Time for our first virtual tour of 2022. Today we will be visiting the borough of Haringey and the wonderful modernist homes of Highgate. Let’s get going! modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/haringey.html
We begin at the Northern Line station of Highgate. Opened in 1867, it was supposed to be part of the Northern Heights project of 1935. Unfortunately the line was cancelled along with the stations planned statue of Dick Whittington!
Just over the road from the station we find the Southwood House Estate (1962), by Andrews, Emerson & Sherlock. 43 houses are arranged over the sloping, triangular site with pink brick, exposed concrete floor bands and sloping monopitch roofs modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/southwood-hous…
Around the corner is Southwood Park, 6 linked apartment blocks of 2 and 3 bed and studio flats, all with southerly facing living rooms, designed by Douglas Stephen & Partners (1965) modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/southwood-park…
On Southwood Lane are 6 townhouses designed by Edward Samuel in 1966 on the site of the old Hornsey Town Hall. Samuel and his wife Stella previously built a modernist bungalow on the site but decided this row of townhouses would make more financial sense modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/southwood-lane…
Just off Southwood Lane is Kingsley Place (1967), a collection of houses by the Architects Co-Partnership. The development features four different housing types, in 1, 2 and 3 storeys, built in yellow brick and with horizontal concrete floor bands modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/kingsley-place…
Of course the most famous modernist home in Highgate is Highpoint I+II, a pair of international style apartment blocks by Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton (1935-38). You can read more on this building in our blog from last year modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/blog/too-good-…
Opposite Highpoint was an equally radical but more unassuming building. It was here that Walter Segal self built a temporary home whilst rebuilding his main house. It would be the spur for his later self building ideas. modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/walter-segal.h…
Just off the High Street is Duke’s Head Yard, which contains a house and studio designed by Tayler & Green for Punch cartoonist Roger Pettiward, featuring a drum tower containing a spiral staircase modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/studio-dukes-h…
Next door is Cholmeley Lodge (1935), a six storey Art Deco block of flats. It combines an array of materials; yellow brick, cast stone, steel windows and concrete balconies to produce a perfect example of the 1930’s mansion block modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/cholmeley-lodg…
Heading east we find Tile Kiln Studios, a group of studio houses designed by New Zealand architect Peter Beaven, constructed of white painted concrete blockwork modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/tile-kiln-stud…
We finish at Northwood Hall, an apartment block designed by George Bright in a cruciform plan, looking down the slopes of North London over the city. Bright had been an assistant to Edwin Lutyens, and designed a number of apartment blocks modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/northwood-hall…
Thank you for coming on this tour. If you want to read more about Highgate, Haringey and other suburban boroughs, try our Guide to Modernism in Metro-Land, available here modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/the-guide.html
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It has been a little while since we had a virtual tour, so seeing as it is a Sunday, let’s take a look at some of Metroland's most interesting modernist churches. Prayer books at the ready!
We begin in Barnet with John Keble church, just off the M1 motorway in Edgware, designed by D.F. Martin-Smith. The building has a square church tower and is constructed of yellow London stock brick around a reinforced concrete frame modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/john-keble.html
Moving on to Brent, we find the Church of the Ascension, Wembley (1957), the last church designed by Harold Gibbons. The exterior is stock brick Gothic Revival, but inside the white washed walls, allows an altar mural by Hans Feibusch to shine