1 Windrush Square (Black Cultural Archives) and Raleigh Hall, 1a and 1b Saltoun Road

Summary

1 Windrush Square, home to the Black Cultural Archives, was originally two early 19th-century houses. The buildings became the Brixton Liberal Club, in association with which the adjacent Raleigh Hall was constructed. The houses were converted to museum and archive use in 2014; Raleigh Hall is in separate workshop and studio use in 2025.

Reasons for Designation

1 Windrush Square and Raleigh Hall, Saltoun Road, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the origins of 1 Windrush Square as a pair of substantial early-C19 houses, presenting an elegant Classically-informed frontage, remain evident;
* the former public hall illustrates the development of the site as a centre for culture and recreation, retaining a first-floor billiard hall with a carefully-detailed timber roof.

Historic interest:

* the buildings illustrate the social, educational and cultural historic development of this area of Brixton, a factor that contributes to their special interest.

Group value:

* the public space formed of Windrush Square to the south and Brixton Oval to the north contains a group of Grade II-listed buildings including the Tate Library and the Ritzy Cinema.

History

The building which is now the Black Cultural Archives at 1 Windrush Square, was built in the early C19 as a pair of substantial adjoining houses on the north-eastern edge of Rush Common. The northern house became known as Goethe House (later 1 Effra Road) and the southern house as Effra House (later 3 Effra Road). The houses were listed as Effra House, 1 and 3 Effra Road, in July 1974.

In 1874 Saltoun Road was created, running along the southern boundary of the southern house, and covering much of the long rear gardens the two houses had enjoyed to the east; a stretch of garden wall survives extending from the north-east corner of the present 1 Windrush Square. During the later C19, the houses became home to the Brixton Liberal Club, and at some time between 1875 and 1885 a single-storey block, containing a large hall, was constructed to the east; this became known as the Effra Public Hall, and later as the Raleigh Hall. The hall’s southern elevation fronted Saltoun Road; a drawing of 1885 suggests that there may at first have been no entrance from Saltoun Road, but by 1893 the main entrance to the hall was at the eastern end of this elevation. The hall connected with Effra House at ground-floor level; this link has now been closed. A second storey providing a billiard hall was constructed soon after the building of the main hall, and an enclosed staircase was constructed in the angle between the two buildings giving access to the billiard hall from Effra House; this structure has now gone. An auxiliary range attached to Raleigh Hall to the north-east, providing a storeroom and dressing room, has also been demolished. By 1893, when the entire site was sold, the two houses and the public hall were connected, but different parts of the complex appear to have been in use for different purposes; sales particulars partially illustrate the arrangement of the buildings at that date. The buildings were clearly in diverse uses during the late C19 and early C20; at different times, a ladies' boarding school and the Raleigh College for Boys were housed on the site. The public hall continued to be used for numerous clubs and events, as well as by a dancing school.

From 1927 until the 1970s a motor-coach company operated from the site, with an omnibus depot in the area to the west (formerly front gardens, and now Windrush Square). During the later C20 the buildings were divided into a number of units serving separate industrial uses. The site was also home to the Cinema Museum from 1986 until the late 1990s. The mixed use of the site led to inconsistencies in the names applied to the whole or part of the complex, which included Effra House, Raleigh House, Raleigh Hall, Raleigh Works, Raleigh Hall Works, and 1 and 3 Effra Road.

In 1992 the complex was placed on the London Buildings at Risk survey. The rear building was sold and thoroughly renovated in 1997, becoming a furniture workshop, and subsequently also studios. The address of this building was fixed as Raleigh Hall, 1a and 1b Saltoun Road, in 1998. In the same year, Windrush Square was named to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush, bringing one of the first large groups of post-war Caribbean immigrants to the United Kingdom; a plaque on the front elevation of 1 Windrush Square celebrates the arrival and contribution of the 'Windrush Generations' between 1947 and 1962. In 2014, the Black Cultural Archives opened at 1 Windrush Square, a unified building composed of the former early-C19 houses, redeveloped as a museum and archive by Pringle Richards Sharratt Architects. The works involved very comprehensive changes and rebuilding both externally and internally. Externally, a single-storey bowed bay was raised to full height, and a large extension (excluded from the listing) was added to the south-west, housing archive storage and exhibition space. The internal walls and floors were rebuilt to a reordered plan, though the division between the two houses remains legible; all original fittings and finishes were removed or replaced.

Details

1 Windrush Square was originally two houses, built around 1810 and much altered subsequently; the pair were converted to museum and archive use in 2014. Raleigh Hall, attached to and extending eastwards from the southern end of 1 Windrush Square, was built as a public hall around 1880 and raised to two storeys shortly afterwards; the building was converted to workshop and studio use in the 1990s.

1 WINDRUSH SQUARE (BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES)

MATERIALS: rendered brick; the main roof is flat, with half-hipped slated sections to north and south; all window openings hold new or replacement frames, mainly sashes.

PLAN: the original building, formed of the two early-C19 houses, is rectangular on plan, set on a north-south alignment, with the principal elevation facing west to Windrush Square; at the southern end is a remodelled former entrance bay, with a bowed section to the east.

EXTERIOR: the principal, west-facing frontage to Windrush Square is three storeys high and seven bays wide: the northern four bays originally belonged to the northern house, and the southern three bays to the southern house. At the northern end of the elevation is the bowed balustraded bay, raised circa 2014, the ground-floor window replaced by a door. The building has a cornice with dentil course, and a plain parapet above. The ground-floor bays are arcaded, with archivolts linked by an impost string; in the recesses are round-headed glazed doors, all early-C20, the central four replacing windows. The windows above have moulded eared architraves. The area lighting the basement has been covered. The former entrance bay to the south has been remodelled, without the door opening. The dentil cornice now continues across this and the two-storey bowed bay to the east. The unrendered rear elevation has two double-height bows to the south, and a projecting, two-storey section to the north; this elevation has seen much rebuilding. The lower half of the southern bow was removed to allow access for the stair to the Raleigh Hall billiard room and has now been largely or wholly rebuilt.

INTERIOR: the 2014 conversion led to the re-ordering of the internal plan, with the loss of the wall which formerly divided the two buildings, and of the two staircases which originally served the houses; a new stair has been constructed in the northern part of the building. All internal features of a historic character, such as moulded cornices, skirtings and architraves, and window shutters, are thought to belong to the circa 2014 renovation.

The 2014 extension is excluded from the listing.

RALEIGH HALL

MATERIALS: yellow brick (described as ‘Malms’ in the 1893 sales particulars) to the front elevation, with red-brick dressings; the rear elevation is in greyer London stock brick. The hipped roof is covered with slate; a brick stack rises to the north and there is a shorter one to the north-east. The timber windows are almost entirely replacements.

PLAN: the building is roughly a rectangle on plan, opening to Saltoun Road to the south, with a single-storey section to the rear.

EXTERIOR: on the principal, south-facing elevation, the original, ground-floor, section, has three segmental-arched openings, set in red-brick pilastered architraves; in between are tall recessed arches. The uses of the openings have seen some change over time; an 1885 depiction suggests all three may originally have been windows. The original ground floor is crowned by a corbel cornice. Above, the later storey has three windows, one above each ground-floor opening, flanked by pilasters; beneath the outer first-floor windows the cornice beneath has been broken through. The first floor is topped by its own moulded cornice, with a parapet above, the pilasters continuing into the parapet, with recessed panels in between. At the eastern end of the building a narrow bay is set back, containing an entrance with windows above; this bay appears originally to have provided a side entrance to the hall and a passage to the rear building, as well as ancillary spaces for the hall and billiard room, but has seen much alteration and rebuilding.

The rear elevation is functional in appearance, with cambered-arched windows; half-height windows above the single-storey section provide clerestory lighting to the hall. The elevation shows evidence of change, including the raising of the building, and the removal of the stair structure to the west.

INTERIOR: the ground floor space, originally the public hall, remains open, with a deep coved and moulded cornice; the room also retains skirtings, door and window architraves. The original double doors survive connecting the hall with the single-storey section to the rear, formerly housing the refreshment room and other facilities. This section is now in workshop use, and does not retain historic features. On the first floor, the boarded roof of the former billiard room remains exposed, with four trusses of chamfered timbers and scrolled braces supporting the collars. The space is now accessed from a new stair in the eastern bay, as well as by an external stair to the north. All fireplaces within the building have been removed.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

204216

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
Lambeth Archives: drawing of Brixton Liberal Club (South London Press, 1 August 1885), accessed 6 January 2025 from https://boroughphotos.org/lambeth/effra-hall-effra-road/
London Picture Archive: historic photos of Raleigh Hall/Raleigh Hall Works, 1974, accessed 6 January 2025 from https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/
Historic England, photograph of 'Effra House', 1 and 3 Effra Road, 2002, accessed 6 January 2025 from https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/IOE01/07177/17
Black Cultural Archives Heritage, The History of Raleigh Hall, accessed 6 January 2025 from https://www.tumblr.com/bcaheritage/135259948414/the-history-of-raleigh-hall
'Brixton: Rush Common', in Survey of London: Volume 26, Lambeth: Southern Area, ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1956), British History Online, accessed 20 February 2025 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol26/pp131-136

Other
1893 sales particulars
Brixton Conservation Area Statement (2012)

End of official list entry

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