Council estates win English Heritage protection alongside 1930s pub

ENGLISH Heritage have released details of Camden buildings their experts say must be protected for future generations.

The government conservation body’s annual list, which was released this week, includes a 1930s pub, two council housing estates, an ornate Victorian ballroom and Georgian homes in the back streets of Kentish Town. All now enjoy special protection after being given listed status in the past 12 months.

English Heritage’s architectural historian Hannah Parham, who advises Whitehall on whether buildings should be given listed status, has to run the rule over 2,000 possible sites each year – two-thirds of which are eventually rejected. 

She said the inclusion of the Branch Hill housing estate in Hampstead, which was built by architects Gordon Forsyth and Alan Benson, and the Dunboyne Road estate in Gospel Oak, built by Neave Brown, represents a ­tribute to Camden Council’s enlightened social housing policy.

“They are exceptional, and show that Camden was better at this than anywhere else at the time,” said Ms Parham.

“There are very few boroughs that do social housing really well and Camden is one of them. It has a lot of listed social housing.”

The criteria for listing is broad, but older properties, particularly those dating back before 1840, are more likely to be awarded protection. The two homes in Leighton Road, Kentish Town, were built in 1828, meet this criteria. They also have the added attraction that they have many original features inside. 

Holborn’s Duke of York pub, built in 1937, which is now listed, was part of a larger, “mixed use” scheme that is now typical. On the ground floor, architect DE Harrington built a block that included flats, offices and the pub. And Harrington took further care to use three different styles to fit in with what was there already – one side is built in brick and stone to match a Georgian terrace next door, the homes at the back of the site were kept modestly sized to match those around them, while drinkers in the Duke of York pub would have been impressed with the interior’s modern design, which English Heritage says remains in place today.

Ms Parham added: “It has a great interior, with the original lino on the floor which is very jazzy in cream, pink and black.”

The interior also still has the original bar, panelling and seating booths in the saloon.

The former North London Polytechnic building in Prince of Wales Road, which recently came under threat from developers, has not been awarded protection.

This could be rectified by councils and civic groups working closely together, said Ms Parham, and setting up a Local Listing Scheme, which the Town Hall are currently considering. She added: “Local listing systems are popular. – many councils have them. If they are up to date they can help offer planning guidance and help protect buildings that mean something to the area but may not quite meet the national criteria.”

Published: 14 July 2011
by DAN CARRIER

Pictured top left: The Duke of York; top right: Walton House
Pictured bottom left: 27 Leighton Road; bottom right: 37 Leighton Road