character appraisal statement · victorian villa called ‘the limes’ on regents park road, owned...

GLENHILL CLOSECONSERVATION AREA

CHARACTER APPRAISALSTATEMENT

LONDON BOROUGH OF BARNET GLENHILL CLOSE CONSERVATION AREA PAGE 1

FOREWORDWhat is a

Conservation Area?Conservation areas were introduced through theCivic Amenities Act 1967, and there are nowmore than 9,000 across the country. They are‘areas of special architectural or historic interest,the character or appearance of which it isdesirable to preserve or enhance’ (Section69(1)(a) of the Planning (Listed Buildings andConservation Areas) Act 1990).

This Character Appraisal Statement seeks toidentify the special characteristics of GlenhillClose so that they may be better preserved andenhanced in the future.

What are the implications?

Conservation Area status acknowledges theimportance of an area, highlighting its real andpotential attractiveness. It also means that thecouncil’s efforts in the area are geared topreserving and enhancing its special character.

One way of protecting conservation areas isthrough the planning system, which is designedto protect local amenity, whatever the area.However in conservation areas planninglegislation requires local authorities to ensure inparticular that development proposals do notdetract from the character or appearance of thearea.

In conservation areas local authorities have moresay over some minor changes to buildings, treesand gardens. This does not mean owners can notchange their properties but the controls allowproposals to be checked to make sure they are inkeeping with the area. Conservation AreaConsent is required for the demolition of anybuilding within the designated area.

The council has introduced an Article 4Direction for the Glenhill Close Conservation


Area. This has removed one class of permitteddevelopment and allows the council to controlthe erection or alteration of gates, walls, fencesor other means of enclosure. This is to ensurethat any such changes to the conservation areapreserve or enhance its special characteristics.Anyone thinking about doing works within theconservation area should check with thePlanning Department first. There are noplanning fees charged for works needingpermission because of an Article 4 Direction.

Grant funding from bodies such as EnglishHeritage and the National Lottery is sometimesavailable for enhancement projects inconservation areas. However the priorities forsuch funding often change and not all work inall conservation areas will be eligible for thistype of help.

What is a Character Appraisal

Statement?Conservation areas are designated by localplanning authorities after careful localassessment. This assessment forms the basis for acharacter appraisal statement. The format andscope of such statements are guided by EnglishHeritage.

A character appraisal statement includesinformation to explain and justify theconservation area status. It therefore forms abasis for planning decisions in the area andprovides the groundwork for any future policiesand projects to preserve or enhance the area. Thestatement does not include specific projects itself.

Unitary DevelopmentPlan

The council’s Deposit Draft 2000 UnitaryDevelopment Plan contains the relevantconservation area policies which apply toGlenhill Close. These are as follows: GBEnv.1,GBEnv.4, HC1, HC2, HC3, HC4.


Trees All works to trees (over 75mm in diameter) mustbe notified to the planning authority who havesix weeks to decide whether or not to control theworks.

For further information on works in conservationareas contact The Trees Team020 8359 4624orThe Conservation and Design Team020 8359 4661


CHARACTER APPRAISAL

1Location

Glenhill Close is located to the east of the areaknown as Church End and due south of FinchleyCentral Tube station. This small estate ofprivately-owned flats lies between LichfieldGrove and The Avenue, an historic footpathrunning between Regents Park Road and ManorView. To the immediate south of The Avenue isAvenue House and its grounds.

The Close is accessed midway along LichfieldGrove via a gap between pairs of semi-detached,Victorian houses. A pedestrian access gate is setin the southern boundary wall of the site andthis leads directly onto The Avenue. Theboundary of the existing Conservation Area ofChurch End (Finchley), is to the immediatesouth of Glenhill Close running east/west alongThe Avenue and then south to coincide with thecurtilage of the grounds of Avenue House.

The Conservation Area of Glenhill Close coversapproximately 1.1 hectares and is entirelyresidential in character comprising 66 flats.

2Origins and

development of Glenhill Close and surrounding area

2.1 Historical Development The land on which Glenhill Close now sits was

formerly part of the Bibbesworth Manor, thesub-manor of Finchley, first called a manor in1319. Thomas Allen was the squire of the manorwho owned much of the land around ChurchEnd. Bibbesworth manor house stood at thecentre of the estate, between Church End andEast End (now East Finchley). It was the largesthouse in the parish in 1664. The existing manorhouse on the site dates from 1723 and is used by


the Sternberg Institute.

It is unlikely that any regular settlement existedin the Finchley area before or during the Romanperiod. In common with much of the area to thenorth of old London, the local soil is heavy clayon which thick forest once grew. This was hardto clear and cultivate making occupationdifficult and it is not until the late 12th centurythat recorded references to the area began toappear. The parish church of St. Mary at ChurchEnd dates from this period.

Ducksetters Lane was the original road runningbetween Church End and Temple Fortunealthough it is no longer evident. Ballards Laneand Nether Street are clearly indicated onRocque’s map of 1754 and together form amedieval village street plan. In 1826 the newLondon and Finchley Road was laid, linkingFinchley with the new estates around Regents

Rocque’s map of 1754


Park in the West End. This road continues to bea major thoroughfare today.

The area provided for the needs of travellersuntil the coming of the railways in the 1830swhen the local economy suffered following thedecline in coaching. However, new developmentsbegan to appear, in particular market gardenswith the first opening in Ballards Lane in 1845.The Claigmar Vineyard occupied a large area tothe east of Finchley Station and in 1899 it had18.5 acres under glass producing annually 100tonnes each of grapes and tomatoes and 240,000cucumbers.

Ordnance Surveymap of 1894


Large houses were built in the area from theMiddle Ages onwards as the combination of closeproximity to central London and good accesswere significant attractions. The suburbanisationof Finchley began in earnest in 1867 with theopening of an overland railway line fromFinsbury Park through Church End to Mill Hilland Edgware. A branch from Church End toWoodside Park and High Barnet opened in 1872.Soon after the arrival of the railway, a wave ofnew housing was built in the area around thestation, including Lichfield Grove (in 1869),Long Lane and Station Road. It wasn’t until1939 however, that a tunnel was built to connectEast Finchley with Archway and thus providedirect access to the West End of London.

The following year, in 1940, Church End Stationwas renamed Finchley Central. The centre ofChurch End moved closer to the station wherenewer shops had emerged along Ballards Lane.Between the wars the remaining fields of theFinchley area disappeared under suburbandevelopment and trunk roads were constructedto meet the demands of mass car ownership.Three of the most important buildings inFinchley, all of which remain today are theManor House on East End Road dating from1723, Park House on Hendon Lane dating fromthe early 18th century and Avenue House onEast End Road, built in 1859 but enlarged in the1880s by Henry Stephens the ink manufacturerand MP for Hornsey. Stephens bequeathed thehouse and grounds to the people of Finchley in1918. In 1928, nearly 10 years after Stephens’death, Avenue House was formally opened to thepublic. Avenue House takes its name from TheAvenue which connected the parish church of St.Mary with the Manor House and was plantedwith trees by the Lady of the Manor in about1604.

2.2 The prevailing and former uses within

the area In the latter part of the 19th century the land onwhich Glenhill Close now stands had not beendeveloped but fell within the curtilage of a


Victorian villa called ‘The Limes’ on Regents ParkRoad, owned by Hugh Taylor a Justice of the Peace.This building was demolished between 1912-15and was replaced by the New Bohemia Cinema,built in 1920. This cinema survived until 1959 andstood on the site now occupied by Gateway House.

Glenhill Close was developed in two distinctphases, the first and most architecturally impressivephase was in 1936 when 46 flats were constructed.At this time the Cymric Tennis Club, which datesfrom the 1920s, occupied the south-western part ofthe site and thus limited this first phase to six 2-storey blocks. The tennis club disappeared in thelate 1950s and in 1961 the second phase ofdevelopment consisting of four, 2-storey blockscontaining 20 flats, commenced.

Ordnance Surveymap of 1955


3Glenhill Close and

the ModernMovement of Architecture

The flats at Glenhill Close were designed at atime when the Modern Movement was in vogue,and the buildings reflected this architecturalstyle which was initiated by Walter Gropius andothers in Germany and Holland in the 1910s. InLondon the Modern Movement came to thenotice of the general public principally throughDr. Charles Holden’s underground stations of the1930s, including Southgate, Arnos Grove andEast Finchley. Initially, English modernistarchitects designed detached houses for wealthyclients and it wasn’t until around 1932 thatLondon’s speculative builders took up thefashion.

Many of the early designs featured flat roofs,smooth white walls and large steel-framedwindows set in curved bays. In one respect themodern style offered builders savings in costsover the traditional rural-romantic designs withtheir mock-timber beams, gable-ended roofs anda variety of decorative wall treatments. Bycomparison the uncluttered elevations of themodern style were simple and initially at least,maintenance free.

The house builders quickly realised however,that these new designs could also be sold withpitched roofs and increasingly they appeared


after 1933, sometimes with green tiles instead ofthe usual red. In the mid-twenties concrete tilesbecame available although the quality variedand often houses had to be retiled after thirtyyears or so.

Steel-framed windows were first introduced in1919 but were not adopted by the speculativebuilders until the mid-thirties. They were seen tobe neater in appearance than the previously usedheavy timber frames, easier to paint andgenerally more weathertight. They were,however, prone to rust if not properlymaintained.

The typical speculative builder tended to lookupon the use of an architect as something of aluxury and therefore, once familiar with thelayout and design of a house the builder wouldproceed by rule of thumb to save architects fees.Also, once architectural designs had beenacquired they would be used time and timeagain on different sites. This appears to be thecase at Glenhill Close where no reference is madeto the architect in the council’s Building Controlrecords. Furthermore, the builder Messrs. GeorgePayne & Co. used the same design of building ontwo other sites in the local area (at GainsboroughCourt, Nether Street, N3 and at Ossulton Way,N2) both of which were constructed at aroundthe same time as Glenhill Close was built.

Blocks of self-contained flats first began toappear in the London suburbs from about 1934frequently with the name ‘. . . Court’ (in fact theGlenhill Close flats were originally namedGlenhill Court). These flats were often erected inareas which had not previously been developed,as well as on sites formerly occupied by largeVictorian villas. Rents ranged between £70 to£150 a year for which the tenants enjoyedcentral heating and maintained communalgardens. Accommodation usually comprised onereception room, two bedrooms, a kitchen andbathroom.


The modern style of architecture was not alwayswelcomed and Hendon Council refused planningpermission in 1934 for a house on the corner ofBroadfields Avenue and Hale Lane, Edgware onthe grounds that the white walled elevationspresented too violent a contrast against theadjacent houses in traditional styles. Thebuilders successfully appealed with theexplanation that their architect was ‘merelytrying to get away from useless ornamentationand flummery’. By 1938 however, the modernstyle had largely disappeared and the ordinaryhouse-buying public with their conservativetastes were still seeking the more traditionalmock ‘Tudor’ or ‘Elizabethan’ designs.

4The architectural

qualities of thebuildings and thecontribution they

make to the specialinterest of the estate

4.1 Phases of development As the site was developed at two different

periods of the last century, the appraisal will dealfirstly with the earlier and most architecturally


important phase of 1936 followed by the laterinfill development of 1961. The local buildingfirm Messrs George Payne and Co. of LytteltonRoad, London N2 were responsible for bothphases of the site’s development. Unfortunately,the name of the architect for each of the phasesis not revealed on any of the plans. At the timeof writing none of the buildings in Glenhill Closeare included in the Statutory List of Buildings ofSpecial Architectural or Historic Interest.

4.2 Prevalent building materials, textures,colours and details The residential blocks of 1936 are two storeys in

height with steeply-pitched roofs featuring swepteaves, clad in plain concrete tiles. Multi-colouredbrickwork is laid in flemish bond and pointingon the main facades is given horizontal emphasisby the use of lime mortar on the horizontalcourses only. A decorative basket-weave patternof brickwork is also featured between groundand first floors at balcony level. The upperstorey is part-brickwork, part-render. Chimneysare either rendered or in exposed brickwork,some with their original tall clay pots. Windowsare steel of the Crittall variety and feature thesuntrap design with curved glazing. Thewindows are given a horizontal emphasis in themodern style of the 1930s.


Ground floor front doors are in timber with achevron pattern and on the first floor, balconydoors have horizontal glazing bars to match thesub-division of the windows. Each of the firstfloor flats has front-facing balconies. The outer,wooden window frames and sills are painted inlight blue as are the external doors. Thehorizontal and vertical glazing bars are allpainted white. This colour scheme has been usedfor many years on the buildings at GlenhillClose.

The flats built in 1961 have been designed tomatch with the 1930s blocks, however, they aregenerally plainer in appearance. They featurefletton brickwork laid in flemish bond withpitched and hipped pantile-clad roofs. Windowsare Crittall although they do not use the suntrapcurved glazing. Doors are timber with a large


single piece of glazing. All doors and windowsare painted white.

Ground floors are in exposed brickwork and theupper storeys are part brickwork, part render.The balconies feature metal balustrading typicalof the 1960s, rather than brickwork. Several ofthe units have rear-facing, flat-roofed dormerwindows, although these are not originalfeatures.

5The character and

relationship of spaces within the

estate and the contribution made

by green spaces, trees and shrubs

The layout of the estate is based on theprinciples of symmetry and balance. In planform the 1930s and 1960s flats are laid-out inthe shape of a crucifix with blocks facing eachother at distances of approximately 25 metresfrom window to window.

Very generous communal open space is providedaround the blocks in the form of lawns andverges, and this is well landscaped withestablished shrubs, hedges and mature trees. The1960s blocks have been positioned tocomplement the layout of the 1930s blocksresulting in a very cohesive development, despitebeing developed at different periods of the 20thcentury. A pathway running north-south leads toa gate providing private access for residents ofthe estate to The Avenue.

The vehicular access from Lichfield Grove lies tothe north of the site and runs centrally betweenthe blocks and then in an east-west direction.Parking spaces are provided around the grassedislands in the centre of the Close.


Close to the site entrance sits the former siteoffice, a single-storey brick built structure witharchitectural details to match the flats. It is anattractive feature which acts as a gateway intothe site and remains in use as an office for alocal heating and plumbing firm. The estate hasa very peaceful and tranquil character due to itslocation, the established vegetation and theabsence of through traffic. In The Buildings ofEngland, Nicholas Pevsner describes GlenhillClose as a “select piece of the 1930s”.

Views into the site from public places includefrom Lichfield Grove, from The Avenue and alsofrom the grounds of Avenue House. However,given its secluded setting the essential characterof Glenhill Close is not fully experienced withoutentering the small estate.

6The extent of loss,

intrusion or damageOne negative feature of Glenhill Close whichdetracts from its special character is the block oftwelve garages, erected in the 1960s in thenorth-west part of the site, which have falleninto disrepair and are no longer in use. Otherfeatures include the modern rooflight on flat 2,the glazed screen on the balcony of flat 2 andthe white plastic gas-meter boxes fixed to thefront walls of some of the ground floor flats inthe north-east part of the site. There is also someunauthorised car-parking across a footpathrunning east-west, which is not only unsightlybut restricts pedestrian access.

Despite these relatively minor intrusions thespecial character of Glenhill Close is unharmed.The 1930s architecture is virtually unalteredsince the flats were built, with all of the originaldoors and windows remaining in-situ. Even thelight blue colour scheme has changed little inthis time. One of the contributory factors for thewell-preserved condition of the estate is the factthat none of the flats have ever been sold by theoriginal owners the Payne family who were also


the builders. As the flats have always beenrented fully-furnished on short-term contractsthe tenants have not had any incentive to makefundamental alterations or additions.

Furthermore, great care has been taken by theowners to ensure that repairs and maintenanceare in-keeping with the original designs usingauthentic features and materials. This hasresulted in a uniform external appearance to theindividual flats and consequently the estate isquite unique when compared to similardevelopments of this period.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Cherry, B. and Pevsner, N. The Buildings ofEngland, London 4: North. Penguin Books,1999.

Gillies, S. and Taylor, P. Finchley and FriernBarnet. Phillimore, 1992.

Godfrey Edition. Ordnance Survey Maps(Finchley -1894).

Horne, M. and Bayman, B. The First Tube - Thestory of the Northern Line. Capital Transport,1990.

Jackson, Alan, A. Semi-detached London. WildSwan publications Ltd, 1991.

University of London Institute of HistoricalResearch. The Victoria History of the County ofMiddlesex (Vol VI). Oxford University Press,1980.

character appraisal statement · victorian villa called ‘the limes’ on regents park road, owned...

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