549 Lordship Lane, also known as the Concrete House, is a house on Lordship Lane in

East Dulwich East Dulwich is an area of South East London, England in the London Borough of Southwark. It forms the eastern part of Dulwich, with Peckham to the east and Camberwell to the north. This South London suburb was first developed in the nineteent ...

, close to the junction with Underhill Road and opposite St Peter's Church. The Gothic Revival house is an early example of a modern domestic dwelling constructed of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...

. It became 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 I ...

in 1994. The house may have been designed by

Charles Barry Jr. Charles Barry Jr. (1823–1900) was an English architect of the mid-late 19th century, and eldest son of Sir Charles Barry. Like his younger brother and fellow architect Edward Middleton Barry, Charles Jr. designed numerous buildings in London. H ...

(1823-1900) (son of Sir

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsi ...

who worked on the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

), possibly as a

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically o ...

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

to accompany his Gothic style St Peter's Church on the opposite other side of Lordship Lane. It was built in 1873 by Charles Drake of the Patent Concrete Building Company, and it may have been his own house. Drake had taken out a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling disclo ...

in 1867 for the use of iron panels for shuttering, in place of the usual timber. The mass concrete construction anticipates modern slip form methods, with bare concrete around the windows resembling stone, and surface patterning in other areas resembling

pebbledash Roughcast or pebbledash is a coarse plaster surface used on outside walls that consists of lime (material), lime and sometimes cement mixed with sand, small gravel and often pebbles or Seashell, shells. The materials are mixed into a slurry and ...

, with an effect similar to

béton brut ''Béton brut'' () is a French term that translates in English to “raw concrete”. The term is used to describe concrete that is left unfinished after being cast, displaying the patterns and seams imprinted on it by the formwork.''Exposed concr ...

. It is believed that the house is the only surviving example in England. It was made from

Portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th cen ...

with "burnt ballast" (clay) aggregate, without reinforcement, faced with mortar and render. The house has an L-shape plan, with two storeys and an attic. The ground floor has canted bays on the two principal façades, to the south west and south east, with pointed arched windows, and gabled porch in the return angle on the south west elevation. There are further pointed arched windows on the first floor, and square headed windows on the north west and north east elevations. The steeply pitched slate roof has projecting gables, topped by three large concrete chimneys. The house was sold three years after it was completed, and passed through many hands of many owners. It suffered bomb damage in the Second World War, but survived plans to replace it in the 1950s with a

petrol filling station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

or residential flats, or in the 1970s with a nursery, or in the 1980s with a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of elderly or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as skilled nursing facility (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to i ...

. It fell into disrepair and was vacant from the 1980s, with water ingress through holes in the roof causing significant damage to the interior, including the loss of the original decorative cornices and ceiling roses. The owner was granted

planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

to construct a similar building behind, on condition that the Concrete House was restored, but while the new building was completed the restoration was not done, and the house became increasingly dilapidated.

Southwark London Borough Council Southwark London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. History There have previously been a num ...

rejected several applications for permission to demolish the building. It was listed on

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

's Buildings At Risk register from 1994 to 2013. The house was acquired by Southwark Council in 2009 under a

compulsory purchase order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...

. It was restored with assistance from the

Heritage of London Trust Heritage may refer to: History and society * A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today ** Cultural heritage is created by humans ** Natural heritage is not * Heritage language Biology * Heredity, biological inheritance of physical ...

, the

Architectural Heritage Fund The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is a registered charity (No. 266780) founded in 1976 to promote the conservation and re-use of historic buildings across the United Kingdom. As the leading social investor in the UK for over 40 years, it provid ...

, and the

London Development Agency The London Development Agency (LDA) was from July 2000 until 2012 the regional development agency for the London region in England. A functional body of the Greater London Authority, its purpose was to drive sustainable economic growth within ...

, and converted from a single dwelling into five flats in

shared ownership Equity sharing is another name for shared ownership or '' co-ownership''. It takes one property, more than one owner, and blends them to maximize profit and tax deductions. Typically, the parties find a home and buy it together as co-owners, but s ...

, with a long lease granted to

Hexagon Housing Association In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A '' regular hexagon'' has ...

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, (Richard Alexander Walter George; born 26 August 1944) is a member of the British royal family. He is the second son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, as well ...

, reopened the restored building on 13 June 2013. The restoration won the

Angel Commendation In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...

award from

in 2013, and an award for building conservation from the

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the val ...

in 2014.

References

Number 549 and gate piers
National Heritage List for England, Historic England
A gothic house made from concrete
ianvisits.co.uk, 22 August 2019
The Concrete House Restoration by Paul Latham
The Dulwich Society, 25 September 2013
The Concrete House, 549 Lordship Lane
The Dulwich Society, 14 June 2013
Newsletter
The Dulwich Society, 25 June 2009
549 Lordship Lane
Heritage of London Trust Operations
Restoring Charles Drake's concrete house
Paul Latham, Institute of Historic Building Conservation, 8 September 2016
549 Lordship Lane, London
Architectural Heritage Fund, 20 November 2018

External links

Catalogue of Drake's Patent Concrete Building Company
archive.org {{coord, 51.44287, -0.06653, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Concrete buildings and structures Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Southwark Grade II listed houses in London Houses completed in 1873 Dulwich