Six Pillars is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...

in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

. The house was built in the 1930s in the

modernist style Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

History

Six Pillars is in

in the

, opposite

Dulwich Wood Dulwich Wood, together with the adjacent Sydenham Hill Wood, is the largest extant part of the ancient Great North Wood in the London Borough of Southwark.

. It is the only

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

house in its street as the other houses are more ordinary townhouses or Victorian villas. Six Pillars was built by architect Valentine Harding, who was working for

Tecton Group The Tecton Group was a radical architectural group co-founded by Berthold Lubetkin, Francis Skinner (architect), Francis Skinner, Denys Lasdun, Michael Dugdale, Anthony Chitty, Val Harding, Godfrey Samuel, and Lindsay Drake in 1932 and disbanded ...

. The company also built

Highpoint I Highpoint I was the first of two apartment blocks erected in the 1930s on one of the highest points in London, England, in Highgate. The architectural design was by the Georgian-British architect Berthold Lubetkin, the structural design by the ...

and the penguin enclosure at

London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for science, scientific study. In 1831 o ...

, both of which are listed Grade I. It is one of four houses built by Harding, who died at the

Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk (french: Bataille de Dunkerque, link=no) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on ...

in 1940. It was built in the style of

Villa Savoye Villa Savoye () is a modernist villa and gatelodge in Poissy, on the outskirts of Paris. It was designed by the Swiss- French architect Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, and built between 1928 and 1931 using reinforced concrete.Courla ...

, built by

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

, and contains "glascrete" (concrete containing glass) to maximise the amount of sunlight in the house. The house was built between 1932 and 1934 for John Leakey, headmaster of

Dulwich College Preparatory School Dulwich Prep London (DPL), formerly known as Dulwich College Preparatory School, is an independent preparatory school in Dulwich, south London, England for boys aged 3–13 years. The current Head Master is Louise Davidson. In 1938 headmaster ...

, and his wife. It was built of

London stock brick London stock brick is the type of handmade brick which was used for the majority of building work in London and South East England until the growth in the use of Flettons and other machine-made bricks in the early 20th century. Its distinctive y ...

in a

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

style so that it did not stand out from the Victorian era houses. The house was also set back from the road. The house, when built, contained four bathrooms, two bedrooms, three reception rooms, a study, and two maid's quarters. The ground floor of the house is divided by six cylindrical pillars, which gives the house its name. The entrance hall spans two floors and contains a sculpted staircase. The rear of the house contains strip windows, built in the same style as Highpoint I, and there is a first-floor glass balcony. The house covers an area of . In 1981, Six Pillars became a Grade II*

. In 1989, it was put on the market for £365,000. The house featured in the 1992 book ''Lubetkin & Tecton: An Architectural Study''. In 1998, it was bought by Roger Trapp, who commissioned John Winter to undertake a restoration. Six Pillars House was put up for sale in 2012 with a guide price of £1,675,000.

References

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External links

Historic England
Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Southwark Grade II* listed houses in London Modernist architecture in London Sydenham, London Houses completed in 1934 1934 establishments in England