"Crittal windows draw in a wealth of light and frame the surrounding greenery"
This characterful one-bedroom apartment is on the top floor of the little-known modernist gem Taymount Grange. Internally, the space is enlivened by geometric tiles and pops of colour, highlighting carefully preserved original features, including large crittall windows that frame the surrounding greenery. The estate has ample green space and extensive communal gardens, which contain allotments and wide lawns. The building lies at the centre of Forest Hill with its leafy woodland walks and many lovely cafes.
History
George Bertram Carter trained at the Royal College of Arts and was a pupil of Sir Edwin Lutyens from 1919 to 1922. He became a member of the MARS group, of which he was appointed Honorary Treasurer in 1944. Another of his residential blocks, Litchfield Court in Richmond (1935), was listed at Grade II in 2004.
In his thesis, The Servant Problem Solved: Modernist 1930s Residential Blocks, Damian Minto describes the history of Taymount Grange:
“[It] is built on the site of the original Queens tennis club. An important similarity with many modernist schemes was the fact that the existing earlier building (often a detached villa) was to be demolished to make way for the new block of flats. The site’s natural contours made it an ideal location for panoramic views of the London docks and rural edges of suburbia, a feature of which the flats take full advantage. The aimed new tenants were the middle classes – an important similarity with all modernist British residential schemes.
“Facilities available for residents included guestrooms, lounge, restaurant, terrace, landscaped gardens, swimming pool, seven tennis courts and a putting green. Taymount Grange was also fully staffed with everyone from porters to domestic help.”
From the expanses of white-painted stucco to the handsome metal windows and chrome-handled entrance doors, Taymount Grange has retained the unmistakably Thirties details that give it a romantic Modernist appeal.
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