Details
CAMDEN
TQ2982SE TAVISTOCK PLACE
798-1/94/1590 (North side)
07/04/60 No.5
The National Institute for Social
Work Training & attached railings &
gates
GV I
Formerly known as: Nos.5 AND 7 Mary Ward Settlement TAVISTOCK
PLACE.
Institute. c1896-98. By Arnold Dunbar Smith and Cecil Brewer.
For the Passmore Edwards Settlement (later known as the Mary
Ward Settlement). Load bearing red brick with wide cement band
under the eaves. Floors of steel I-beams. Slated mansard roof
with projecting eaves and dormers.
EXTERIOR: wide modillion cornice formed by exposed undersides
of I-beams. Flush sash and casement windows with exposed
boxing and brick sills. Courtyard faced with grey stock
bricks. Rectangular courtyard plan with the Great Hall
lengthwise across the main facade and residential and common
rooms to the rear. Base of courtyard occupied by a sunken
gymnasium lit by a pitched, glazed roof. 3 storeys, attics and
basements. Broadly symmetrical facade with projecting wings
flanking the recessed hall in an advanced Arts and Crafts
manner.
Main entrance an asymmetrically placed, projecting,
square-headed porch of large stonework with segmental arch
over segmental-arched doorway with 2-leaf oak plank doors with
strip hinges. Delicate projecting cornice with a stone egg at
either end (symbolising rebirth); left hand return with large
lead rainwater head inscribed "1897", similar to those used
around the building. Stonework of porch at base continues
through a curve to provide a low base for area railings before
sweeping in an upward curve to form low walls to entrances on
the projecting wings. Entrance to the hall (left wing) and
secondary entrance for performers (right wing) with plain,
bracketed, projecting wooden hoods. 2-leaf wooden doors with
small rectangular glazed panels in the top third. Panels above
the doors, right hand of beaten copper (now painted) with
inscription and decoration, both with lamp-holders on either
side. Each wing with 3 casements on opposing diagonals marking
the stairs through the 1st floor. In vertical alignment across
the top of the stair windows, 3 similar casements. 3rd storeys
rendered with 3-light casements, the centre lights bowed.
Projecting modillion cornice. Recessed hall with 4
round-arched transom and mullion semi-basement windows with
gauged red brick heads. Hall expressed by 4 2-light casements
with louvred shutters and a Diocletian window above the main
entrance. Wide rendered band beneath eaves which sweep down to
3rd floor level. Central dormer of Palladian window type.
West elevation: composed of gabled hall end and accommodation.
Hall with large Palladian transom and mullion window with
exaggeratedly squat columns beneath the sill of which, 9 small
sashes (1:2:3:2:1). Ground floor level, 6 sashes with gauged
brick flat arches. Semi-basement, segmental-arched half
sashes. Residents' entrance with large cantilevered canopy
over a splayed, deeply recessed entrance with stone reveals
and 2-leaf doors. Canopy with paired, plain brackets at either
side between which paired single light windows; above, a
Diocletian window with keystone. 7 sashes at 2nd and 3rd floor
levels; 3rd floor rendered. Modillion cornice and dormers.
Garden elevation with central, cantilevered 5-light bowed
window rising from 1st floor to eaves, marking communal rooms.
Semi-basement sashes. To right, 3 sashes on each floor and
3-light canted bay rising from basement to 3rd floor with
paired sashes above. To left, 5 sashes on each floor.
Modillion cornice and dormers.
East elevation: to left gabled hall end with brick relief of
trees of life beneath which 3 small sashes flanked by narrow,
vertical sashes. At 1st floor level, 7-light bowed library
window with semi-basement sashes. Flanked by a small sash left
and 2 sashes right. Residential area to right with 9 sashes to
1st and 2nd floors. Doorway with bracketed segmental-arched
hood over segmental-arched fanlight and panelled 2-leaf doors
with narrow, vertical lights in top panels. 7-light bowed
drawing room window. Modillion cornice and dormers.
INTERIOR: spatially interesting, retaining original layout
with most original features including mouldings, chimney
pieces and fireplaces (those in public rooms by Voysey,
Newton, Troup, Dawber and Lethaby), built in cupboards and
furniture, panelled "cottage" doors with brass furniture.
Panelled library. Barrel-vaulted Great Hall with Palladian
window at west end repeating exterior features. Fitted
cupboards, also drop-leaf oak plank dining room tables, all by
Smith and Brewer survive particularly well in the dining room,
now coffee shop.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached cast-iron area railings of
square bars set diagonally with splayed tops and posts of bars
bent and riveted to form an arch. Attached elaborate
wrought-iron gates with foliated design and entwined initials,
to east elevation.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the Settlement was founded by the
best-selling novelist Mrs Humphrey Ward, who had been deeply
influenced by the charitable philosophies of TH Green and who
had obtained funding from Passmore Edwards, after whom the
building was first named. It is their initials which adorn the
doorplates and fireplaces in the building, though in 1920 the
building was named after Mrs Ward herself. The aim was to
restore contact between social classes by providing a building
in a working class neighbourhood where young middle class
professionals would live. Working at their usual occupations
by day, their leisure time would be spent with, and hopefully
influencing, the local inhabitants who were able to join the
settlement and use its facilities as a social club.
The combination of Arts and Crafts detailing, a
Lethaby-inspired symbolism, and the demonstration of its
social purpose through the well-preserved interior makes this
an exceptional building.
(Architects' Journal: 2 August 1989 : 190: 28-49).
Listing NGR: TQ3000582367
