Severnake Road, NW3

Block in/near Belsize Park, existing between 1933 and now.

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(51.55199 -0.16214, 51.551 -0.162) 
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Block · * · NW3 ·
July
15
2022
The Isokon building is a concrete block of 34 flats designed by architect Wells Coates for Molly and Jack Pritchard, as an experiment in communal living.

Early famous residents of the Isokon Flats included Bauhaus émigrés Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy, architects Egon Riss and Arthur Korn, Agatha Christie (between 1940–46) and Adrian Stokes. Jack and Molly Pritchard lived in the penthouse. The British architect Sir James Frazer Stirling was a resident during the 1960s.

A number of 1930s Isokon residents were later identified as Soviet agents and in the 1930s and Cold War period the building under surveillance by the British security services. In the mid-1930s Flat 7 was occupied by Dr Arnold Deutsch, the NKVD agent who recruited the Cambridge Five.

The communal kitchen was converted into the Isobar restaurant in 1937, to a design by Marcel Breuer.

The Isokon company folded during World War II. In 1969 the building was sold to the New Statesman magazine and the Isobar was converted into flats. In 1972 the building was sold to Camden London Borough Council, and gradually deteriorated until the 1990s when it was abandoned and lay derelict for several years.

In 2003, the building was sympathetically refurbished by Avanti Architects, a practice which specialises in the refurbishment of Modernist buildings, for Notting Hill Housing Association and is now primarily occupied by key workers under a co-ownership scheme. The refurbishment has also created a public gallery space to tell the story of the building, its notable residents and Isokon furniture.

The block has been granted Grade I listed status, placing it amongst the most architecturally-significant historical buildings.



Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

None so far :(
LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Comment
Tony Whipple   
Added: 16 Apr 2024 21:35 GMT   

Frank Whipple Place, E14
Frank was my great-uncle, I’d often be ’babysat’ by Peggy while Nan and Dad went to the pub. Peggy was a marvel, so full of life. My Dad and Frank didn’t agree on most politics but everyone in the family is proud of him. A genuinely nice, knowledgable bloke. One of a kind.

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Comment
Theresa Penney   
Added: 16 Apr 2024 18:08 GMT   

1 Whites Row
My 2 x great grandparents and his family lived here according to the 1841 census. They were Dutch Ashkenazi Jews born in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 19th century but all their children were born in Spitalfields.

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Comment
Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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South End Green
TUM image id: 1450539049
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Royal Free Hospital
TUM image id: 1469364080
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Wedderburn Road, NW3
TUM image id: 1452676133
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

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West Country class loco 34010 ’Sidmouth’ has strayed onto the London Midland region on a special to Wembley Stadium and has been sent onto the Hampstead Junction line to turn. It is seen here at Hampstead Heath station on 15 May 1956.
Credit: Neil Clifton
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South End Green
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Royal Free Hospital
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Agincourt Road (2007) An Archway-bound C11 stops to collect a passenger. View taken from the junction with Cressy Road
Credit: Geograph/Martin Addison
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Belsize Avenue in Belsize Park
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South Hill Park from Hampstead Ponds
Credit: Julian Osley/Geograph
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Many of the roads around NW3 and NW5 were built with a particular lack of naming imagination. Many an x Mews North matches a near-identical x Mews South
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View of a House and its Estate in Belsize, Middlesex (1696) London and its smoke is visible on the left horizon
Credit: Jan Siberechts/Tate Britain
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