53-59 Monmouth Street, Holborn and Covent Garden, London

Summary

A terrace of C18 houses and C19 houses, restored and in part remodelled 1983-5 by the Terry Farrell Partnership as part of the regeneration of Comyn Ching Triangle.

Description

53-55 MONMOUTH STREET
A pair of C18 houses, refronted in the C19, restored and in part remodelled 1983-5 by the Terry Farrell Partnership as part of the regeneration of Comyn Ching Triangle.

MATERIALS: the pair have stock brick front elevations in Flemish bond, with stock brick dressings and tile roofs. The rear elevation is in red brick, with a timber and masonry porch and paving, and masonry parapet walls with steel rails.

The scale, forms and palette of materials and colours used in the new work complement and provide both a unifying identity and new vitality to the scheme. Traditional materials are interpreted in a forward-thinking way, while windows and bold entrances are coloured turquoise blue, black and deep red.

PLAN: a pair of houses with the entrances to the right (No 53) and left (No 55), and consequently the ground floor is fitted out with individual shops. The upper floors of No 53 are served by rear entrance No 2, where the original but restored C18 stair survives in situ. The upper floors of No 55 are reached by the conventional Monmouth Street entrance and hallway.

EXTERIOR: the street elevation is in three storeys, with an added attic storey. The shopfront to No 53 has shaped brackets on an otherwise plain fascia, a window of five-over-five fixed lights with slender glazing bars, and a raking stall riser. The glazed two-leaf door is set back beneath a two-light overlight. The shopfront to No 55 has a slightly moulded architrave, full-height glazed lights with slender glazing bars, with possibly later horizontal bars, above a panelled stall riser. The entrance, set back behind outer screen gates, has a six-panel door beneath a tall overlight. Both buildings have Farrell's lozenge-shaped number plates.

Upper floors have recessed four-pane sashes with masonry cills, beneath gauged, flat, stock brick arches. The attic storey, behind a plain, rebuilt parapet, has set-back, half-hipped dormers, each with three timber casements and tile roofs. There is a stock brick stack to the left (No 53).

REAR: the rear elevations enclose Ching Court, which slopes from N to S. Throughout, rear basement areas, clad in masonry, are set behind a shallow moulded masonry plinth with a tubular steel balustrade, with Farrell's signature reversed CC insignia.

Nos 53-55 are in red brick, and symmetrically arranged in four storeys plus a basement. Dominating the ground floor is Farrell's monumental porch, one of three serving the upper floor offices on this side of the Court. Each is a bold interpretation of a baroque C18 doorcase, flat-roofed and almost Mannerist in concept. The doorcases are painted turquoise blue, the outer face of the canopy picked out in deep red. Each is reached by a shallow flight of semi-circular masonry steps - a single step in this case, with an inset polished circular panel in the upper step, and a masonry threshold, between flared masonry parapet walls, here of different heights. The entrance is recessed behind square-section openings and beneath a canopy with a central convex moulding, also picked out in deep red colour, which responds to the concave cornice above. The door has four square glazed lights above flush moulded panels, at the centre of which is a door knob and a letter box set low beneath it. The returns, which in this case project, have simple recessed panels beneath a shallow cornice. Each has a recessed fixed panel resembling a door with four square glazed lights, and similar blind panels flanking the entrance.

To each side is a six-over-six pane sash with very slender glazing bars, painted black, beneath a flat, gauged brick arch, and with Farrell's window guard. The upper floor windows have segmental heads in C18 manner, and six-over-six or two-over-four panes.

INTERIOR: the stair to No 53 rises the full height of the house at the rear and is the only retained C18 stair in the scheme, albeit restored with some fabric renewed (AJ, 6 March 1985, 53). It has a moulded closed string, square section moulded rail, square section newels with moulded caps, and turned balusters. The stairwell has a panelled dado, of incised mouldings which successfully echo the original scheme (AJ ibid). In the stairwell, renewed panelling and doorcases, with torus mouldings, have robust flying cornices, in a Mannerist, postmodern interpretation of an C18 decorative scheme.

The upper floors of No 55 are reached from Monmouth Street. The hall has full-height plain panelling with moulded cornices, and a moulded arch; the stairwell has a plain panelled dado, and is lined in vertical boards on the upper floor. It has a robust C18 stair, along with panelling salvaged from No 49 Monmouth Street (AJ ibid); it has a closed string, square newels, a moulded rail and vase balusters. The stairwell and principal rooms have full-height plain panelling, the first floor rooms with box cornices, the upper floor with cavetto cornices. There is a six-panel door on the first floor, elsewhere doors and cupboards match the panelling.

57-59 MONMOUTH STREET
A pair of early C19 houses, probably with an earlier core, restored and in part remodelled 1983-5 by the Terry Farrell Partnership as part of the regeneration of Comyn Ching Triangle.

MATERIALS: No 57 is in red brick, No 59 in stock brick, both in Flemish bond, and with stock brick dressings. At the rear is a timber and masonry rear porch.

PLAN: the ground floor is fitted out as a single shop, but preserves the traditional entrances to left and right. The upper floors are fitted out as offices and served by rear entrance No 4.

EXTERIOR: the street elevation is in three storeys plus a full attic storey, flush with the facade, and each of two bays, with a set back entrance in the outer bay. The shop font, restored and rebuilt by Farrell, has a sloping stall riser and slender glazing bars and is canted at the entrances which are set back, with part-glazed four-panel doors. The left hand entrance (No 57) has a retained ornate metal screen and overthrow. Both buildings have Farrell's lozenge shaped number plates. First and second floor windows are recessed six-over-six pane sashes with slender glazing bars, beneath gauged, flat brick arches and have masonry cills. The attic storey, above a plain brick and stone cornice, has three-over-six pane sashes, and a corbelled brick cornice. There is a single stack to the left (No 57).

REAR ELEVATION: the rear Ching Court elevation is in stock brick, and asymmetrically arranged. No 57 is in three storeys and No 59 in four storeys, each with a basement. Dominating the ground floor is Farrell's monumental porch, one of three serving the upper floor offices on this side of the Court. Each is a bold interpretation of a baroque C18 doorcase, flat-roofed and almost Mannerist in concept. The doorcases are painted turquoise blue, the outer face of the canopy picked out in deep red. Each is reached by a shallow flight of semi-circular masonry steps - three steps in this case, with an inset polished circular panel in the upper step, and between a flared masonry threshold. The entrance is recessed behind a square-section opening and beneath a canopy with a central convex moulding, also picked out in a deep red colour, which responds to the concave cornice above. The door has four square glazed lights above flush moulded panels, at the centre of which is a door knob and a letter box set low beneath it. The returns have simple recessed panels beneath a shallow cornice. Each has a recessed fixed panel resembling a door, with four square glazed lights above flush panels.

Ground floor windows are also six-over-six pane sashes beneath flat gauged brick arches, with slender glazing bars, painted black, and with Farrell's window guards. Upper floor windows have segmental heads and vary from two-over-four to six-over-six panes depending on function.

INTERIOR: the stair to the rear of the building is a reproduction, based on a design from the Inns of Court (AJ, 6 March 1985). It has a closed string and robust, tall turned balusters. The dado has plain panelling, and as elsewhere in the scheme, the stairwell has Farrell doorcases, with torus mouldings and robust flying cornices, in a Mannerist, postmodern interpretation of an C18 decorative scheme. The upper floor rooms are similarly interpreted, the first floor front room to No 57 has a circular ceiling motif and structural and partition walls have plain full-height panelling with robust moulded cornices. No 59, with which it connects internally, creating a larger office space, has dado panelling beneath the windows.

NOTE: the mapping of the rear porches, parapet walls and railings is not drawn to scale.

History

SITE HISTORY
Comyn Ching Triangle in its present form is the result of a regeneration project, executed in three phases from 1978-91 by the Terry Farrell Partnership. The project integrated the restoration of existing C17, C18 and C19 listed buildings and shop fronts with the design and erection of new buildings and the creation of a new public space, in a mixed use development. It occupies one of the triangular blocks that radiate from the Seven Dials, laid out in 1692 by Sir Thomas Neale, and is bounded by Monmouth Street to the W, Mercer Street to the NE and Shelton Street to the SE, and at its core is Ching Court, and a public thoroughfare through it, created in 1983-5.

The regeneration of Comyn Ching Triangle was central to Farrell's work in the Covent Garden area, following Clifton Nurseries (1980-1). It is a significant example of his approach to urban contextualisation from the 1980s, in its pragmatic elision of a new urban plan and structures with the existing scale, fabric and patina of the essentially C17, C18 and C19 streetscape.

Farrell created a new landscaped, public space in the centre of the site, an area which had previously been gradually built over, obscuring the original building line. New entrances from Monmouth Street and Shelton Street provided access to this courtyard, and a diagonal public route across it, while a series of added entrances at ground floor level within the courtyard provided access to the upper floors of the existing buildings and gave prominence to the rear elevations which had been previously hidden by extensions and years of accumulated buildings. At the corners of the site new buildings replaced redundant commercial premises, while the intervening street frontages of existing commercial premises, most of them listed buildings of C17 and C18 origin, were renovated. Integral to the project was the reinstatement and refurbishment of the premises and showroom of the longstanding occupants, Comyn Ching ironmongers, at 17-19 Shelton Street.

The historic streetscape is made up of traditional three and four storey buildings, now mostly with added attics or mansards and with basements. Most are conventionally constructed in red, plum and stock brick, some with red brick or engineering brick dressings, some stucco rendered or painted, and have slate and tile roofs.

The scale, forms and palette of materials and colours used in the new buildings at the corners of the site complement and provide both a unifying identity and new vitality to the scheme. They are clad in traditional materials interpreted in a forward-thinking way, while windows and bold Mannerist entrances are coloured turquoise blue and deep red. Throughout, the scheme is unified by Farrell’s interpretation of the Comyn Ching logo – paired inverted ‘Cs’ which are a signature of the metalwork.

At the core of the site, Ching Court is a discrete and tranquil paved court, which creates a seamless connection with the buildings. Sloping from N to S, it is reached by semicircular steps descending from the N entrance and shallow stepped paving rising from the Shelton Street entrance. The corner rotundas, prominent rear entrances, modelled rear windows, masonry parapet walls, kerbs and a built-in seat to the rear of Mercer Street, place the buildings within the landscape. Varied forms of steel balconies, window guards, and later planters also designed by Farrell, and bearing the CC logo, provide context within the idiom of the site.

RECEPTION
On completion the scheme was admired and well received, notably in a critique in the Architects' Journal (6 March 1985), which praised its architectural assurance and ingenuity. 'Where old fabric has been kept it is revered and treated seriously, but in the final result we are not so much aware of the old and the new co-existing side by side as of one single lively identity embodied in the still recognisable historic streets' (AJ 6 March 1985, 58). The project won a Civic Trust Award in 1987 and on 26 March 1999 the Seven Dials Renaissance Project was awarded an Environmental Design Award by the London Borough of Camden.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
Designs for the enabling stage were prepared from 1978 and executed on site from 1981 to 1983. Following the granting of listed building consent, the corner buildings at Seven Dials were demolished and the C17 panelled interiors and stairs from 51 Monmouth Street were removed and stored, to be reinstated in 55 Monmouth Street.

Phase 1 (on site June 1983, completed May 1985), entailed the restoration, conversion or part-reconstruction of 15 listed C17-C19 houses and shopfronts; and the creation of Ching Court and new entrances within it to the upper floors of Shelton Street and Monmouth Street buildings. It encompassed 53-63 Monmouth Street, laid out as a mix of offices on three storeys above retail on the ground floor and basement levels; 11-19 Shelton Street, arranged as a mix of flats on three storeys above retail at ground floor and basement levels; and 21-27 Mercer Street, arranged as four houses, for private sale.

Phase 2 (on site 1985, completed c1987) comprised a new building on the corner of Seven Dials, at 45-51 Monmouth Street and 29-31 Mercer Street, which provided four storeys of offices above ground and basement level retail premises. A new building on the corner site at 19 Mercer Street and 21 Shelton Street provided flats on six storeys and a basement.

Phase 3 (on site c1989, completed c1991), addressed the southern apex of the site, 65-75 Monmouth Street and 1-9 Shelton Street. The restoration, conversion or part-reconstruction of four listed buildings (65-71 Monmouth Street) and four unlisted C17-C19 houses and shopfronts on Shelton Street, integrated with a new building at the southern corner of the triangle, provided retail accommodation on the ground floor and basement, three storeys of offices above, with a residential top floor.

ARCHITECT
Sir Terry Farrell (b 1938) is a pre-eminent British architect and urban designer, of international standing. He has been a leading force in establishing postmodernism as an architectural presence in this country. After graduating from the University of Newcastle School of Architecture, Farrell took a Masters in Architecture and City Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, where tutors included Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, whose work would later have a bearing on the postmodernist movement in Britain.

While working briefly for the LCC in 1961-2, Farrell was responsible for the Blackwall Tunnel Ventilation Towers (constructed 1961-4, each listed at Grade II, National Heritage List for England 1246736 and 1246738). After 15 years in partnership with Nicholas Grimshaw, which included the Herman Miller Factory, Bath (1976, listed Grade II, NHLE 1415261), Farrell set up practice independently. At that time he was also involved in Charles Jencks' Thematic House, London (1979-84), an early and important essay in postmodernism. Notable projects in Britain, the majority in London, include Clifton Nurseries, Covent Garden, (1980-1), TV am studios, Camden Lock, 1982, now altered; Comyn Ching, Seven Dials (completed 1985); Landmark House, City of London (1985-7), Charing Cross Station (Embankment Place), Westminster (1990); Alban Gate, 125 London Wall (1990-2); MI6 headquarters, Vauxhall (1993); also the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (1995). More recent projects range from the Home Office, London (completed 2005); the Great North Museum, Newcastle (completed 2009) to Bicester Eco Town, Oxon (ongoing). He established an office in Hong Kong in 1991, leading to a prolific practice in Asia, noted for Beijing South Station (completed 2008).

Farrell continues to be an important voice, contributing through published works to current architectural opinion. The Farrell Review of Architecture and the Built Environment (2014) followed a commission from the Department of Culture Media and Sport.

Reasons for Listing

53-59 Monmouth Street, a terrace of C18 houses and C19 houses, restored and in part remodelled 1983-5 by the Terry Farrell Partnership as part of the regeneration of Comyn Ching Triangle, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architect: a significant, formative scheme by a leading British architect and exponent of postmodernism;

* Architectural interest: C18 and C19 houses retained as part of a spatially powerful, mixed-use regenerative scheme, marked by bold form and detail, notable in Farrell's new rear entrances, based on an intellectual understanding of historic precedent, interpreted in a witty postmodern idiom;

* Contextual placemaking: a masterly exercise in placemaking, eliding the old and new, that recognised the scale and patina of the original buildings and spaces in the creation of Ching Court;

* Degree of survival: very little altered, retaining Farrell's restored facades and interiors, their detail, fixtures and fittings;

* Historic interest: an early and exemplary project in urban contextualism, reflecting the emerging philosophy of conservation and regeneration.

External Links

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