Download 5 floor maisonette, 12 Cadogan Square

Historical report
4 - 5th floor maisonette,
12 Cadogan Square
th
Cadogan Square 1965
prepared by
Penny Olsen, The Research Workshop
6th February 2015 with additions 10th March 2015
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Introduction
12 Cadogan Square stands on the north side of this famous London square
that takes its name from the freeholder.
Cadogan Square was laid out and developed between 1877 and 1888 in the
grounds of an 18th century house known as The Pavilion, built and occupied
by the architect Henry Holland.
In 1874 the Cadogan and Hans Place Improvement Act was passed enabling
the Cadogan Estate to extend Pont Street through the unbuilt area west of
Sloane Street. Henry Holland’s Pavilion was demolished and Cadogan
Square and the adjacent streets were developed over the site and garden.
The builder who signed the agreement to develop Cadogan Square and the
surrounding streets with the Cadogan Estate was North Rithendon, of
Wellington Road, West Hackney. He agreed to surround the new Square with
houses ‘not inferior to those in Lowndes Square’. This reference suggests
stucco faced Italianate terraces but this never happened.
The style chosen for the new development was Queen Anne Revival, an
appropriate response to a demand for a new urban style. All houses were
faced with red brick and then enlivened with moulded red brick and
terracotta.
Building works proceeded in a piecemeal fashion in the late 1870s along the
north-east and west sides. Development on the east side proceeded
gradually between 1877 and 1890 whilst the remainder of the Square was
completed between 1886 and 1889. Lord Cadogan was obliged to approve
each design which ensured a consistent theme of substantial red
brick elevations. One of the characteristic features of the Square is the
contrast between the exuberance and individuality of the buildings of the west
side and the more restrained formality of the east and north sides. Such a
contrast was due to the plethora of architects who designed individual
facades on the west side (including R. Norman Shaw, George
Devey, Ernest George and Peto and A.J. Adams) and the fact that one
architect (G.T. Robinson) designed virtually the entire east and north side. J.
J. Stephenson designed most of the south side. The presence of
so many influential contemporary architects in Cadogan Square meant that it
became the showcase of the Queen Anne Revival school of architecture. By
adopting the new style the Cadogan Estate placed itself in the forefront of
advanced taste and as a result, they enjoyed favourable treatment by the
architectural press at the time. The central gardens of Cadogan Square,
covering some 2 acres were laid out in 1886.
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Cadogan Estate Lease History
The original head lease of 12 Cadogan Square was granted by the 5th Earl
Cadogan to Louis Floersheim in 1887 for a premium of £13,750. The lease
began in March 1874 and would run for 99 years, expiring in 1973, at a yearly
ground rent of £30. The premises included ‘a coach-house and stable in the
rear’. Like all other leases across the Square, the lease stipulated that the
building was to be ‘occupied as a private house only’.
The 1901 Census Return tells us that Louis F Floersheim (b 1840) was
German by birth but now a British subject. He was a ‘merchant and foreign
banker’ by trade. He was married to Julia who was born in Hampshire and
was 9 years his junior. They had a son, Walter Floersheim (b 1873) and a
daughter Ethel Floersheim (b 1876). The family had 12 live-in servants at 12
Cadogan Square to take care of their every need. A butler, a footman, two
house maids, a scullery maid, a kitchen maid, a house maid, a cook, a lady’s
maid, a housekeeper and a nurse to see to Louis Floersheim’s 8 year old
nephew, George Banbridge, who was staying with the family on census night
(31st March 1901).
In 1938, the Estate had to look carefully at these original leases as times had
changed dramatically since the First World War and these very large houses,
many with 16 bedrooms or more, were no longer able to attract single family
occupants. They were unsuited to ‘modern’ times. ‘Out of the 81 houses on
Cadogan Square, 28 of these were for sale and several had been standing
empty for some considerable time’.
In 1938, the Estate reported that ‘by 1973 they would be in possession of
unmarketable houses (in Cadogan Square) in a district where the population
had steadily deteriorated in character’. Although the Estate ‘adamantly
opposed individual applications to convert the house into suites or
apartments they would now consider applications for a number of houses
together to be converted into flats or even to be rebuild as suitable flats like in
Grosvenor Square’.
In 1939 a member of the Bowes Lyon family was living at 12 Cadogan,
though unfortunately no first name or initial was recorded. Bowes Lyon was
the maiden name of the late Queen Elizabeth the queen mother.
In March 1955 a new head-lease was granted to Ferdinand Porjes esq for a
term of 68 years, ending in 2023.
Ferdinand Porjes (1900-1973) acquired the lease to 12 Cadogan Square as
an investment. In 1957, Porjes is recorded as living at 42a Harcourt Street,
Marylebone. By 1965 Porjes had moved to 49 Eton Avenue, Hampstead
where he remained until his death at the age of 73 in 1973. He was married
to Edith Porjes.
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In February 1956, Ferdinand Porjes was granted a licence to make
alterations and then sub-let the first and second floor flats and a maisonette
on the 4th and 5th floors of 12 Cadogan Square. The top floor maisonette had
a single reception room, 3 bedrooms, one bathroom and a kitchen.
Also in February 1956, the Cadogan Estate grants permission for Porjes to
sub-let the 4th and 5th floor maisonette at 12 Cadogan Square to Eleanor
Mary Booth for 68 years at an exclusive ground rent of £250 per annum.
In April 1968, the Cadogan Estate granted a licence to Twelve Cadogan
Square Ltd to make alterations to the upper maisonette at 12 Cadogan
Square. These alterations were to include the provision of a new bathroom
from space taken from the adjoining bedroom on the 4th floor. The original
bathroom, created in 1956, was turned into a study. In addition, a new
bathroom was created on the 5th floor out of an existing bedroom.
Approved 9 October 1967, completed on 24 June 1968.
In May 2007 an extended under-lease was granted by the Cadogan Estate,
for the 4th and 5th floor maisonette at 12 Cadogan Square, to Ashkin
Shivaranjan Mittal. The term was for 90 years beyond the existing lease (that
expired in 2023), expiring now in March 2113. The premium paid was
£432,500.
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Cadogan Estate OS map to accompany plans with new lease for the 4th and
5th floor maisonette, 2006.
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Ground plans with Cadogan lease, 2006, 4th and 5th floor maisonette.
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Cadogan Estate plan to accompany a new lease for
the 4th and 5th floor maisonette, 2006.
This drawing reflects the work that was carried out in 1967.
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Drainage Records for 12 Cadogan Square
PH/CD/147/1955
In 1955, F Porjes, held the head lease of 12 Cadogan Square.
In July of that year Porjes submitted an application to the Metropolitan
Borough of Chelsea, PH/CD/147, to install new sanitary fittings including,
sinks, baths and toilets. on each floor of the house. The plan that
accompanied this application shows how the building had been converted
into five separate flats with the necessary facilities were now being added to
each.
Flat One included part of the basement, part of the ground floor and a
doctor’s surgery in the front room of the house.
Flat Two occupied all of the first floor.
Flat Three occupied the second floor.
Flat Four occupied the third floor.
Flat Five was a maisonette, on the fourth floor plus space in the attic,
accessed by stairs leading up from the third floor.
A caretaker occupied a small flat in the basement.
A separate plan from 1955 shows a cross section through 12 Cadogan
Square.
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Drainage application for 12 Cadogan Square, 1955.
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Cross section of 12 Cadogan Square, 1955.
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Floor plans of 12 Cadogan Square, 1955.
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Floor plans of the third, fourth and attic floors,
12 Cadogan Square, 1955.
Extract from the full plan.
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41622/1967
In 1967 another drainage application was submitted to what was now known
as the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea for works to be carried to the
maisonette, (‘2 top floors’) at 12 Cadogan Square. On this occasion, ‘to alter
and add to the drainage system’.
What had been the bathroom in the back room of the fourth floor was now to
be a study. The existing fittings were removed and sealed off.
The separate WC, adjacent to the old bathroom, was enlarged to include the
existing lobby, plus the cupboard in the adjacent bedroom, to form a new
bathroom.
On the top floor (originally the attic), the smaller of the two existing bedrooms
was made into a new second bathroom.
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Drainage application for ‘2 top floors’, 12 Cadogan Square, 1967.
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Drainage plan of the top floors of 12 Cadogan Square,
existing and proposed.
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Drainage plan of 1967, 12 Cadogan Square.
4th floor plan, detail from the whole plan.
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Drainage plan of 1967, 12 Cadogan Square.
top floor plan, detail.
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Drainage plan of 1967, 12 Cadogan Square. roof plan and rear elevations.
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Planning Applications 12 Cadogan Square
Property Number 0109 015 00
Conditional Permission July 1954
Conversion of 12 Cadogan Square into two s/c maisonettes, three s/c flats, a
basement flat a caretaker and one room for a surgery with an ancillary
waiting room and office.
Unconditional Permission April 1956
Uniting of the front part of the ground and the whole of the first floor of 12
Cadogan Square to form a s/c maisonette.
Unconditional Permission February 1968
Construction of the timber screen on the rear elevation of the top flat of 12
Cadogan Square.
TP/85/0407
Conditional Permission January 1985
Internal alterations and erection of a basement rear extension.
TP/85/0408
Conditional Permission January 1987
Internal alterations and erection of a basement extension.
Listed Building Consent
TP/85/1116
Conditional Permission August 1985
Internal alterations together with the erection of a rear extension at ground
and lower ground floor rear maisonette.
TP/85/1117
Conditional Permission August 1985
Erection of a rear extension together with internal alterations at ground and
lower ground floor rear maisonette.
Listed Building Consent
PP/06/1543
Conditional Permission August 2006
Refurbishment of existing roof terrace including like for like replacement of
timber screening, waterproofing, terrace finishes and handrail.
LB/06/1544
Conditional Permission August 2006
Refurbishment of existing roof terrace including replacement of timber
screening, waterproofing, terrace finishes and handrail.
Listed Building Consent
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Conclusion
12 Cadogan Square was constructed as a single-family house by the
Cadogan Estate in 1886-7. The new house immediately attracted an
occupant, who in 1887 signed a 99-year lease. The lease dated back to
1874, the year the building lease was granted to the builder who constructed
the property.
The policy of the Cadogan Estate was never to sub-divide their large
Victorian Cadogan Square house into smaller units. Nevertheless, after the
First World War (1920s) there were calls from head-lessees to do just this as
they could no longer find the staff to work in them and nor could they find
willing under-tenants to take these enormous houses on. The thought of
dividing was eventually considered by the Estate in the late 1930s but war
intervened and the houses of Cadogan Square were not destined to be split
into flats until after the 1950s.
In 1956, the 4th and 5th floor maisonette at 12 Cadogan Square was created.
In 1968, alterations took place involving the creation of a second bathroom
on the 5th floor and re-organsing the original bathroom on the 4th floor.
Footnote
Drainage plans for the adjacent properties, 8, 10 and 14 Cadogan Square
have also survived.
The earliest plan for 8 Cadogan Square is dated 1959. The owner was
Hartpac Investments and ‘the removal of existing partitions’ is mentioned,
revealing that these were not 19th century layouts.
An earlier drainage plan for 10 Cadogan Square dates from October 1936.
The application was made by the owner K M Carlisle and shows the 4th floor
and 5th floor. These plans are a mirror reflection of 12 Cadogan Square but
would appear to be almost unaltered from the original build. The 4th floor plan
shows ‘new lavatory basins’ in bedroom 7 and bedroom 8. The dividing wall
between these two bedrooms is angled to ensure that each room has two
windows. This angled division could be original or may have been created
after the original build.
A drainage plan of the 4th floor only, dated 1920, has survived for 14
Cadogan Square. This again is a mirror reflection of the 4th floor at 12
Cadogan Square. This plan would appear to be the original layout except for
the new bathroom and linen closet that have been created with partition walls
within the confines of the earlier bathroom space. The work was carried out
by Harrods Ltd.
A comparison with surviving plans for 12 Cadogan Square, 1955 and 1967,
shows clearly the alterations from the original layout.
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10 Cadogan Square, 1936, 4th floor plan
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10 Cadogan Square, 1936, 5th floor plan
Drainage plan of the 4th floor of 14 Cadogan Square, 1920
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Additional historical information for 12 Cadogan Square
Living at 12 Cadogan Square during the 1920s and 30s was Patrick BowesLyon (1863-1946), members of his family and a full staff of servants.
Patrick Bowes-Lyon was a British tennis player, a barrister and uncle to
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, mother of Queen Elizabeth II.
He was a Scottish tennis champion in 1885, 1886 and 1888, and won the
doubles at Wimbledon partnering Herbert Wilberforce in 1887.
He was one of eleven children born to Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of
Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Frances Dora Smith.
He was married to Alice, daughter of George Wiltshire. They had four
children of whom Angus Patrick Bowes-Lyons (1899-1923), Jean Barbara
Bowes-Lyon (1904-1963) and Margaret Ann Bowes-Lyon (1907-1999) lived
with their parents at 12 Cadogan Square at various times.
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