Flats for sale on modernist estates in London
These homes represent some of the best flats for sale on modernist estates in London, from a ‘Type 40’ apartment in Chamberlin, Powell & Bon’s concrete fortress, the Barbican, to a penthouse in River Court East overlooking the Thames.
Seddon House, Barbican, London EC2
If modernist estates in London had a poster figure, it would be the Barbican, that concrete labyrinth of 1970s Brutalism that butts up against ruins of the Roman London Wall, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Po-Mo office blocks of the City of London.
This ‘Type 40’ apartment is characterised by its large plan, unique on the estate, which affords the one-bedroom home generous living space. Original kitchen and bathroom fixtures, light-feeding floor-to-ceiling windows and a view of St Paul’s make this one of the best flats for sale on any of the modernist estates in London.
Retcar Place, Whittington Estate, London N19
Camden Council’s progressive social housing policy in the decades after World War Two has been heralded as its golden age, in which modernist principles found realisation on a mass scale. Designed by Peter Tabori, the Whittington Estate is the apogee of said golden age, being a ziggurat-inspired arrangement of sheer-lined concrete forms, landscaped walkways and banked structures that ascend Dartmouth Park Hill.
This two-bedroom apartment, transformed by its architect-owner, Peter Culley, is a thoughtful reworking of the 1970s fabric, with contemporary kitchen and bathroom fit-outs and an updated colour scheme.
River Court East, Upper Ground, London SE1
Architect Richard Seifert, of Tottenham Court Road’s Centre Point fame, designed River Court East in the 1970s as a blocky, Tetris-like residential structure on the south bank of the Thames by Blackfriars Bridge. This penthouse apartment offers some of the best riverside views in the city, which can be taken in from either the private roof garden or interior spaces, which frame expansive cityscapes.
Kaolin Court, Beadnell Road, London SE23
Despite being newly completed, this house bears all the hallmarks of the modernist era, being an exercise in open-plan living, contextual response and maximising natural light.
The house lies on Kaolin Court, a development that places communal space and neighbourliness at its core, and was designed by Stolon Studio Architects, whose founders’ own experience of family living in a mews house informed their approach.
Wellesley Court, Maida Vale, London W9
This Grade II-listed house is to be found in Wellesley Court, a 1938 apartment block in Maida Vale designed by architect Frank Scarlett, perhaps best known for his Starlock House in Sussex.
Crowning Wellesley Court is this airy-feeling split-level penthouse with an open arrangement, double-height living space and full-height glazing. The clincher, though, is the original spiral staircase that sculpturally twists its way up to the mezzanine level.
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