 3) It is proposed to affix a new secondary glazing system within the bathroom, which will allow for warmer facilities and reduce condensation, ventilation is prosed in the form of extraction fan and ducting. 4) The hall cupboard holds storage for a new washing machine which requires holes to be drilled within the walls to gain pipe access. Alterations; Retained features such as the floor to ceiling height, metal windows and timber and wall finishes, will continue the narrative of the original building enterprise. New timber flooring has now been placed, at the same height as original so to benefit the reinstating of the original skirting boards and existing ceiling height. Another works completed include; new kitchen and bathroom furniture, facilities and decoration, internal walls of the flat recently plastered throughout.