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Homes&
Wednesday 22 July 2015
Mirror, mirror...
New designer
vanity tables
Page 14 Property
A NO-BILLS HUF HOUSE P6 BLOOMSBURY GROUP STYLE P12 FABULOUS BARGE HOMES P24 SPOTLIGHT ON ROMFORD P30
The magic
number
Good-value Zone 3
Page 4
LONDON REGATTA CENTRE, BECKTON/DANIEL LYNCH
London’s best property search website: homesandproperty.co.uk
2 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Online homesandproperty.co.uk with
This week: homesandproperty.co.uk
news: Duke gives Pimlico
small shopkeepers the boot Property
Facing closure:
antiques dealer
Humphrey-
search
Carrasco, based
in Pimlico Road
for 20 years, is
Trophy buy of the week
one of six small
shops said to be
top of the Theatreland bill
under threat £5,995,000: it’s not just about location, you know —
though admittedly this magnificent Georgian beauty in the
THE Duke of Westminster, Britain’s richest landowner, middle of Covent Garden is conveniently placed for all
has given a string of independent shop owners in a that Theatreland has to offer. What this house offers is
much-loved street notice to quit by Christmas. a show-stopping pizzazz of its own, with five double
Protesters say the six shops in SW1’s Pimlico Road have bedrooms and five bathrooms across six floors, two
helped give the street an international reputation as an fabulous reception rooms and a dining room, a gadget-
interior design hub. They say the Duke’s property firm, festooned kitchen, a media room and a generously sized
Grosvenor Estate, wants to bulldoze six small shops and a wine store. Through Foxtons.
timber yard that’s currently run by Travis Perkins, to
make way for large stores and luxury apartments. O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophy
Grosvenor Estate, which is expected to submit a
planning application in the autumn, says its proposals
would enhance the street. London buy of the week super-bright
O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk flat near buzzy Chiswick High Road
£599,950: the leafy environs of a gorgeous kitchen/breakfast room, a
hot homes: move the kids Chiswick Park set the scene for this
super-bright flat on the top floors of
skylit master bedroom with doors to a
Juliet balcony and a second double
into the back garden an Edwardian, end-of-terrace house.
Inside spans just over 900sq ft of airy
bedroom. Nearby is Chiswick High
Road with its excellent array of shops
Tiny: a third of living space that includes a generous and bars. Through John D Wood.
the size of a reception room with built-in
Tube carriage, bookshelves and a cast iron fireplace, O homesandproperty.co.uk/botw
the prototype
micro house
costs 60 times
Life changer open holiday
less than an
average London
lets in glorious Shropshire
one-bedroom flat £500,000: this year, 11.6 million visitors are expected to
flock to glorious Shropshire, so where better to set up a
PARENTS desperate to see their twentysomething nice little holiday let business than this lovely home near
offspring fly the nest may now have the solution — park the medieval town of Ludlow? The property has five
them at the bottom of the garden. An £8,000 portable, bedrooms plus two annexes all easily subdivided for
eco-friendly, 130sq ft timber micro home, now in letting. There’s also a barn, a workshop and plenty of
prototype form, can be craned into position over the parking space, while eight acres of pastureland are perfect
garden fence and, so long as it is occupied by family for sheep or ponies to graze on. Through Hunters. By
members paying no rent, requires no planning consent. Faye
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechanger Greenslade
O Read more at homesandproperty.co.uk/microhouse
Facebook: ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter: @HomesProperty • Pinterest: @HomesProperty
Editor:
Building more homes
Janice
Morley ‘will make UK richer’
A
VISIT homesandproperty.co. SHAKE-UP in planning
uk/rules for details of our rules aimed at increasing
usual promotion rules. When Britain’s productivity is
you respond to promotions, part of a 90-page
offers or competitions, the White Paper launched
London Evening Standard and this week. The aim, say ministers, is
its sister companies may to spark an “urban planning
contact you with relevant revolution” that will make it easier to
offers and services that may build on brownfield sites or to add
be of interest. Please give extensions to existing homes.
your mobile number and/or The paper says the gap between Let’s get building: easier planning
email address if you would output in the UK and most other rules could make Britain richer
like to receive such offers by industrialised countries is so huge,
text or email. if we matched that of the United paper admits Britain has been
States, for example, it would boost UK “incapable” of building enough
Editorial: 020 3615 2524 productivity by 31 per cent. Even a houses and flats. “This frustrates the
Advertisement manager: tiny increase in output of just 0.1 per ambitions of thousands of people
Jamie McCabe cent would give every family another who would like to own their own
Advertising: 020 3615 0266 £1,100 a year, according to the Office home,” it adds.
Homes & Property, Northcliffe for National Statistics.
House, 2 Derry Street, Boosting Britain’s building industry O How will the new planning rules
Kensington, London W8 5TT. is seen as the easiest way to increase affect you? Read Philippa Stockley’s
the country’s productivity. The story at: homesandproperty.co.uk/plan
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 3
homesandproperty.co.uk with News Homes & Property
Chantelle inherits an
eye for hot property
É HEIRESS to house builders the
Berkeley Group, Chantelle Pidgley is
following in the family tradition by
climbing the property ladder.
The model, right, granddaughter of
Berkeley chairman Tony Pidgley, is
buying flats in prime central London,
renovating them and selling them on
for a healthy profit.
Her latest purchase is a three-
£9m for vineyard
bedroom Victorian conversion in
Earls Court. She bought the property
of ad supremo
with her sister, Chloé, for £750,000
and the pair are revamping it in the
Share the style of a É KINGSCOTE, the award-winning
West Sussex vineyard of the late
hope of seeing its value double.
Earls Court is becoming a desirable
fashionista for £4m Christen Monge, is for sale.
A leading advertising executive
ALAN DAVIDSON
area, helped by buyers moving into É FASHION designer Sir Paul Smith, and former creative director of
the girls’ grandfather’s nearby right, used award-winning 6a international marketing group
schemes, including 375 Kensington architects to design the front of his Ogilvy & Mather, Monge, below, who
High Street. Mayfair boutique. died in May aged just 61, helped to
The Islington-based practice, rebrand Guinness before transferring
founded by RCA graduates Tom his passion to the restoration of the
Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald, 150-acre estate, above.
is also responsible for the new Now on the market for £9 million
fashion gallery at the V&A and the through Residency Invest, Kingscote
South London Gallery in Camberwell. includes a restored 13th-century
Now one of the pair’s prettiest manor house, two lakes, a spring
private home projects is for sale — reputedly with the purest water in
a 3,500sq ft warehouse conversion, England, and plans for a brewery.
above, in Islington. There is a roof The new owners will also be
terrace ideal for an artist, a bedroom investing in the wine business.
Got some
By Amira Hashish and two studios. It is listed with
The Modern House for £4 million. gossip?
The estate’s master winemaker and
brewer will remain at Kingscote, near
Tweet East Grinstead, to ensure continuity.
GETTY
O For more celebrity gossip, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/gossip O homesandproperty.co.uk/6A @amiranews
O homesandproperty.co.uk/vineyard
Heading for the
Hollywood Hills?
É LIVE in luxury — if only for a few
days — in a guest lodge at this
Hollywood Hills mansion, right.
It was the setting for US comedy-
drama series Entourage, which was
later adapted into a film starring
Mr Selfridge actor Jeremy Piven, left.
The house is frequently used for
magazine shoots, while the lodge sits
above castle walls and has a pool
with views of the Los Angeles skyline.
Available to book for short breaks at
holidaylettings.co.uk from £253 a
night, it costs less to rent than a stay
REX
in many a decent LA hotel.
THE SUMMER NEW WEBSITE CPHART.CO.UK
ENDS 31ST JULY
WATERLOO CHELSEA CHISWICK FULHAM NOTTING HILL MUSWELL HILL WIMBLEDON PRIMROSE HILL
REGENTS PARK ROAD DARTFORD BRIDGE GUILDFORD MANCHESTER ST ALBANS TUNBRIDGE WELLS
4 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with
Three
could
be the
magic
number
Zone 3 is now the
top choice of young
home hunters
seeking good value
and great transport,
says David Spittles
Z
ONE 3 has the fastest growing
population of all the capital’s
transport zones and it’s not
hard to see why, with young
buyers attracted by its easy
commutes to central London and
better-value homes.
The average propert y price is
£488,000, compared with £1.5 million
in Zone 1 and £723,000 in Zone 2.
The zone is an inner ring marked by
Acton and Ealing in the west, Leyton
and Beckton in the east, Hornsey and
Tottenham in the north, and Tooting
and Streatham in the south. Served by
more than 90 Tube stations, 20 of the
cheapest Zone 3 addresses have
average prices below £325,000.
The most searched-for price bracket EAST IS CHEAPEST Heading east: affordable homes are No need to splash out: London Regatta Centre, in Dockside Road near Beckton
for young Londoners in this area is East London has the cheapest Zone 3 near green space at New Beckton Park Park, is in an area with some of Zone 3’s cheapest homes, at less than £250,000
between £250,000 and £500,000. locations. Homes close to Beckton Park
and King George V stations in the Royal the price. Leyton, where an average the largest areas of open land in Lon- TOP SCORER: TOTTENHAM
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Docks cost less than £250,000, about home costs £348,128, has no impressive don. Homes are not always beautiful, For a quick commute and low prices,
In north London, Zone 3’s Golders half the Zone 3 average. This swathe of skyscrapers or ritzy shopping malls to but there are many Victorian and Tottenham is the best-value Zone 3
Green is much cheaper than Hamp- London is raw, but the focus of massive match nearby Stratford, but it is Edwardian terraces, with lots in the address, says Jennet Siebrits, head of
stead and Belsize Park. This traditional regeneration. If you can cope with the sharing the legacy benefits of the 2012 £400,000-£650,000 price bracket. residential research at property
family area, with quick Northern line cranes, the investment looks good. Olympics, with shabby shopfronts The Exchange, in Leyton High Road, consultant CBRE.
links to Soho and the City, is being dis- Plaistow, Upton Park, East Ham and being refurbished and revitalised. has a mix of new apartments and The area’s rough reputation and
covered by young singles and couples, Leyton have 17-22 minute commute The A12 roars through the area, but houses priced from £389,995. Call association with riots puts people
according to estate agent Greene & Co. times and are undervalued when com- Leyton has the Lee Valley for a back Bellway on 01689 886400. off, but it is one of 10 new Greater Lon-
The Cascades, with 18 apartments pared with Manor House and Archway garden and also borders Hackney The former town hall has been turned don Authority housing zones, an
priced from £795,000, is the latest in the north, which are almost twice Marshes and Wanstead Flats, among into a space for local businesses, while initiative aimed at accelerating
arrival. Call 020 7604 3200. its great hall is an events venue. The development. More than 800 homes
The much-anticipated arrival of area’s former technical institute, part have already been built at 12-acre
Crossrail is already transforming areas of the building, houses a real ale pub Hale Village, popular with key
of Zone 3 previously dismissed as dull TOP 20 CHEAPEST 20 BEST-VALUE AREAS and 32 homes are also being created workers and young professionals,
or uninspiring. PLACES TO BUY IN BY PRICE AND COMMUTE within its walls. Call 020 8808 4070. including junior doctors and nurses.
ZONE 3 TIME TO CENTRAL LONDON
Walthamstow’s high street and
Lewisham’s town centre have had Average Average
Average travel time Average travel time
facelifts, Beckton has created new Zone 3 station house price in minutes Zone 3 station house price in minutes
parks, developments have sprung up
1 Beckton Park £240,055 33.25 1 Tottenham Hale £292,840 14.75
along Greenwich’s waterfront and
2 King George V £248,850 33.25 2 Stratford £324,608 13.75
there are new shopping and business
3 Upton Park £251,564 21.5 3 Bromley-by-Bow £325,050 14
hubs at Stratford.
4 East Ham £259,435 22 4 West Ham £274,640 17.5
Homes are being built along develop-
5 Stonebridge Park £272,090 34 5 Plaistow £276,416 18
ing transport links at Brent Cross
6 West Ham £274,640 17.5 6 Upton Park £251,564 21.5
Cricklewood. The new north London
7 Plaistow £276,416 18 7 East Ham £259,435 22
town centre will have 7,500 homes, new
8 Cyprus £282,554 35 8 Leyton £348,128 17
buildings for three local schools, and a
9 Beckton £283,809 38.75 9 Seven Sisters £360,232 17
new Thameslink station, offering a 12-
10 Gallions Reach £290,931 36.5 10 Stratford High St £332,676 19.5
minute commute to central London.
11 Tottenham Hale £292,840 14.75 11 Abbey Road £296,406 23.5
Woolwich will have a Zone 3 station
12 Abbey Road £296,406 23.5 12 Star Lane £297,156 23.75
when Crossrail opens in 2018, boosting
13 Star Lane £297,156 23.75 13 Stratford Intl £324,608 22.75
what has been considered a south-east
14 Woodgrange Park £310,191 33.5 14 Blackhorse Road £363,169 20.75
London outpost — it is currently only
15 Royal Victoria £311,854 27.75 15 Canning Town £355,320 21.5
s e r v e d b y Wo o l w i c h A r s e n a l
16 Prince Regent £315,916 29.75 16 Pudding Mill Lane £325,050 24.5
station, which is in Zone 4.
17 Stratford £324,608 13.75 17 Beckton Park £240,055 33.25
New waterfront apartments next to
18 Stratford Intl £324,608 22.75 18 King George V £248,850 33.25
the Crossrail station at Royal Arsenal,
19 Bromley-by-Bow £325,050 14 19 North Greenwich £395,952 21.75
a former munitions factory with listed
20 Pudding Mill Lane £325,050 24.5 20 Royal Victoria £311,854 27.75
buildings, have been launched. Prices Smithfield Square: in Hornsey, a derelict refuse depot and swimming pool are
Source: CBRE Source: CBRE
start at £367,500. Call 020 8331 7130. giving way to a landscaped 440-home scheme with prices from £370,000
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 5
homesandproperty.co.uk with New homes Homes & Property
On the menu:
alfresco dining in
Kew, left, where
first-timers have
been helped to
buy a home
From £370,000:
right, homes in
Smithfield Square,
Hornsey, by
St James (020
3002 9460)
From £389,995:
new apartments
and houses at
The Exchange,
right, in Leyton
High Road
Photographs::
Daniel Lynch
From £795,000:
flats, right, in
The Cascades,
Golders Green,
are near good
transport links
Visit halevillagelondon.com or call by the newly created Haringey Council. transformed into the 440-home Reilly-O’Donnell, 26, to get on to the covenant gives the council the right to
020 8808 4070. The area sits at the foot of splendid Smithfield Square. Prices at the devel- property ladder at a fashionable new buy back the property if the buyer
Tottenham Hotspur FC’s new Alexandra Park and its high street is opment start at £370,000. To register waterfront development. chooses to sell. An owner would
stadium project will bring flats, becoming smarter. for the next phase, contact St James on As a 2016 Olympic rowing hopeful, receive 70 per cent of the prevailing
shops, a technical college and primary New River Village, built on the site 020 3002 9460. Reilly-O’Donnell used a council-backed open market value.
school, while Lawrence Square, close of an old waterworks, retains the “discount market sale” scheme to “I’ve rented in the area since I moved
to Seven Sisters Tube station, replaces Victorian pumping station and has HELPING HAND IN KEW buy a one-bedroom flat at St George: here as a student,” he says. “Being
an industrial estate and has 260 homes. more than 600 low-rise apartments Kew in west London is hardly cheap. Kew Bridge. close to the river was a priority, but I
Houses cost from £634,995. Call running alongside a quarter-mile Close to the river and with the wide The scheme helps first-time buyers nearly lost hope of buying. It’s an
Bellway on 0845 676 0261. stretch of a canal that brings fresh open spaces of Richmond Park to unable to put down a big deposit. amazing place to live, and only
Hornsey is another north London water to London. enjoy, it has an average price of Buyers pay 30 per cent less than the 100 metres from the train station.”
address to watch. The old London A former derelict high street refuse £698,750 — but a special scheme for full market value and have full owner- Prices currently start at £704,950.
borough was swallowed up in 1965 depot and swimming pool are being first-time buyers enabled Nathaniel ship of the property, but a deed of Call 020 8995 6669.
6 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Eco-living homesandproperty.co.uk with
Appreciating
nature: Dani
McDonald enjoys
watching the
changing rural
landscape
around her
family’s Huf Haus
home in Kent
B Happy
ROOKLANDS, the historic external blinds provide privacy and
motorsport mecca in the relief from the sun.
commuter town of Wey- Not only are the homes bold and
bridge, Surrey, hosted the elegant, they are highly energy-effi-
launch of a beautiful, preci- cient, probably the most sustainable
sion-engineered 4,500sq ft eco-home in the UK. Powered by their surround-
delivered straight from a factory in ings, they draw on sunlight, air and soil
in a
Stuttgart, south-west Germany — meaning no fuel bills.
Prefab chic is the speciality of Huf A pioneering system uses energy
Haus, a century-old German firm harvested from an underground ice
whose stylish and contemporary storage tank to heat and cool the house,
custom-made timber and glass homes while discreet, roof-mounted photo-
are breaking the mould of traditional voltaic panels capture solar energy.
British house design. Surplus energy is used to power an
HUF
After 15 years doing below-the-radar, electric car parked at a plug-in point
one-off commissions in the UK, the next to the house. A “logic centre”
company has opened a sales centre and regulates the overall system through
show home alongside the first British the seasons, and is also the engine
Grand Prix racing circuit. room for all the mechanical, cabling
Huf Haus’s strikingly modern archi- and audiovisual requirements. Control
tecture uses a post-and-beam construc- via a smartphone is also possible.
tion system. Making a virtue of it by
leaving factory-finished structural
The construction system allows for a
flexible, bespoke floor plan, so buyers
Light, modern and free of bills — it’s no wonder Huf
joists and steel bolts exposed, the have almost endless options for divid- Haus eco-homes are motoring, says David Spittles
family-run firm is able to create wide ing the space into bedrooms, bath-
and light free-flowing spaces, with rooms, dressing rooms, storage walls
full-height, triple-glazed walls and and even balconies and verandas.
windows that invite the outside in. Basements can be incorporated and super-structure, on-site assembly and Innovative: OUR HOME IN A MEADOW
Everything is engineered, from the are ideal for sloping sites or areas at interior finishes. Darien House in Dani McDonald and her husband,
basic fabric of the house to the timber risk of flood, as they can sit on stilts or A 2,500sq ft house would cost in the Cobham, Surrey, James, a Lloyd’s underwriter, had
floors and white Corian sinks. raised foundations. region of £500,000, excluding the features a spent years living in loft and ware-
The main colour palette consists of Huf Haus can design a house as small price of land. stunning wood house apartments in New York and
grey and white, allowing for splashes as 1,000sq ft or as big as 10,000sq ft. But the hardest and most expensive and glass London.
of colour through accessories and The company says the typical cost is part, especially in London, is finding exterior amid When their children, Xavia and Jaz,
artworks. Electronically controlled £200 a square foot, which includes the the land. Call 01932 586550. pristine gardens came along, they went on a search for
LANDLORDS, YOU’D BETTER
Some estate agent branches cost over half a million pounds to fit out.
Without plush branches, we make big savings and pass them onto you.
Mini overheads. Mini prices.
0203 096 5438
RESIDENTIAL | COMMERCIAL
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 7
homesandproperty.co.uk with Eco-living Homes & Property
The living room:
understated
sophistication,
with floor-to-
ceiling windows
that ‘bring the
outside indoors’
— along with lots
of natural light
Free-flowing:
open-plan rooms
offer space
throughout,
while underfloor
heating is a
common feature
of a Huf Haus
property
agent The Modern House, which sells and pioneered a technique allowing
new contemporary homes as well as homes to be digitally manufactured on-
period classics, says buyers are site, resulting in precision building and
attracted to light and space. cost savings. Currently it has three
Three new houses in Macaulay projects under way in London.
Road, Clapham, show that contempo-
rary architecture can slot inoffensively DON’T LOSE THE PLOT
into a classic Victorian streetscape. O In the overcrowded South-East,
Designed and developed by architects land is expensive. Buildstore
Squire & Partners, the houses have a (buildstore.co.uk) is one of several
clean-cut brick façade, behind which plot-finding websites.
are wonderful white-walled, open-plan O Before buying a plot, check your
lateral spaces finished with bespoke chances of getting planning consent.
joinery. Prices from £6.75 million. Call O Remember that contaminated land
Savills on 020 8977 4812. is expensive to clean up.
O You could buy and knock down
BROWNFIELD BONANZA an old house. Planners would look
The release of government-owned quite favourably on replacing an
land for a modern house. Four years natural materials, such as wood, stone the bathrooms are subterranean with brownfield land to small developers old wreck with a new home. It will
later, they found a six-acre meadow and glass, so the house felt organic,” light wells. On the ground level, our and self-builders is expected to boost also be already “serviced”, with gas,
in Kent. says Dani, 47, a professional make-up living, kitchen, dining and music rooms the number of one-off architectural electricity and drainage, which will
The family lived in an old prefab on- artist. The couple’s Huf Haus home all have doubled-vaulted ceilings, new homes. save you money.
site for two years to experience the took six months to build. which enhance the open-plan experi- Facit Homes, which describes itself as O How big a plot? Most self-builders
landscape during different seasons, “It has four bedrooms and we use all ence. And we enjoy the landscape an integrated “design, manufacturing, and kit home builders are content
while researching eco-friendly energy of our space. Our bedrooms are down- throughout the day, irrespective of the environmental and engineering com- with a quarter of an acre, enough for
sources. “We only wanted to use stairs, overlooking the meadow, while weather.” Albert Hill, of niche estate pany”, has featured on Grand Designs a decent house and garden.
8 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Homes abroad homesandproperty.co.uk with
B
ERLIN not quite on your radar
for property investment? From £138,000: renovated apartments in iconic blocks at Strausberger Platz,
Well, perhaps it should be. once exclusively for East German party apparatchiks. Flats in the eight-storey
Germany’s capital is booming building have high ceilings and impressive views over central Berlin
in all manner of ways — from
art to architecture, music to
technology — and even its traditional
food scene is catching up with the rest
of the world.
With a relatively cheap cost of living
— in Western Europe only Madrid and
Lisbon are more affordable — Berlin
offers great value and a diverse culture.
This year it came third behind Toyko
and Vienna in Monocle’s Quality of Life
Survey covering the world’s top 25
most liveable cities and was judged by
consultants PwC to be Europe’s best
property investment prospect.
SEXY AND WE KNOW IT
In 2004, the then mayor of Berlin
described his city as “poor but sexy”
and this seems a vibe that people like.
Berlin has a population of 3.5 million,
with more than 40,000 new residents
arriving every year. Property prices
have risen faster than in any other Ger-
man city as a consequence, but still
represent good value, says Peter Rabitz
of Zabel Property Group.
“Foreign investors focus on the his-
toric centre of Berlin and that generally
means the area of Mitte,” says Rabitz.
“Berlin is Germany’s biggest rental
market with only 15 per cent of the
city’s population as owner-occupiers.
Investors can expect rental yields of
three to five per cent net.”
Rabitz sells and manages new-build
property in affluent Mitte with 75 per
cent of his clients coming from abroad.
Investors typically spend £145,000
upwards on small apartments of
‘Poor but sexy’: Soviet chic
325sq ft to 540sq ft, while those wanting
a home for themselves buy two-bed-
Buy a people’s palace apartment in good-value Berlin for £138,000, says Cathy Hawker
room apartments from £300,000.
Meine Mitte is an off-plan develop- £1,096,000: Berlin’s modernisation while giving a mid-century styling. The eight-storey
ment at the former site of the Berlin a spacious, significant nod to its recent past. building has high ceilings and New
Wall. There are 102 apartments, rang- luxury waterside Strausberger Platz is an iconic 1953 York-style views over Berlin. The loca-
ing from one to five bedrooms. More two-bedroom Stalinist building in Karl-Marx-Allee, tion is central — Alexanderplatz is five
than half have already been sold. Prices apartment on one of Europe’s widest boulevards. minutes away and Volkspark, with 121
start at £100,000 and rise to £600,000, the banks of the Built by the German Democratic Repub- acres of parkland, is even closer.
with service charges from £17 a month, River Spree in lic, it was a showpiece for the socialist The 141 well-renovated one- and two-
excluding utility bills. the centre of ideal. The ceramic-fronted apartment bedroom apartments are light and airy
Berlin (Zabel building was a prime address for a lucky and start from £138,000 for 570sq ft
ICONIC ARCHITECTURE Property Group) few East Berliners who each received without fitted kitchens.
“Soviet chic” might not be a leading a “workers’ palace”.
design staple, but at Strausberger Today it is well worth a visit just for Zabel Property Group: zabel.com
Platz it’s proving a striking hit. This is the wonderful show flat by designer Meine Mitte: meine-mitte-berlin.de
a landmark project that symbolises Stephan Schilgen with its Bauhaus, Strausberger Platz: centralberlin.de
12 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Interiors homesandproperty.co.uk with
ALAMY
L They lived in
Colourful past: IFE in Squares is the BBC’s shutters and let the light in.” Today
BBC2’s Life in hotly anticipated new three- some people dismiss the Bloomsbury
Squares begins part drama about the revolu- set as posh decorators, but Roger
on Monday. It tionary Bloomsbury Group insists: “They weren’t this airy-fairy
opens as the (1904-1939). Among the many group of people painting for a hobby.
squares, loved
writer Virginia plot strands, it explores the complex They were really serious about their
Woolf (Lydia sibling rivalry between writer Virginia art and their lives.”
Leonard, above Woolf and her sister, Vanessa Bell. For some, they have gained a slightly
left) and her It reminds us how much of a debt we twee reputation. “‘Brand Bloomsbury’
sister Vanessa owe to this set of artists, intellectuals has been around since the days when
Bell (Phoebe Fox,
also pictured)
move into
Gordon Square in
Bloomsbury,
and writers — from the clothes we wear
to the way we decorate our homes and
set our tables.
Reacting against the stuffy Victorian,
male-dominated society they were
in triangles Laura Ashley bought and copyrighted
all the designs,” says Roger. “But they
were all first-class painters who chose
to take a slightly naïve road. I think
they’re terribly important in the course
above. Later
scenes were
born into, they pursued new creative
and sexual freedoms. The title of the The Bloomsbury Group, starring in a major of British art.”
Together with Fry, they introduced
filmed at
Charleston,
drama comes from the American
writer Dorothy Parker, who is said to
new TV drama, romanticised their bohemian to England the whole explosion of
French Post-Impressionism — with art-
Dazzle and light:
a hand-decorated
above right, the
East Sussex
have quipped that the Bloomsbury
bohemians “lived in squares, painted
lives and created a style for interiors that ists such as Matisse and Picasso — as
well as experimental abstract art.
window at
Charleston, the
house shared by
Vanessa, her
in circles and loved in triangles”.
Watching episode one you marvel at
continues today, discovers Liz Hoggard Certainly the Bloomsbury Group, a
self-elected set of friends and relatives,
farmhouse
between Brighton
husband Clive just how modern the group were. changed the face of English applied art and Eastbourne
Bell and her “They lived through a period where Vanessa and Virginia’s controlling artists and academics, including Leon- and design. They wrote, painted, where the
lover, the painter there was huge technological, political father has died and they have left a ard Woolf, Lytton Strachey, economist organised exhibitions and had fabulous Bloomsbury
Duncan Grant and aesthetic change,” says Life in gloomy home to move with their two John Maynard Keynes and art critics all-night parties. Group retreated
(James Norton, Squares production designer, David brothers to 46 Gordon Square, then a Roger Fry and Clive Bell. Life in Squares was shot on location during the First
pictured) Roger. “They were born just before rather daring, gritty address compara- David Roger says: “They moved to the in London — Langleybury Mansion near World War
electricity arrived in London, and yet ble to today’s Hoxton or Dalston, where wrong side of town, they stripped out Watford doubles as Gordon Square —
painter Duncan Grant was still alive the Bloomsbury Group began. the furniture, they were painting over and it was the first drama allowed to be
when the Beatles were in the charts.” Their “Thursday evenings” of conver- the wallpaper, so it became minimalist filmed at Charleston in East Sussex,
When the series opens in 1901, sation and recitals were attended by white, and they threw open the where Vanessa and her husband, Clive
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EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 13
homesandproperty.co.uk with Interiors Homes & Property
1
GET THE LOOK
1 Liberty: its Bloomsbury Gardens 2
fabric collection consists of five
diverse colour palettes and 11 prints
(liberty.co.uk).
2 Potter Sophie MacCarthy makes
huge jugs and bowls with bold,
abstract strokes of colour. Her
grandfather, Desmond MacCarthy,
jointly organised the first Post-
Impressionist exhibition in London
with Roger Fry (sophiemaccarthy 3
ceramics.co.uk).
3 Bloomsbury Interiors: inspired
by the spirit of Bloomsbury and the
Omega Workshops, Madeleine
Bradbury hand-paints lamp shades,
fabrics and furniture, like this
spindle-back chair (£180) and fabrics
(bloomsbury-interiors.co.uk).
ALSO TRY:
Cressida Bell, granddaughter of
Vanessa, designs and prints silk
scarves and cushions (cressidabell.
co.uk).
Bloomsbury Workshop sells
drawings, lithographs and The Charleston shop stocks gifts
watercolours by Dora Carrington, inspired by Charleston and the
Roger Fry, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bloomsbury artists (charleston.
Bell (bloomsburyworkshop.com). org.uk).
Bell, and Vanessa’s gay lover, Duncan Workshops. Omega ran for six years Virginia Woolf recalled: “There were & Hudson have brought out The
Grant, retreated in 1916 during the First from 1913 as a laboratory of radical bright chintzes, painted tables and Bloomsbury Cookbook: Recipes for
World War. Pioneers of 20th-century design ideas, inspired by contempo- chairs and Roger Fry escorting rich Life, Love and Art by Jans Ondaatje
art, Bell and Grant created an artistic rary art in Europe. visitors round the rooms doing his best Rolls. And another Bloomsbury drama
hub at the farmhouse near Brighton. to persuade them to buy.” At Charles- is in production, Vita & Virginia, based
A
Painting and stencilling on the walls RTISTS such as Bell and ton they were living in poverty with no on an original screenplay by Dame
and furniture, they filled the interior Fry contributed boldly electricity or running water. Eileen Atkins. “They will influence
with textiles, murals and ceramics and patterned objects for the The group is still a powerful influence textile students for evermore,” says Life
works by artists they knew, including home, from rugs and on many contemporary artists. Chore- in Squares costume designer Claire
Picasso, Renoir and Sickert. The influ- linens to ceramics, furni- ographer Wayne McGregor’s dance Anderson, “because their beautiful 2D
ence of Mediterranean culture is clear ture and clothing. Designs were triptych Woolf Works, based on three pattern mark-making is how textiles are
in the choice of colours and patterns. anonymous, bearing only the Greek Woolf novels, got rave reviews. Thames created today.”
Many pieces at Charleston, such as letter “Ω” (omega) in a square. You can
Grant’s Lily Pond Table, were designed see the influence on The Conran Shop Key figure: painter Duncan Grant in O BBC2’s three-part drama,
for another democratic Bloomsbury and Habitat today. At the time there 1975. Vanessa Bell’s lover, he lived with Life in Squares, starts on Monday
REX
experiment — Roger Fry’s Omega was no other shop like it in London. her and her husband at Charleston at 9pm14 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Design homesandproperty.co.uk with
THIS Ideceptively Frank, is now veneered in ► FAMILY-RUN ►
modest-looking produced by sycamore furniture group
Art Deco vanity Hermès. The and lined with Davidson
table, by the table’s beech goatskin — which specialises in fine
celebrated structure is is why it costs a UK craftsmanship.
French designer covered in vellum cool £27,140 One of its latest
of the Thirties while the interior (020 7499 8856; designs is the
Jean-Michel drawers are hermes.com). glamorous
Chrysler Dressing
Table. The
kidney-shaped
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By Nicole Swengley pair of circular
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vanity flair drawers with
walnut handles.
Priced at
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Desig
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There are two a small-space who work
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single drawer (0845 6094455; Levien, created
concealed below futoncompany. contemporary
the table top and co.uk). dressing table
Chandlo — which
means moon
shape — for BD
Barcelona Design
(bdbarcelona.
com).
With a black ash
frame and light
grey top, it has a
central mirror, a
side mirror
and a plywood
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with a walnut
finish (also shown
open), plus a
stool. Price £7,749
including 10 per
cent discount at
nest.co.uk
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homesandproperty.co.uk with Design Homes & Property
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launched its first
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It is made in
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Three circular
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NEW for this £6,425. It will be views, while the
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a slender profile Mayfair Vanity evoking Art
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From £7,218 lacquer, £399,
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se-london.com). (made.com).22 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Home office homesandproperty.co.uk with
T
H E ave r a ge L o n d o n e r
spends an hour and 14
minutes commuting each
weekday. For Lizzie and Joe
Fraher, the journey is more
like 10 seconds.
The couple, who live in Honor Oak
Park, south-east London, got so fed up
with trying to run their architectural
practice from Farringdon in the City
— mainly because of the time and
money the daily commute consumed
— they decided to bring the office to
their back garden.
Creatively using materials such as
red parachute cord and stainless
CHARLES HOSEA
steel mesh, which is more commonly
used to train climbing plants, 32-year-
old Lizzie and Joe, 33, co-directors of
Fraher Architects (fraher.co), created
a faceted double-storey office in an The Frahers: Joe and Lizzie with daughters Claudia and Orla
extension.
Now, by running the practice from
home, they can spend more time with
their two daughters, Claudia, two, and
Orla, nearly one.
Ou
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The new office, which they have
called The Green Studio, is a flexible Lizzie and Joe Fraher created the
space, so it could just as easily work as
an extra bedroom. life they wanted with the perfect
By keeping a careful eye on the
budget, the couple managed to home office. By Ruth Bloomfield
complete the five-month project for a
relatively modest £80,000. The renovate and extend the property to The studio design they came up with Creative solution: dig down in order to sink the studio
studio’s running costs are minimal, due give them a two-bedroom home. had an irregular diamond shape with The Green Studio, about four feet into the ground.
to the super-insulation that comes from The company was becoming a busy six differently angled walls. above, has beech Although this inevitably added to the
being semi-subterranean. practice and they were working longer “I like designs with character. And we desks built in; cost of the project, it has two practical
The couple moved to Honor Oak Park hours, but when they had children they like light,” she adds. “We had a sunlight above right, the purposes — keeping it cool in summer
almost four years ago. They bought a decided the balance was all wrong. survey done and then carved the shape commute is just and warm in winter.
“damp, cold and leaky” garden flat Lizzie says: “I wanted to be able to of the studio to maximise the amount a short walk It also means that they were able to
for £205,000. Their first job was to sustain both a family and my career.” of sun in the garden.” They decided to across the yard eke out more floor space — the studio
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homesandproperty.co.uk with Home office Homes & Property
Knowing the angles: the mezzanine level with red parachute cord decoration and the stairs that double as handy storage
“Eventually the climbers will wrap
themselves around the studio com- BUDGET BREAKDOWN
pletely so that it blends into the garden Ground works: £12,000
and disappears,” says Lizzie. Steel and timber frame: £14,000
Polished concrete floors, white walls Insulation: £3,000
and built-in beech desks and cupboards Waterproofing: £4,000
adorn the inside. Metal cladding: £500
A shower room has been squeezed Concrete floors: £1,500
in, as has a mini kitchen in a cupboard Joinery (stairs, desks, cupboards,
beneath the stairs. shelving): £8,000
is about 16ft tall and has a 75sq ft roof provides hot water. With insula- Surprisingly, Lewisham council’s Solar array: £3,600
mezzanine gallery level above the tion taken care of, the only power the planning department loved this Skylights and glazing: £14,000
250sq ft main office. studio needs is electricity for comput- unusual scheme. Decoration (including all plumbing
The structure has a steel and timber ers and for lights in the evenings. And Joe loves getting up in the morn- and lighting): £4,500
frame, which was clad first in insula- Climbing plants — mainly vines and ing to do a couple of hours’ work, then Labour: £14,800
tion and then in a waterproof skin. clematis — planted last winter are popping home for breakfast with Camouflage: a view of the studio’s
A series of skylights enable light to already winding their way up the walls, the girls. Lizzie says: “I can’t imagine TOTAL: £79,900 roof, which blends into the street
flood in, while a solar array on the providing a type of camouflage. having to commute to work again.”
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Homes & Property My home homesandproperty
Visionary: Lee Thornley admits that he made mistakes when building his barge, but loves the lifestyle
FLOAT ON
Lee Thornley built his own barge to live on when he
couldn’t afford London house prices. It works so well he’s
making them to sell, discovers Philippa Stockley
W
HEN is a house not a Spain to learn the language and consider
house? When it’s an his next step. The day he arrived in Vejer
urban barge. And if de la Frontera, Andalucia, a young
design entrepreneur woman opened the door for him.
Lee Thornley, 34, gets “I asked her to help me park my car,”
his way, there will soon be many more he says. In no time Amelia, who hails
on London’s underused waterways, with from Scotland and ran a London catering
people like him living on them. company, became his wife. Twelve
Bert’s Barges are custom-built, with weeks after meeting they bought and did
lots of insulation, underfloor heating, up a flat in the village. Then they bought
solar windows and log-burning stoves. an old farmhouse and turned it into the
There are also plenty of modern com- luxury country retreat Casa La Siesta,
forts such as marble-clad kitchens, solid which was named in Tatler’s Top 100
wood floors, big terraces and power best hotels in 2011.
showers. However, once Lyla, five, and Iris, two,
Thornley’s new London floating home, came along, in 2013 they came home and
which his firm designed and built, sits settled near Thornley’s family in North
on the increasingly smart Hoxton stretch Yorkshire.
of Regent’s Canal alongside traditional
D
narrow boats. A street of former light URING the building of the
industrial units backs on to the canal and Spanish hotel, a local tile
there is now a continental café, an Italian maker suggested to Thornley
deli and flats. that he use him — which he
Thornley doesn’t hang about when he did. As a result of their meet- Above from left: couldn’t afford local prices. Since his on one that built him a small, steel-
has an idea. Born in Blackburn in 1980, ing, Thornley set up Bert & May, an collapsible showroom backed on to the canal, he framed barge, almost 56ft long, that he
the first of his family to go to university, online company run from his garage in railings were hatched the idea of building his own took to Yorkshire to fit out.
he studied law in London and became a the UK, selling handmade and reclaimed added for safety barge. “I looked out at the water and The roof was made flat so it could have
barrister. tiles, using the same artisan. Bert & May and there are thought, ‘why not build something beau- a terrace paved with reclaimed tiles on
“As a guy in Blackburn, you’re expected quickly expanded into a showroom modern touches tiful to go on it?’” top — traditionally, barge roofs are
to do something like that, but I quickly warehouse in Hoxton. in the kitchen, Working with a creative consultant and curved. The team also had to refine
realised it wasn’t for me,” he says. “I was Thornley needed a place to stay in shower room and an architect, Thornley went to Liverpool aspects of the interior design as they
too entrepreneurial.” So he went to London for four days a week, but main bedroom and met five companies, finally settling went along, for floating homes have their
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 25
y.co.uk with My home Homes & Property
Above left and above: Thornley has
avoided overcluttering his barge to
How to get
maximise the space, using sleek and
modern fixtures and fittings. A wood-
the look
burning stove in the main living room O Bert’s Barges are created by
comes into its own on wintry nights Lee Thornley at bertsbarges.com
O Interior architecture by
ratarchitecture.co.uk
O Creative consultant Laura
JOIN THE COMMUNITY Fulmine at laurafulmine.com
It’s not quite a life on the open waves, O Disc and Sphere wall lamp by
but with a £150,000 price tag and a lead Areti at atelierareti.com
time of 16 weeks to make a barge, it’s an O Natural dye pile rug by Larusi at
attractive idea if you are fed-up with larusi.com
looking for a flat, and fancy an adven- O Danish Sofa from The Modern
ture. The interior design can be tweaked Warehouse at themodernwarehouse.
at a cost. com
You will also have to pay for a mooring. O Scandinavian chair, table and
Thornley can help buyers find one — but chairs from Béton Brut at betonbrut.
warns that they can cost £1,000 a week. co.uk
However, there’s a growing band of O Bathroom fittings from Agape at
barge owners who rove the waterways, agapedesign.it
tying up where they like, but moving on O Wood-burning stove from Stovax
own rules. Some lessons were painful. to go under low bridges — so we redid is that barges need blinds. “I came back after a fortnight. at stovax.com
“I didn’t think about weight distribu- them so that they fold down,” he adds. along the towpath one evening and it They are called the continuous cruising O Bespoke windows by Caldwells at
tion,” admits Thornley. “We put in a Despite its sparse and modern interior, was lit up like a casino,” he says. community. If you do that you don’t have caldwellswindows.co.uk
marble kitchen on one side, and the the barge offers a stylish, roomy shower But, having addressed the teething to pay for mooring. Find out more at O Reclaimed encaustic tiles on
barge listed. We had to take up the floor room. As well as a double bed in the problems, this is a terrific little pad, with tinyurl.com/nezrk3o. terrace by Bert & May at bertandmay.
to adjust the weighting.” front, there is also a folding double bed. gorgeous views and moorhens nesting Thornley also points out that outside com
Then, having created a rooftop terrace, And it definitely doesn’t have that poky right next door. Who gets a view like that London you can get a mooring for much
he realised that children might fall off it, caravan feel. in London — plus all the fun of splashing less. If you do have a mooring you will Photographs:
so he put up railings. “But barges have The final thing Thornley didn’t realise about on the river? also have to pay council tax. David Butler
28 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Outdoors homesandproperty.co.uk with
Three tiers for this shady masterplan
A sun-starved north
London courtyard is
lush and jungly with
cascading greenery
at different levels
W
HAT can you do with
a garden that is mostly
in perpetual shade?
Plenty, is the response
from Quinten Geurs,
garden desiger at the Islington land-
scape company Modular. Charged with
making a lush green space from a bland
courtyard at a north London home,
Geurs’s first move was to knock down
a wall that blocked the view of the gar-
Photographs: Marianne Majerus
den from the house — though there
wasn’t much to look at anyway, just a
scrappy lawn and a tree that was
beyond saving.
“The brief from the owners, a young
working couple, was to open up the
view, bring in more light and give them
something green to look out on to,”
says Geurs. They also wanted a patch
expressly for pet greyhound Betty,
where she could leave her calling card
without soiling any other part of the
garden.
The house at basement level is lower
than the garden, which could only be Green oasis: layering the plants within graduating retaining walls, above and top right, gives this
reached by a dozen steps at one side, so small garden a lush, jungly atmosphere; right, a built-in bench by the kitchen is set within planting
surely it would make sense to move the
steps to the centre for easier access?
Geurs had a better plan which would very pale blue-grey granite, which in early spring. In the far corner, three tapestry of textures, patterns and
bring the garden right up to the house
and present the owners with a fabulous
Pattie lighten the space and reflect sunlight
without having the glare of dead-white
young hardy palm trees, Trachycarpus
fortunei, will grow upwards to seek the
shades of green.
There is a further advantage to this
view of cascading greenery.
“If I had put the steps at the centre, the
Barron paving. He rounded the corners of the
patio and curved a yew hedge around
light, says Geurs. Euphorbia mellifera,
a trio of banana trees and a Fatsia
kind of lush planting, says Geurs: “It’s
pretty low maintenance, because when
view would once more be of hard land- three quarters of it, which he con- japonica contribute to the jungly feel plants are this thick on the ground,
scape,” says Geurs. “Instead, I made the trasted with a band of dark basalt chip- that the couple wanted, while a young there’s no space for weeds to grow.”
steps at the side more people friendly pings that extends to a patch at the back tree fern at the front of the garden, in
by making them less steep. At the centre big enough for one person to wander of the garden, reserved for Betty. one corner, will eventually form a lacy O Visit modulargarden.com or call 020
front, I created a green cascade by intro- out to with a cup of coffee first thing in Slatted cedar panels attached to the green canopy. 7253 1222 to commission Geurs.
ducing three tiers of planting contained the morning, and be surrounded by brick boundaries on either side give Within the three tiers of planting at
within three retaining walls that gradu- plants. the garden some privacy. the front, Geurs packed white-edged O Garden queries? Email our RHS expert:
ally increase in height.” The centre of the garden is the only The rear wall, painted off-white, has hostas, hellebores, pale lilac agapan- expertgardeningadvice@gmail.com
The nearest tier to the house, facing space where there is sunlight for any a Clematis armandii wandering up it, thus, evergreen ferns, white-spathed
the kitchen, is about 18in high, just the appreciable time, so Geurs made this providing a tracery of large, evergreen arum lilies and oak-leaved hydrangeas, O For outdoor events this month, visit
right height for a built-in bench that is the dining area, laying patio slabs of leaves as well as fragrant white flowers creating a diverse and beautiful homesandproperty.co.uk/events
30 WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Property searching homesandproperty.co.uk with
Spotlight B
OOMING house prices are
not the only benefit expected
in Romford, Essex, from the
arrival of Crossrail. From
May 2019, the £15 billion east-
Romford west railway takes over the existing
Shenfield to Liverpool Street line and
extends it through central London.
The local council has seized the
opportunity that the line will bring by
Bargains in adopting a new plan for the town
centre that will see a vibrant, mixed
neighbourhood built around the train
station, possibly in a cluster of tower
an Essex
blocks.
Other ideas include two new riverside
residential quarters to the north and
south of the town centre on the banks
of the Rom, a rejuvenated historic
boomtown marketplace and improved cycling and
walking routes from Romford’s out-
lying residential districts.
Romford claims to have one of the
largest and longest-established markets
in the country. It was introduced in the
Crossrail is bringing benefits to 13th century and continues to thrive,
with more than 150 stalls on Wednes-
this ancient market town that days, Fridays and Saturdays.
has ambitious plans for its future, Despite stiff competition from the
nearby shopping centres — Lakeside at
discovers Anthea Masey West Thurrock, Bluewater in Green-
hithe and Westfield Stratford City —
Romford can still claim to be the fourth
largest retail centre in London and one
of the top 15 in the South-East, attract-
ing more than 25 million visitors a year.
The town also boasts a busy night-time
economy, with 15,000 people pouring
into its bars, restaurants and clubs at
weekends.
WHAT THERE IS TO BUY
Although Romford has been an impor-
tant town since the Middle Ages, there
is little evidence of this except in the
rural villages dotted around the Essex
countryside. Wedding belles: Elisa Ward, Jane
The town was developed from the Parker and Paula Knight of Bridal
Victorian period onwards with a major Shop in Romford High Street. Left: a
expansion in the Thirties. catch-up and a cuppa in Market Place
There are streets of Victorian houses
close to the town centre, but the for them is Collier Row. Chalet-type
predominant housing type is the bungalows sell there for £350,000 and
three-bedroom interwar terrace or more.
semi-detached house. Gidea Park was developed as a garden
A three-bedroom Thirties semi sells suburb — known locally as the “exhibi-
for between £325,000 and £350,000. tion houses” — in two phases, starting
The names of two local builders in 1910 and 1933. Many of the earlier
from the period remain sought after houses in roads such as Meadway, Reed
— Nash in the Collier Row area, and Pond Walk and Heath Drive were built
Jackson in Rise Park. in the Arts and Crafts style, and some
For fans of bungalows, Romford has of these are listed. Much of the neigh-
plenty — both detached and semi- bourhood is a protected conservation
detached — and a good place to look area. More recently, flats have been
WHAT’S ON THE MARKET?
£300,000 £410,000 £1.75 MILLION
A TWO-BEDROOM house with conservatory A SPACIOUS four-bedroom family house, with A BEAUTIFULLY arranged, mock-Tudor house
and parking for two cars in a quiet close will
be near Crossrail in Romford (Balgores).
parking at the front and a lovely rear garden,
in Priory Road, Romford (Delaney’s).
with seven bedrooms in Oak Hill Road,
Stapleford Abbotts, Romford (Fine & Country).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/abbey O homesandproperty.co.uk/prioryroad O homesandproperty.co.uk/stapleabb
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-'& - ! To find a home in Romford, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/romford
+ ' !%(% $&, For more about Romford, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightromford
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