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BOROUGH ROAD, ARTHUR ROAD and PRINCES ROAD
KINGSTON UPON THAMES
ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL FOR HERITAGE DESIGNATION
for ROYAL BOROUGH OF KINGSTON UPON
THAMES
Drury McPherson Partnership Historic environment policy and practice
March 2015
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CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Background and Commission ............................................................................ 4
2 HISTORY ..................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Before 1860 ........................................................................................................... 5 2.2 1860-1900 ............................................................................................................... 5 2.3 After 1900 .............................................................................................................. 7
3 DESCRIPTION .......................................................................................................... 8 3.1 General ................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Borough Road ....................................................................................................... 8 3.3 Arthur Road ........................................................................................................ 10 3.4 Princes Road ....................................................................................................... 12 3.5 Park Road and Park Works (including 16-18 Park Road and 14-24 Borough Road) ............................................................................................................ 15 3.6 Views ................................................................................................................... 19 3.7 Landscape, Gardens, Trees and Street Furniture ......................................... 19
4 ASSESSMENT: CONSERVATION AREA DESIGNATION ..................... 19 4.1 Designation Criteria .......................................................................................... 19 4.2 Character and Appearance ............................................................................... 19 4.3 Erosion of character and threats from redevelopment ............................... 20 4.4 Relationship with Park Road Conservation Area ......................................... 20 4.5 Relationship with Liverpool Road Conservation Area ................................ 21 4.6 Summary ............................................................................................................. 21
5 LOCAL AREA OF SPECIAL CHARACTER ................................................... 21 5.1 Designation Criteria .......................................................................................... 21 5.2 Summary ............................................................................................................. 22
6 BUILDINGS OF TOWNSCAPE MERIT ......................................................... 22 6.1 Designation Criteria .......................................................................................... 22 6.3 Borough Arms .................................................................................................... 23 6.4 28-30 Princes Road ............................................................................................ 23 6.5 Summary ............................................................................................................. 23
7 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................. 23 7.1 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 23 7.2 Recommendations ............................................................................................. 23
FIGURES
Figure 1: The Study Area ................................................................................................... 5 Figure 2: Borough Road, north side ................................................................................ 9 Figure 3: Borough Road, south side ................................................................................ 9 Figure 4: Former St Paul's School, Borough Road .................................................... 10 Figure 5: Arthur Road, east side, with Bramley Cottage to left ................................ 11 Figure 6: Arthur Road, west side, part. ........................................................................ 12 Figure 7: Princes Road, south side ................................................................................ 13 Figure 8: Princes Road, nos. 6-10 ................................................................................. 13 Figure 9: Princes Road, nos. 32-34 ............................................................................... 14
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Figure 10: Princes Road, nos. 28-30 ............................................................................. 14 Figure 11: Former Borough Arms PH, Park Road .................................................... 15 Figure 12: Park Works and 16-18 Park Road .............................................................. 17 Figure 13: Park Works, 18-20 Borough Road showing ARP watching post ......... 18 Figure 14: Park Works from former school playground ........................................... 18 Appendix: Historic Maps Drury McPherson Partnership 114 Shacklegate Lane Teddington TW11 8SH telephone: 020 8977 8980 fax: 020 8977 8990 enquiries: [email protected]
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1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background and Commission
1.1.1 The Drury McPherson Partnership was commissioned on 5 March 2015 by the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames to produce an assessment of the potential for heritage designation of an area encompassing Borough Road, Arthur Road, the south side of Princes Road and a small section of Park Road (numbers 16-32), hereafter the "study area". The assessment considers whether the area should be designated as a conservation area, either on its own or as an extension to either one of the two adjoining conservation areas, Park Road and Liverpool Road; or whether it merits local designation as a Local Area of Special Character. The report also considers whether any buildings within the area should be locally listed as Buildings of Townscape Merit.
1.1.2 The study area comprises three streets laid out on the east side of Park
Road, which were developed mainly with small houses between c1860 and 1900. The former school in Princes Road was built c1870 and from the mid-1880s the back-lands to the south of Borough Road were developed with commercial buildings, with access from Park Road. Apart from the commercial buildings, there has been no significant redevelopment within the area, but to the north side of Princes Road (outside the study area) the original 19th century housing has been replaced by the present St Paul's Schools (built 1972-3) and the adjoining Alexandra Infants School.
1.1.3 There are no listed buildings within, or adjoining the study area, and it is
not subject to any other national heritage designations. It is not an Area of Archaeological Significance. The study area adjoins two conservation areas: Liver pool Road to the east and Park Road to the south.
1.1.4 The report was prepared by Michael Copeman, following a site visit on 11 March 2015, research into published sources and at the Kingston Local History Room in its temporary accommodation in Surbiton. Access to the local archives was very restricted at the time of writing as a result of their ongoing relocation and as a result it was not possible to inspect all of the potentially relevant material. The Borough's archivists undertook a search of their catalogues on the author's behalf and the report relies on the results of their investigations.
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Figure 1: The Study Area
2 HISTORY
2.1 Before 1860
2.1.1 Until the mid-19th century the study area was farmland. Park Road is an historic route from Kingston Hill towards Richmond Park; it is shown on Roque's map of 1745 (Map 1) as Lechmore Lane. Suburban residential development had begun by the date of the tithe map in 1840 (Map 2), with Coleshill Cottages, a small terrace on the west side of Park Road, just to the south of what is now the junction with Dagmar Road. The study area was a five-acre meadow called, or described as: "In Manigate Lane" on the tithe award1. It was owned by Margaret French and occupied by Ben Looker. The subsequent layout of streets and development sites in the area broadly reflected the historic field boundaries and property ownership.
2.2 1860-1900 2.2.1 By 1865, when the first large scale Ordnance Survey was published (Map
3), Borough Road had been laid out and three pairs of semi-detached houses had been built immediately to the south of the school (now St
1 Kingston Tithe Award (Plot 178), 1840; Kingston Local History Room
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George's Greek Orthodox Church and school). These houses have been replaced by early-mid twentieth century factory buildings. Another pair of semi-detached houses was in existence on Park Road, which survives in commercial use, as no. 16.
2.2.2 A series of building leases2 for land in Park, Alexandra, Borough, Princes
and Arthur Roads are held by the Borough Archives, dating from 1867 and 1870, the first substantial phase of development in the area. The first houses in Princes and Arthur Roads had been built by 1870. The new railway station at Norbiton, opened in 1869, underpinned the urbanisation of the area. The street names almost certainly refer to Prince Arthur (1850-1942), Queen Victoria's seventh child (and third son).
2.2.3 Phillipson's 1870 Directory of Kingston lists St Paul's School and residents
at Ellen Lodge, Sussex Lodge and one other address on the south side of Borough Road as well as 12 houses on the north side, although these cannot be identified individually. In Arthur Road there were six houses and "Carlton Villa" on the east side and 4 houses (1-4 Park Villas) on the west, but Arthur Road extended northward across what is now the site of St Paul's School, so again, these houses cannot be identified today. In Princes Road there were three houses including Bay Cottage, which survives on the corner of Arthur Road. In Park Road between Borough Road and Princes Road was the Borough Arms, now the Pottery Tapas Bar, and three tradespeople: Vining, a pipemaker; Bassum, a grocer and Hughes, dressmaker.
2.2.4 By 1895 when the next Ordnance survey map (Map 4) was published,
development was effectively complete but for a single unbuilt house-plot half-way along the south side of Princes Road. Kelly's Directory for the same year records numbers 4-50 (west side) and 1-43 (east side) in Borough Road; 2-16 (west) and 1-19 (east) in Arthur Road and 2-42 (east) and 5-21 (west) in Princes Road. (The "west" sides of Borough and Princes Roads correspond with the north sides and "east" with the south.) There were by this date eight residents on the east side of Park Road between Borough & Princes Roads, although there only ever seem to have been six houses, as well as the pub.
2.2.5 Between Brunswick and Princes Roads, Jabez Summers and Sons,
Builders, are listed, possibly occupying the cottages at 16-18 Park Road. The Borough Council's Building Control records3 include an application for a "shed" at 16-18 Park Road in 1889. The Ordnance Survey map shows several small buildings in the backlands area here, but the building most likely to correspond to the application is the long thin building to the north of the pair of cottages, adjoining the service alley.
2 Refs. KX146/1; KT/1,2,3; KT/19, 20, 21. 3 Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames, Planning Database at www.kingston.gov.uk/
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2.3 After 1900 2.3.1 The built development of the area remained largely unchanged for the first
two decades of the twentieth century. The most notable new feature is the enlargement of the shed to the rear of 16-18 Park Road, which by 1932 had subsumed the rear gardens of both houses. The building control records4 for this site note proposed houses in 1889, which do not seem to have been built; another shed in 1894; new offices in 1906 and shops and shop-fronts in 1908/9. As only the registers of building regulation and planning applications were accessible at the time of writing it is unclear which of the applications refers to which building. However it is clear from the historic maps that between 1895 and 1913, the pair of cottages at 16 Park Road had gained projecting "bungalow" shop-fronts, which survive, at least in their footprint.
2.3.2 By 1922, 16-18 Park Road had become the premises of H.D. Symonds
Ltd., insulating material manufacturers, which made numerous applications under the building regulations for works on the site over the following years. These included alterations and additions in 1925, a change to the building line in 1926 and further alterations and additions between 1928 and 1933. Again, the exact sites to which these applications refer cannot be identified but the Ordnance Survey maps (Maps 5, 6) show that between 1913 and 1932 a new building with a shop-front, which survives as no.18, had been erected to the north of the old pair of cottages on Park Road.
2.3.3 During the 1930s- probably shortly after 1932 when the Ordnance Survey
map was published- Symonds evidently expanded their premises to include the sites of the six original houses at 14-24 Borough Road, which were replaced with industrial buildings, including the large factory shed with the saw-tooth roof and tall chimney that survive today. Two applications were made for extensions and alterations to the chimney in 1935, and for another extension and an air raid shelter in 1939. In 1941 an application was made for a "watchers post on roof"; i.e. and air raid observation post. This is the unusual structure surmounting 22-24 Borough Road. Symonds remained at the premises until sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s and their workshops and offices have been in a variety of uses since then.
2.3.4 St Paul's Schools occupied their original building until 1975, since when it
has been converted to become a church and school for the Greek Orthodox community. The new St Paul's Primary school, at the junction of Princes and Arthur Roads, is adjacent to the parish church in Alexandra Road with which the school is associated, but the new buildings blocked the historic route that linked the old school building in Borough Road, via Arthur Road, to the church. A large extension was added to the rear of the old school in 1999.
4 Ibid.
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3 DESCRIPTION
3.1 General 3.1.1 The houses in the study area include small terraces, semi-detached pairs
and a few detached houses, mainly of late 19th-century dates. All of them are of two storeys, on plots of similar frontage widths, in red or yellow brick, with slate roofs. The variations in their designs and dates suggest that different builders and developers were responsible. They are typical examples of the standard late-Victorian London suburban type; usually having two main rooms to each floor, served by a hall and staircase to the side and a narrower rear wing containing the kitchen and third bedroom.
3.2 Borough Road 3.2.1 Borough Road is lined with such houses, dating from the 1860s to 1890s,
in small terraces, pairs and a few single houses. The variety of designs suggests that it was built piecemeal by small builders. The north side of the road comprises three pairs of cottages (nos. 1-11) and a single house (no. 13), followed by three small terraces and another single house (no. 23). Nos. 1-11 are slightly larger and more decorative than the others with contrasting brick dressings. No. 13 may be a slightly later infill; it has the narrow gable end to the street and decorative bargeboards typical of this part of suburban London in the 1890s; there are numerous similar houses in the neighbourhood. The terraces are small plain, flat-fronted cottages, each of a single bay to the street. No. 23 is similar, with two bays. The south side consists of very slightly larger houses in pairs and small terraces, most of which have canted bay windows suggesting that this side of the road may be very slightly later than the other. However, nos. 42-44 is gabled with decorative barge-boards and red brick dressings and dated 1868; it is one of the earliest buildings in the study area. No 44-46 is similar but much altered. Several houses have uPVC replacement windows, added porches and concrete tile roofs in place of slate.
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Figure 2: Borough Road, north side
Figure 3: Borough Road, south side 3.2.2 St Paul's Schools was recorded in Phillipson's Directory in 1870, but may
still have been under construction that year, as it was not opened until
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18725. It was a National School, that is to say, it was established under the auspices of the Church of England, although curiously the parish of St Paul was not formally created until 1878; it was presumably established as a chapel before then. The school building is of red brick with a clay-tile roof, with stone mullioned windows in a loosely Tudor style. It is a plain and much altered example of a standard type, of a single storey on an H-plan. The tower and the porch to the western gable end are modern additions, as is the large rear extension noted above. The elevation to the street has been much altered and some of the original windows have been removed or blocked. Such original decorative features as may have existed are now lost. As a result the building now has limited historic architectural interest.
Figure 4: Former St Paul's School, Borough Road 3.2.3 The industrial buildings at 14-24 Park Road are considered under Park
Road below.
3.3 Arthur Road 3.3.1 Arthur Road comprises semi-detached pairs and single houses, very similar
to those in Borough Road and mainly flat fronted. No. 9, Bramley Cottage is a detached house, larger than average for the immediate area. It has a date stone obscured by the porch, for either 1882 or 1892. No. 19 has a large modern side extension. Most of the houses on the west side have replacement windows. Numbers 11 and 14 have had their facing brickwork
5 Information from Alex Beard, Kingston Local History Room
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painted. Holly Cottage, on the corner of Princes Road, is a well-preserved example of the gable-ended type. Number 9a is a modern house in keeping with the style of the older houses nearby.
Figure 5: Arthur Road, east side, with Bramley Cottage to left
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Figure 6: Arthur Road, west side, part.
3.4 Princes Road 3.4.1 Of the original 19th century development only south side of the street
survives. The north side is outside the study area. Like Borough and Arthur Roads, Princes Road comprises small two-storey cottages of the 1860s-90s. Numbers 6-22 are slightly unusual in their design. They are grouped in threes, each with a single-bay frontage, the central units having a very slightly higher roof, rather than being divided by party-wall parapets, the more common interpretation of the requirements of the London Building Acts. They are of yellow stock brick with contrasting white brick dressings and charming carved stone faces to the key-blocks over each central doorway. Numbers 24 and 26 are individual, detached houses, larger than average for the immediate area, but still, essentially cottages, rather than suburban villas. Numbers 28 and 30 are an attractive and, in this neighbourhood, unusual pair of red-brick cottages with clay tile roofs, and "Tudor" detailing including hood-moulds, timber casement windows and a big central chimney-stack with canted shafts. They have decorative ridge-tiles, and front gables with bargeboards and finials. Numbers 32, 34, 40 and 42 have gable-ends to the street, decorative bargeboards, and with 36 and 38, contrasting dressings in red and yellow brick. Numbers 32 and 34 in particular, have been unsympathetically altered.
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Figure 7: Princes Road, south side
Figure 8: Princes Road, nos. 6-10
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Figure 9: Princes Road, nos. 32-34
Figure 10: Princes Road, nos. 28-30
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3.5 Park Road and Park Works (including 16-18 Park Road and 14-24 Borough Road)
3.5.1 The former Borough Arms public house was built between 1865 and 1870.
It is now a restaurant and its brick-work has been painted an unusual shade of “avocado” green but it retains its original sash windows and a good pub-frontage with pilasters and glazed tiles, the style of which suggests that it was added or altered c1890-1900. 22-32 Park Road are three pairs of much altered flat-fronted, yellow stock brick single-bay two-storey cottages, of the same, common, later 19th century type. The three tradespeople listed here in 1870 suggest that the block was in the process of development at that date. Numbers 30 and 32 have modern or much-altered shop-fronts. Number 22 has been rendered, refenestrated and extended. None of the houses retains all of its original features.
Figure 11: Former Borough Arms PH, Park Road 3.5.2 The buildings facing Park Road between Brunswick Road and Borough
Road have over the years become part of the industrial site now known as Park Works. The pair of cottages at 16 Park Road is the earliest building in the area and dates from between 1840 and 1865. It hasplain stock brick elevations and a hipped slate roof, with a later single storey shop-front extension. It is wholly typical of their date and type, and has been much altered. It is not of special architectural or historic interest.
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3.5.3 The second building on this block, now 18 Park Road, is another of two storeys with a “bungalow” shop-front, dating from between 1913 and 1932, probably c1920. It is of red brick with rusticated quoins, a slate roof and heavy timber mullion and transom windows with leaded lights to the first floor. These architectural features are not unusual and survive only in part. The ground floor shop-front was either added soon after the original building or altered with the addition of Crittal steel windows that suggest it changed from shop use to a workshop or office.
3.5.4 To the rear is a large plain two-storey white-painted brick shed that appears
to date from the 1920s when Symonds extended the existing buildings here. It has Crittal windows and steel panels to the front elevation. It incorporates earlier yellow stock-brick sheds to its north side. It connects with the interlinked industrial buildings built by Symonds between 1932 and c1941 in what would otherwise have been the gardens between Borough Road and Brunswick. The factory extends from the rear of 16-18 Park Road in the west to the boundary of the school playground in the east, and includes the site of the cottages at 14-24 Borough Road shown on the early Ordnance Survey maps (Maps 3, 4, 5). The factory buildings are of two storeys mainly in red brick with a variety of roof coverings- some pitched with glazed panels and some flat. The windows are mainly steel-framed. There is a tall, square factory chimney at the centre of the site. A later, steel-framed shed adjacent to the school on Borough Road is probably an addition or replacement of c1950s. The buildings are typical of their type and date, plain and utilitarian, and with one exception, 18-20 Borough Road, they lack special architectural or historic interest. However they do have some interest as a complete factory group including the chimney, workshops and offices.
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Figure 12: Park Works and 16-18 Park Road
3.5.5 The central block of the three industrial buildings on Borough Road (nos. 18-20) appears to have been built as offices or showrooms, or at least with offices to its first floor, to the same initial design as its neighbour, nos. 14-18. However, nos. 18-20 is surmounted by a small tower intended as an air-raid watching post, with narrow viewing slots on each side, the walls providing some degree of protection from attack and shrapnel. Building regulations consent was granted for the watching post in 19416. The tower has the same construction details as the rest of the frontage block, but the central first floor doorway has decorative brick banding to each side and there is a circular window in the flank wall, non-essential decorative features. This suggests that it had been planned- or even begun- as a straightforward commercial building before the war and was then altered during the course of construction, in response to the blitz, by the addition of the tower. It is a relatively unusual survival in the area and characteristic of World War Two defensive structures. As such it is worthy of preservation.
6 Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames, Planning Database at www.kingston.gov.uk/
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Figure 13: Park Works, 18-20 Borough Road showing ARP watching post
Figure 14: Park Works from former school playground
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3.6 Views
3.6.1 There are no significant views within, into or out of the area. The streets are straight and the ground generally level, with a very slight rise from west to east. The view eastwards along Princes Road is dominated by the large, undistinguished modern blocks of flats on the skyline.
3.7 Landscape, Gardens, Trees and Street Furniture
3.7.1 Most of the houses in the area have front gardens, but they are too small for their planting to contribute significantly to the street scene. The rear gardens cannot be seen from the public realm. There are no notable trees in, or visible from, the streets. The streets appear to have been laid out to follow existing property lines and field boundaries; there are no designed features in the streetscape. Street furniture is modern and utilitarian; there are no historic signs, boundary treatments, lamp-posts or pillar post boxes.
4 ASSESSMENT: CONSERVATION AREA DESIGNATION
4.1 Designation Criteria
4.1.1 Conservation areas are defined in section 69 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as "areas of special architectural or historic interest the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance". Further guidance on the designation of such areas by local authorities is provided in Understanding Place: Conservation Area Designation, Appraisal and Management (English Heritage 2011), although this is technically out of date since it pre-dates the 2012 National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). There are no fixed eligibility criteria for designation, and each designation must be assessed in its local context. A wide range of architectural or historic characteristics may be considered in order to decide whether an area has "special interest". However, in order to make use of the planning system to preserve or enhance that "special interest" required by the 1990 Act, it must be clear enough to provide a yardstick against which planning applications can be determined and to secure public support for the additional planning controls.
4.1.2 The NPPF emphasises (para. 127) that " When considering the designation of conservation areas, local planning authorities should ensure that an area justifies such status because of its special architectural or historic interest, and that the concept of conservation is not devalued through the designation of areas that lack special interest."
4.2 Character and Appearance
4.2.1 The study area is typical of the suburban development around London of the later 19th century. It has a consistent urban form, scale and grain deriving from the small houses that are its predominant building type.
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Similar building materials are used throughout the area. The Park Works factory complex is unusual in this suburban context, but its impact on the appearance and urban form of the area is limited by its backlands site; where the industrial area intersects with the streets, it conforms to the scale and grain of the residential development.
4.2.2 The study area is not large enough to be an identifiable neighbourhood. Its shops and pub form part of the Park Road commercial area. It is not part of a wider urban plan nor does it have a designed layout. None of the houses is of great individual merit; they are not associated with any named architects, nor do they have a distinctive or shared architectural character beyond what is typical of their typology and dates. The factory buildings are not of special interest in themselves but the air raid watchers' post gives them greater significance. They are considered in more detail at section 6, below.
4.3 Erosion of character and threats from redevelopment
4.3.1 Although there are no current consents or applications for major development within the study area, we understand that Park Works may be under consideration for redevelopment. As noted, the air raid watchers' post at 18-20 Borough Road is of some architectural and historic interest, which would be lost if the site was redeveloped, and the scale, form and layout of the present industrial buildings is such that their impact on the wider area is very limited. Redevelopment that failed to preserve these characteristics could have a detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the area.
4.3.2 The majority of planning applications within the study area in recent years has been for domestic rear extensions and rear roof dormers. As long as these are not seen from the public realm their impact on the character and appearance of the area as a whole is not significant.
4.3.3 Much original architectural detailing has been lost from houses within the area. This has been mainly the result of: the replacement of slate roofs with concrete tiles and of timber windows and doors with uPVC or other modern designs; painting or rendering of brickwork; the insertion of roof lights in street facing roof-pitches; the addition of modern porches and the removal of chimney stacks.
4.4 Relationship with Park Road Conservation Area
4.4.1 The study area adjoins the Park Road Conservation of which the special character is summarised in the conservation area appraisal7 as follows: "... an early residential and commercial suburb of Kingston Town Centre dating from the mid 19th century, which incorporates the historic London
7 Park Road Conservation Area Appraisal, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, 2008
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to Portsmouth route. It contains fine Victorian houses and survives as a local centre with two groups of shops of distinctive character around its key road junction." Although the study area was developed at a similar period it is architecturally modest and undistinguished, in comparison with to the conservation area, which has large, elaborately decorated houses and commercial buildings. The adjacent Borough and Brunswick Roads are an especially stark illustration of the difference. The study area is quite separate from the conservation area in terms of its urban plan. Apart from Park Road, which is peripheral to the study area, there are no through routes, or significant visual, architectural or historical links, between them.
4.5 Relationship with Liverpool Road Conservation Area
4.5.1 The Liverpool Road Conservation Area bounds the study area to the east, along the end of the gardens to the houses on the east side of Arthur Road, although there is no through route between the areas. Liverpool Road CA is characterised by large houses of the mid- and late-19th century, quite unlike those in the study area. The school on Borough Road was historically associated with the church of St Paul on the corner of Alexandra Road and Queens Road, but this connection has been lost visually and physically by the building of the new school and historically by the sale of the old school building. There is no architectural relationship between the school and church buildings.
4.6 Summary
4.6.1 The study area is small and lacks a definite architectural or historic identity. Its architectural character is typical rather than exceptional for its date. The individual buildings have lost many of their architectural details and what survives amounts to little more than the sum of its parts. Although the area contains several buildings of minor interest, none is outstanding. The area does not have a clear architectural or historic relationship with either of the adjoining conservation areas. Its public realm lacks any distinctive qualities, historic features, conscious design, trees, planting or views. As such the study area does not have the "special architectural or historic interest" necessary to justify designation as a conservation area.
5 LOCAL AREA OF SPECIAL CHARACTER
5.1 Designation Criteria
5.1.1 These areas do not meet the criteria for designation as conservation areas, but possess sufficient architectural, townscape and environmental quality to make them of significant local value. The designation recognises good examples of familiar types of development as opposed to the more exceptional quality required for conservation area designation.
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5.2 Summary
5.2.1 The consistent overall architectural character, date, scale and urban grain of the study area described above are typical and representative of the late-19th century development of the Borough. The industrial site is unusually well-integrated with the residential and adds to its interest without detracting from its appearance. There are three buildings in the area with individual local interest. As such the area meets the criteria for designation as a Local Area of Special Character.
6 BUILDINGS OF TOWNSCAPE MERIT
6.1 Designation Criteria
6.1.1 A local list (in Kingston upon Thames, the "Buildings of Townscape Merit" appended to UDP 2005) provides a measure of protection for unlisted buildings outside conservation areas, and is a material consideration in the determination of planning applications. Local listing recognises "heritage assets that are valued as distinctive elements of the local historic environment" (Good Practice Guide for Local Heritage Listing English Heritage 2012). Locally listed buildings are "heritage assets” under the NPPF and therefore planning applications affecting them are subject to its provisions. There are three buildings within the study area that have sufficient individual merit to warrant consideration for inclusion on the local list.
6.2 Park Works
6.2.1 The block at 18-20 Borough Road (Fig 12) is surmounted by a purpose-built World War Two fire watching post. It forms a landmark in the street and has an association with a major historical event. As such it is of clear local architectural and historic interest.
6.2.2 The fire watching post may also be of national interest; whilst a large number of structures were built for this purpose it is not known how many remain. In this context, the survival of the factory complex of which it was a part may give it greater interest than might otherwise be the case and if the factory had a direct connection with the war effort its interest might be greater still. As the watching post is physically linked to the rest of the factory complex, it could be of greater value (and rarity) if the whole complex of which it is an integral part were to be conserved as well. It is recommended that further research should be undertaken, with regard to the possibility of submission for statutory listing.
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6.3 Borough Arms
6.3.1 The former pub (Fig. 10) is a good example of its date and type, enhanced by the survival of the pub-front. It is somewhat marred by the painting of its brickwork, but otherwise this is one of the least altered buildings in the area. It is part of the earliest phase of development here, and is a feature in the wider architectural scene of Park Road. The external paintwork, could, with some difficulty and great care, be removed; failing that, a colour more sympathetic to the character and appearance of the building and area might be chosen. As with all pubs, even those that no longer function as such, it is a building with communal associations and memories.
6.4 28-30 Princes Road
6.4.1 This pair of semi-detached houses (Fig. 9) is an unusually good example of its type, and the street elevation is well preserved.
6.5 Summary
6.5.1 Park Works, The former Borough Arms PH and 28-30 Princes Road should be added to the local list of Buildings of Townscape Merit.
7 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
7.1 Conclusion
7.1.1 It is our view that the study area lacks the special architectural or historic interest that would justify designation as a conservation area, but it is well suited to the broad-brush protection offered by designation as a Local Area of Special Character.
7.2 Recommendations
7.2.1 The study area (Figure 16) should be designated as a Local Area of Special Character.
7.2.2 The following buildings (Figure 17) should be added to the local list of Buildings of Townscape merit for the reasons set out above:
• The small office block surmounted by the fire watcher's post at 18-20Borough Road, Park Works, from it street frontage on Borough Roadsouthwards to its junction with the main factory building;
• The former Borough Arms PH;
• 28-30 Princes Road.
7.2.3 Further research should be undertaken into the possible national heritage significance of 18-20 Borough Road and Park Works.
NTS
©Crown Copyright and database right 2015. Ordnance Survey 100019285
Figure 16: Indicative recommendation of Local Area of Special Character
Legend
Indicative Recommendation of Local Area of Special Character
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NTS
Figure 17: Indicative recommendations of Buildings of Townscape Merit
Legend
©Crown Copyright and database right 2015. Ordnance Survey 100019285
Indicative recommendations of Buildings of Townscape Merit
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BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Published sources
English Heritage, Good Practice Guide for Local Heritage Listing, 2012
English Heritage; Understanding Place: Conservation Area Designation, Appraisal and Management, 2012
Directory of Kingston upon Thames, Phillipson, 1870
Kelly's Directory, Kingston upon Thames, Editions of 1895, 1915, 1922, 1930, 1935, 1951, 1960, 1971
National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), CLG, 2012
Malden H, (ed.) Victoria County History; Surrey: Volume 3, London, 1911
Pevsner N, Cherry B, The Buildings of England, London 2: South, London, Penguin 1983
Park Road Conservation Area Appraisal, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, 2008
Other Sources
Roque's map (extract) 1745 (Kingston Local History Room)
Tithe Map 1840 (Kingston Local History Room)
Ordnance survey 25" map series, sheets IV:16, Editions of 1865, 1895, 1913, 1932, 1955, 1971.
Kingston Borough Archives, document references: Refs. KX146/1; KT/1,2,3; KT/19, 20, 21
