Forest Croft and Taymount Grange are two 1930s
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
–style mansion blocks situated at the top of Taymount Rise in
Forest Hill,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
Forest Croft was built in 1937 to designs by Arnold Andre Higuer, on a site previously occupied by a house called The Mount. It comprises 63 flats.
Taymount Grange was built in 1935 to designs by
George Bertram Carter on the site of Taymount, a 19th-century house, and the former Queens Tennis Club. The developer was Sir Malerham Perks. It has a steel frame with masonry infill
[Sydenham and Forest Hill Foray, Twentieth Century Society walk notes, 2005] and a rendered finish, flat roof and metal "streamlined" windows. The aesthetic is more
Style Moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...
–being reliant in simplicity of detailing rather than ornamentation.
When built some of the flats comprised two apartments, a large one for the main occupier and a smaller one for the servant. The flats were advertised with the tag "the servant problem solved". There were also a restaurant, lounge and "guest rooms", as well as seven tennis courts, a swimming pool and a putting green.
Notable people
Michael Gambon, television, film and theatre actor, lived in the Forest Croft block for four years during his early to mid twenties.
See also
*
Du Cane Court
Du Cane Court is an Art Deco apartment block on Balham High Road, Balham, south London. A distinctive local landmark, it was opened in 1937 and, with 677 apartments, is the largest privately owned block of flats under one roof in Europe.
It was a ...
References
External links
Forum thread at SE23.comAerial photo of Taymount Grange under constructionwith play in progress at the tennis club
Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Lewisham
Art Deco architecture in London
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