Property

Telegraph: Property

The century makers: 1953

(Filed: 06/12/2003)

Matthew Sturgis on a vicarage that was built the year that Elizabeth II was crowned

St John's Vicarage, Kennington, London SW9

The church of St John the Divine in Vassall Road, Kennington, was - and is - a fine piece of high-Victorian gothic, created by G E Street in the early 1870s. During the blitz, it suffered considerable damage, and the architect Harry Goodhart-Rendel was commissioned to repair its roof and restore its structure after the war. He was also asked to create two new associated buildings next to the church, a caretaker's house and a "Sisters' House" for a community of nuns.

Goodhart-Rendel was the obvious choice for the job. He had built a succession of imposing churches across the country using a variety of styles. At a time when the majority of the profession was exploring the heritage of International Modernism, he had devoted his attention to unfashionable fields of Victorian and medieval architecture.

He brought both traditions into play in his designs at Vassall Road. In their pointed gables, ecclesiastical detailing, narrow windows and patterned brickwork, the two houses have a strong gothic flavour, but one that never threatens to lapse into mere pastiche.

At the time, his work was little appreciated. The great architectural historian John Summerson said: "Rendel was an architect whose buildings nobody understood and therefore nobody liked." He continued his own course in the face of this general incomprehension, bolstered in part by his faith (he was a Catholic convert). He told James Lees-Milne that his "concerns were the Roman Catholic Church, the Brigade of Guards and architecture - in that order". He had served with the Guards in both world wars and had written a manual on drill. It was a work that - like his religion and his architecture - showed a love of order and a belief in its beneficial effects.

The nuns did not thrive at St John's and their building was subsequently converted into the vicarage. The small chapel that was housed in the steeply-pitched gable roof of the building was converted into a library, lit by the impressive rose-window at its far end.

It is, of course, the sort of building that developers would love to get their hands on. "There was an old convent near here - at Gabriel's Manor - that has recently been converted into flats," says Damien Gibbs, of the Kennington branch of Barnard Marcus. "It has proved very popular. Two-bedroom flats there go for about £220,000 to £290,000, depending on size. But anything with a bit of character and high ceilings will be at a premium. The fact that the St John's Vicarage looks old but was built relatively recently would certainly count in its favour."

Understanding and appreciation have, it seems, finally caught up with Mr Goodhart-Rendel.

Key events

Elizabeth II crowned; Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the summit of Everest; Stanley Matthews wins an FA Cup Final medal as Blackpool beat Bolton Wanderers; massive floods sweep the East Coast, causing hundreds of casualties.

Money matters

At the Army & Navy Stores in London a 'Wool Blanket' costs £2 9s 6d, a silver spoon and fork with a Coronation hallmark costs £4, and a one-pint thermos flask costs 8s 6d. Train drivers get £8 8s 6d per week; footballers accept a maximum weekly wage of £15.

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