Description

CAMDEN

TQ2884SW FERDINAND STREET
798-1/64/430 (West side)
11/02/93 Kent House

II

2 blocks of model low-cost flats and shop. 1935. By Colin
Lucas with Amyas Connell and Basil Ward. For the St Pancras
House Improvement Society (Northern Group). Reinforced
concrete frame with external walls acting as beams carrying
floors; cement skim finish.
EXTERIOR: each block of 5 storeys with roof terrace. Front
elevations have horizontally set metal frame casement windows:
2 bays with vertically stacked balconies, having metal grid
balustrades similar to the roof terrace. Access towers to rear
allow each tenant to step directly off the vertical
circulation on to his own entrance balcony. Block fronting
Ferdinand Street has entrance formed by 2 ground floor bays of
piloti closed off by later geometrically patterned iron gates.
To left, a projecting single storey shop.
INTERIORS: have 2 flats per floor in each block with logically
designed accommodation; no rooms open off one another.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the staircase access, room layouts, generous
useable balconies and total use of electricity for servicing
put Kent House at the forefront of contemporary flat design
with the quality of detailing expected from a private
commission. The flats are a successful early example of Modern
Movement commitment to social housing in this country and were
Connell, Ward and Lucas's only commission of this type.

Listing NGR: TQ2842884359

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26347971

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)