The Keep
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“A recent renovation celebrates Span’s original light-filled design”
This artfully conceived three-bedroom house sits on the Span-designed Cator Estate in Blackheath, south-east London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich Conservation Area. Originally built in 1957, it balances its distinctive period features with newer interventions, including a recently installed oak bannister and blue-painted bespoke joinery. The cultivated gardens that bookend the house are visible through the generous glazing typical of Span's pioneering design.
The Keep
£745,000
History
In his book 'The Spirit of Span Housing', James Strike says: “Span housing was the inspiration of two young men, who, during the 1930s, met as architectural students at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Eric Lyons and Geoffrey Townsend both had a keen interest in modern architecture… They believed that there was a market for well-designed houses in carefully designed landscapes for the sort of people who recognised good design when they saw it – and they were right.”
In 2006, Span was the subject of an exhibition at the RIBA, and the accompanying book, Eric Lyons and Span (ed. Barbara Simms), gives a comprehensive survey of its history. “The work of the architect Eric Lyons,” it states, “is as well-loved now as it was vibrantly successful when first constructed. Built almost entirely for Span Developments, its mission was to provide an affordable environment ‘that gave people a lift’.”
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