The Concrete House, 549 Lordship Lane, has recently been restored after being empty for about 30 years. It was possibly designed by Charles Barry junior, architect of nearby Dulwich College, and was constructed in 1873 by Charles Drake’s pioneering Patent Concrete Building Company. In 1867 the Drake had patented a method of concrete construction using iron panels for shuttering rather than timber. This resulted in construction being much faster and cheaper than traditional methods. It has been suggested that The Concrete House was built as a rectory for nearby St Peter’s Church, but there are no records of the church using it. In fact Charles Drake, having named it “The Ferns” was the first occupant with his second wife, Jane, and their first son, Francis Glenny Drake, was born here in 1874. Sometime later it was renamed named “Lyddon House”, by Philip Lyddon Roberts who was once the owner. In the 1980s it became vacant and was still vacant in 1994 when it was listed Grade II and placed on the Heritage at Risk Register. In 1996 it was purchased by by Birballa Chandra who applied several times for permission to demolish it. These applications were refused and he removed the floors, woodwork and ornamental features and left it to deteriorate. In 2000 he sold part of the garden to his business associate, Rajeev Laxman. In 2007 Laxman was found guilty of the unlawful demolition of an architecturally and historically important building in Wandsworth. He was fined and ordered to rebuild it to the original specification. In 2008 Laxman built a copy of the Concrete House in his part of the garden. This was done without planning permission. Chandra again applied to demolish the Concrete House because of its deteriorating condition (which he had brought about). He presumably thought that Southwark Council would look favourably on this application because of the adjacent unapproved copy. Southwark Council refused this application and said that the copy could only remain if the Concrete House was restored. Chandra still did nothing and in 2009 Southwark Council imposed a compulsory purchase order. It has now been fully restored and converted to five flats in shared ownership. This was a result of works carried out by Southwark Council in association with The Regeneration Partnership and with financial help from Heritage Office for London Trust. In 2013 it won the English Heritage Angel Commendation.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 16:43:07 +0000
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