Description

SOUTHWARK

TQ3576 ST MARY'S ROAD
636-1/12/725 (East side)
Sassoon House

II

Block of flats. 1934. By E Maxwell Fry; interior arrangements
in collaboration with Elizabeth Denby. Outer walls of concrete
with cork insulation inside. 2 rows of stanchions down the
spine of the building form the main supports, the beams
projecting as cantilevers to either side; floors suspended
between these beams. The walls have shallow foundations, the
main weight of the structure being carried on the stanchions.
The concrete is reinforced. Roof parapeted, recently
recovered.
STYLE: International Modern
PLAN: rectangular in plan.
EXTERIOR: 5 storeys; projecting, glazed stair tower to the
north, 6 storeys providing access to roof. Continuous
balconies to north from which each flat entered; recessed
balconies and strip windows to the south; projecting balconies
to end bays. Spur wall with words R.E.SASSOON HOUSE enclosing
parking area to north. All windows are flat-arched. Recent
alterations to original glazing and parapet. Horseman in red,
black and white vitrolite to stair hall, designed by Hans
Feibusch.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORICAL NOTE: conceived as part of a larger housing complex
to be centred on the Pioneer Health Centre, now Southwark
Adult Education Institute, St Mary's Road (qv), and partly
funded by charitable donations from Lady Sassoon; these
working-class flats were intended to be self-financing.
Notices in the architectural press at the time of completion
praised the planning and in particular what were considered to
be 'substantial living rooms', each of which opens onto a
balcony that was intended as a sheltered play area for
children. Unusually each kitchen was fitted with standard
units and a combination heater/cooking stove; each flat had a
separate bathroom at a time when baths were usually located in
the kitchen. An important early instance of working-class
housing in a Modernist idiom.
(Architect's Journal, 26 April 1934; Architect and Building
News, 23 November 1934).

Listing NGR: TQ3525976494

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26665628

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

• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey