Description

333/0/10080 SHEPHERDS BUSH ROAD
10-OCT-03 The Grampians

II
Flats with shops, 1935-7, by Maurice E.Webb (1880-1939) of Sir Aston Webb and Son and Stanley Hinge Hamp (1877 - 1968) of Collcutt and Hamp.
MATERIALS: A steel framed structure, with walls of red-brown brick and Portland stone dressings on the frontage block. There are metal casement windows with horizontal glazing bars. Shops are glazed with glass bricks and metal windows. Balconies are of reinforced concrete painted white or of metal painted black. The flat roofs are asphalt.
EXTERIOR: The west-facing frontage block steps down from a central highest point of eleven storeys above ground level. A pair of two-storey projections containing shopping with flats above flank the central ground floor street entrance, stepping back in curves to form an entrance court. From the second floor upwards, the plan is E-shaped. The narrower, cranked rear block is of twelve storeys at its highest point, and has a stub projection on its north side. The facade of the frontage block is in an Art Deco / Moderne style with classical references, accentuated by the stepped down roof line and curved shop projections. There are four vertical stacks of small balconies. At the top of the building, above the central projection, are triple arched openings with balustrade, forming a Lutyens-like belvedere feature. There is a double-height rusticated entrance archway with stylised keystones and a raised disc motif, with two recessed double entrance doors. A horizontal stone band at frieze level with the raised disc motif based on classical paterae divides the ground and first floors of the shop projections, a narrower stone band and metal balustrade above the first floor. The north and south ends of the projections are marked with tall brick pilasters with raked joints and decorative stone finials, forming huge end piers. The north and south sides of the frontage block each have a pair of triangular projecting bay windows with shared canted balcony. The rear wing is more Modern in style. The north side has a reinforced concrete screen producing a lattice effect and containing access walkways. The south side is punctuated by small balconies, alternating concrete with metal balustrading. The rear east wall is blank.
INTERIOR: There is a small central entrance lobby in the frontage block with access to lifts and adjacent concierge's office, which is embellished with stylised classical detailing consistent in character with that of the entrance portal. Staircases are positioned on the north and south ends of the frontage block, at the intersection between frontage and rear blocks, and in line with the projection on the rear wing. In the frontage block, flats are accessed from a central corridor running from north to south. In the rear block, there are external access corridors on the north side, all flats facing south. Flats are compact, planned in several formats; single or two storey. The two basement floors below the frontage block contain sports facilities (not inspected). Interior finishes are simple. Walls and ceilings are painted render, the concrete frame internally expressed. Floors are wooden parquet. The highest flats have additional clerestory lighting. A paved, stepped garden lies along the north side of the rear block.
HISTORY: The Grampians was the first part of a proposed string of blocks of flats along a disused railway line. Designed by Maurice Webb in conjunction with Collcutt & Hamp, it is a very good example of a 1930s block of flats, combining the Art Deco character of the entrance forecourt with the starker Modernist character of the rest of the development. Built principally intended to provide affordable rented housing for lower-middle class professionals, it is a highly characteristic interwar development, and among the finest blocks of this kind. The design for the block was exhibited at the 1935 Royal Academy.

SOURCES:
The Builder, May 10, 1935, pp.878, 882.
The Builder, January 8, 1939, pp.92-5, 121.
Design and Construction, May 1937, p.258.
Nikolaus Pevsner and Bridget Cherry, London 3: North West, London: Penguin, 1991, p.221.
Unpublished English Heritage report on London flats 1880-1940 by Mervyn Miller.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Grampians at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q27087032

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.

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