Cuthbert Harrowing House

Cuthbert Harrowing House, Fann Street

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Overview

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 7 February 2024 to reformat the text to current standards.

TQ 3282 SW
627-0/3/10171

FANN STREET (east side)
Cuthbert Harrowing House

GV
II
Block of eighteen maisonettes. Design won in competition in 1952, built to revised designs 1954-56; competition winner Geoffry Powell, architects for built scheme Chamnberlin, Powell and Bon. Ove Arup and Partners engineers; Wimpeys builders for the superstructure.

Pink brick crosswall construction (with pink mortar) with concrete floor and roof slabs, concrete balconies (now painted) and glass infill panels. Flat roof. Four storeys over basement stores. The maisonettes set in pairs along two rows, nine per pair of floors. Balconies to Fann Street elevation, the lower maisonettes with steps paved in quarry tiles leading down to shared garden. The flats reached from access galleries, the upper maisonettes via glazed end staircase, with secondary escape stair in penultimate bay of opposite end. Most maisonettes have two bedrooms, those either side of the escape stair have three.

On Fann Street elevation the cross walls project forward to give privacy to each maisonette, and the block reads as two terraces of houses, one on top of the other. Aluminium windows with timber facing to living room, some on ground floor behind balconies renewed. The aluminium system continues as the framework for the bright blue cladding panels set in bands under the windows. Upper floor bedroom windows project: set-back staircase windows to each unit on lower level; continuous bands of glazing and blue panels to top floor of upper maisonettes. Blue-clad projection to end maisonettes at rear of escape stair. Concrete balconies with steel rails. Brick piers to courtyard (entrance) side mask timber doors set in pairs. Access galleries with steel railings, wired glass balcony fronts on first and third floors serve fire escape balconies between bedrooms, those at end serve escape stairs. Fully glazed staircase at end, with storey-high panes set in timber frames, and monopitch roof set over top. Concrete stairs expressed as a continuous floor slab on the sides of the building. Rubbish shute at rear (Fann Street) side, on the wall of which is mounted a three-dimensional plan of the estate. Original signs survive. Thomas Cuthbert Harrowing was the former chair of the Public Health Committee. To side, ramp leads to basement carpark.

Interiors with hardwood veneer floors, and glazed screens between kitchen and dining space. This combines with the double height of the stairwell to give a sense of greater spaciousness than is actually the case, for the dimensions of the units were restricted under reduced minimum standards introduced in 1951. Staircases with open treads increase this sense of airiness. On the lower level the staircases rise from within the living room, but those on upper floor rise from opposite the front door. Upstairs the upper levels have central bathrooms with clerestory glazing. Fitted cupboards and shelving of interest where they survive, though kitchen and bathroom fittings are not of special interest.

HISTORY AND ANALYSIS The development and importance of the Golden Lane Estate is explained in the entry for Great Arthur House.

(City of London Corporation Record Office: Records of Competition, 1951-2, and surviving drawings.; Derek Bean: The Golden Lane Competition, Bartlett School MSc Thesis: 1987-; The Builder: 29 February 1952: 324-8; The Builder: 7 March 1952: 371-81; Architects' Journal: 20 March 1952: 354, 358-62; Architectural Design: July 1953: 190-4; Architectural Design: September 1956: 294-8; Architectural Review: June 1957: 415-26; Architects' Journal: 27 June 1957: 947-8;.The Builder: 15 November 1957: 850-6).
Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1021948
Date first listed:
04-Dec-1997
List Entry Name:
Cuthbert Harrowing House
Statutory Address:
Cuthbert Harrowing House, Fann Street
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Date:
2007-03-15
Reference:
IOE01/16347/35
Rights:
© Mr Anthony Rau. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1021948
Date first listed:
04-Dec-1997
List Entry Name:
Cuthbert Harrowing House
Statutory Address 1:
Cuthbert Harrowing House, Fann Street

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
Cuthbert Harrowing House, Fann Street

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:
Greater London Authority
District:
City and County of the City of London (London Borough)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
TQ 32202 82040

Summary

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 7 February 2024 to reformat the text to current standards.

TQ 3282 SW
627-0/3/10171

FANN STREET (east side)
Cuthbert Harrowing House

GV
II
Block of eighteen maisonettes. Design won in competition in 1952, built to revised designs 1954-56; competition winner Geoffry Powell, architects for built scheme Chamnberlin, Powell and Bon. Ove Arup and Partners engineers; Wimpeys builders for the superstructure.

Pink brick crosswall construction (with pink mortar) with concrete floor and roof slabs, concrete balconies (now painted) and glass infill panels. Flat roof. Four storeys over basement stores. The maisonettes set in pairs along two rows, nine per pair of floors. Balconies to Fann Street elevation, the lower maisonettes with steps paved in quarry tiles leading down to shared garden. The flats reached from access galleries, the upper maisonettes via glazed end staircase, with secondary escape stair in penultimate bay of opposite end. Most maisonettes have two bedrooms, those either side of the escape stair have three.

On Fann Street elevation the cross walls project forward to give privacy to each maisonette, and the block reads as two terraces of houses, one on top of the other. Aluminium windows with timber facing to living room, some on ground floor behind balconies renewed. The aluminium system continues as the framework for the bright blue cladding panels set in bands under the windows. Upper floor bedroom windows project: set-back staircase windows to each unit on lower level; continuous bands of glazing and blue panels to top floor of upper maisonettes. Blue-clad projection to end maisonettes at rear of escape stair. Concrete balconies with steel rails. Brick piers to courtyard (entrance) side mask timber doors set in pairs. Access galleries with steel railings, wired glass balcony fronts on first and third floors serve fire escape balconies between bedrooms, those at end serve escape stairs. Fully glazed staircase at end, with storey-high panes set in timber frames, and monopitch roof set over top. Concrete stairs expressed as a continuous floor slab on the sides of the building. Rubbish shute at rear (Fann Street) side, on the wall of which is mounted a three-dimensional plan of the estate. Original signs survive. Thomas Cuthbert Harrowing was the former chair of the Public Health Committee. To side, ramp leads to basement carpark.

Interiors with hardwood veneer floors, and glazed screens between kitchen and dining space. This combines with the double height of the stairwell to give a sense of greater spaciousness than is actually the case, for the dimensions of the units were restricted under reduced minimum standards introduced in 1951. Staircases with open treads increase this sense of airiness. On the lower level the staircases rise from within the living room, but those on upper floor rise from opposite the front door. Upstairs the upper levels have central bathrooms with clerestory glazing. Fitted cupboards and shelving of interest where they survive, though kitchen and bathroom fittings are not of special interest.

HISTORY AND ANALYSIS The development and importance of the Golden Lane Estate is explained in the entry for Great Arthur House.

(City of London Corporation Record Office: Records of Competition, 1951-2, and surviving drawings.; Derek Bean: The Golden Lane Competition, Bartlett School MSc Thesis: 1987-; The Builder: 29 February 1952: 324-8; The Builder: 7 March 1952: 371-81; Architects' Journal: 20 March 1952: 354, 358-62; Architectural Design: July 1953: 190-4; Architectural Design: September 1956: 294-8; Architectural Review: June 1957: 415-26; Architects' Journal: 27 June 1957: 947-8;.The Builder: 15 November 1957: 850-6).

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 7 February 2024 to reformat the text to current standards.

TQ 3282 SW
627-0/3/10171

FANN STREET (east side)
Cuthbert Harrowing House

GV
II
Block of eighteen maisonettes. Design won in competition in 1952, built to revised designs 1954-56; competition winner Geoffry Powell, architects for built scheme Chamberlin, Powell and Bon. Ove Arup and Partners engineers; Wimpeys builders for the superstructure.

Pink brick crosswall construction (with pink mortar) with concrete floor and roof slabs, concrete balconies (now painted) and glass infill panels. Flat roof. Four storeys over basement stores. The maisonettes set in pairs along two rows, nine per pair of floors. Balconies to Fann Street elevation, the lower maisonettes with steps paved in quarry tiles leading down to shared garden. The flats reached from access galleries, the upper maisonettes via glazed end staircase, with secondary escape stair in penultimate bay of opposite end. Most maisonettes have two bedrooms, those either side of the escape stair have three.

On Fann Street elevation the cross walls project forward to give privacy to each maisonette, and the block reads as two terraces of houses, one on top of the other. Aluminium windows with timber facing to living room, some on ground floor behind balconies renewed. The aluminium system continues as the framework for the bright blue cladding panels set in bands under the windows. Upper floor bedroom windows project: set-back staircase windows to each unit on lower level; continuous bands of glazing and blue panels to top floor of upper maisonettes. Blue-clad projection to end maisonettes at rear of escape stair. Concrete balconies with steel rails. Brick piers to courtyard (entrance) side mask timber doors set in pairs. Access galleries with steel railings, wired glass balcony fronts on first and third floors serve fire escape balconies between bedrooms, those at end serve escape stairs. Fully glazed staircase at end, with storey-high panes set in timber frames, and monopitch roof set over top. Concrete
stairs expressed as a continuous floor slab on the sides of the building. Rubbish shute at rear (Fann Street) side, on the wall of which is mounted a three-dimensional plan of the estate. Original signs survive. Thomas Cuthbert Harrowing was the former chair of the Public Health Committee. To side, ramp leads to basement carpark.

Interiors with hardwood veneer floors, and glazed screens between kitchen and dining space. This combines with the double height of the stairwell to give a sense of greater spaciousness than is actually the case, for the dimensions of the units were restricted under reduced minimum standards introduced in 1951. Staircases with open treads increase this sense of airiness. On the lower level the staircases rise from within the living room, but those on upper floor rise from opposite the front door. Upstairs the upper levels have central bathrooms with clerestory glazing. Fitted cupboards and shelving of interest where they survive, though kitchen and bathroom fittings are not of special interest.

HISTORY AND ANALYSIS
The development and importance of the Golden Lane Estate is explained in the entry for Great Arthur House.

(City of London Corporation Record Office: Records of Competition, 1951-2, and surviving drawings.; Derek Bean: The Golden Lane Competition, Bartlett School MSc Thesis: 1987-; The Builder: 29 February 1952: 324-8; The Builder: 7 March 1952: 371-81; Architects' Journal: 20 March 1952: 354, 358-62; Architectural Design: July 1953: 190-4; Architectural Design: September 1956: 294-8; Architectural Review: June 1957: 415-26; Architects' Journal: 27 June 1957: 947-8;.The Builder: 15 November 1957: 850-6).

Listing NGR: TQ3220282040

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
466572
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
The Builder in 15 November, (1957), 850-6
Architects Journal in 20 March, (1952), 354,358-62
The Builder in 29 February, (1952), 324-8
The Builder in 7 March, (1952), 371-81
Architectural Design in July, (1953), 190-4
Architectural Design in Architectural Design, (September 1956), 294-8
Architectural Review in Architectural Review, (June 1957), 415-26
. in Architects Journal, Vol. 27 June 1957:, (1957), 947-8

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Cuthbert Harrowing House

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 24-Jun-2026 at 08:12:49.

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End of official list entry

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