Description

31/0/10443 FINCHLEY ROAD
29-APR-03 The Pantiles

II

Block of 40 flats. 1934 to the designs of J B F Cowper. Brick, upper floors smooth rendered, green glazed pantiled shallow hipped roofs. 40 flats with access from five staircases. Three storeys, with part basement. Pastiche Italianate style. Crittall small-paned steel casement windows, with some canted bays. Open half-courtyard plan, with projecting ends. Arched windows on the ground floor, the balcony fronts, entrance doors with profiled tracery and imposing flights of steps from Finchley Road with flanking parapets topped by stone pantile copings. The brick staircase towers, with their full-length glazing and flat parapet roofs, indicate the influence of modern styling, taken further on the rear elevation where the roofs are flat to give a continuous fire escape balcony on the third floor, with a bold banded treatment of the projecting staircase turrets. Interiors not inspected.

The Italianate or 'hacienda' style had a short-lived popularity in the 1930s. Here it is done with unusual verve and attention to detail. The architect, James B F Cowper, came to prominence as a specialist designer of flats after winning a competition for the construction of Heathcroft, Hampstead Garden Suburb (q.v.). This is a fine, little-altered example of his mature style, showing his care for detail and fine massing in whatever style he adopted.

Sources
Ascot Water Heaters, Flats, 1938
The Builder, 9 March 1923 and 1 May 1964
Miller and Gray, Hampstead Garden Suburb, 1992
RIBA Biography File

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26388368

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)