Devon Mansions are a set of five residential mansion block buildings situated along the south side of Tooley Street in Bermondsey, London. The buildings are located within the London Borough of Southwark and are included in both the Tower Bridge and Tooley Street Conservation Areas. [1]
During the Victorian era, the area between Tooley Street and the River Thames to the east of what is now Tower Bridge was one of the largest warehouse complexes in London. Completed in 1873, these warehouses housed huge quantities of tea, coffee, spices and other commodities, and became known as London's Larder, due to the vast array of goods and provisions from across the globe.
Despite the commercial success of the warehouse businesses, there were serious problems of poverty, overcrowding and poor sanitation amongst those living in the local area. In 1875, a number of model dwelling tenement blocks were built in the area adjacent to the docks to help house local residents and address some of these social problems. [2] Originally called the Hanover Buildings, these buildings were renamed Devon Buildings around WWW1 to remove the German influence from the name. They were later renamed Devon Mansions. The block was built by James Hartnoll. [3]
Devon Mansions was an early example of social housing and, as such, its initial tenants were predominantly working class residents from the local part of Bermondsey, then known as Horsleydown. However, like many social housing initiatives close to Central London, the composition of tenants in Devon Mansions changed significantly during the 1980s following the launch of the Right to Buy Scheme under the Thatcher Government. As a result, a significant proportion of current occupants of Devon Mansions are now private owners.
Devon Mansions comprises five separate, six-storey mansion buildings, all built in a near identical style, each containing several separate but interconnected blocks. Blocks 14-21 have pitched roofs, whereas blocks 1-13 have flat roofs.
The buildings are of yellow brick, with a repetitive pattern of domestic scale sash windows organised within a simple arrangement of string courses and cornices, providing balancing vertical elements with splayed windows and stone quoins. Interest at street level comes from street railings that protect half basements and the main entrances to the buildings.
There were originally 549 flats within Devon Mansions when constructed. The block containing original flats 168-191 was demolished in approximately 1902 to make way for Tower Bridge Road, bringing this number to 525. Following installation of integral bathrooms, lifts and internal reconfiguration of the flats undertaken during modernisation works carried out between 1965 and 1980, there are today approximately 337 flats in all. The current numbering is flats 1 to 180, then jumping to flats 331–489.
The Devon Mansion buildings are a good example the mansion block style of the era. Indeed, during its Conservation Area Appraisal, Southwark Council specifically identified Buildings 1 and 2 of Devon Mansions as "making a positive contribution" to the local area - one grade below listed status. [2]
The Devon Mansions buildings are located on five separate sites spanning a distance of approximately 600 m along the south side of Tooley Street. Details of the five buildings are as follows:
- Building 1 (blocks 1–3) is located between Barnham Street and Druid Street, opposite Potters Fields Park and the More London complex.
- Building 2 (blocks 4–7) is located between Fair Street and Tower Bridge Road, opposite the former St Olave's Grammar School and statues commemorating Ernest Bevin, British Labour leader, and Samuel Bourne Bevington, the first Mayor of Bermondsey.
- Building 3 (blocks 8–13). Building 3 is located between Tower Bridge Road and Fair Street, opposite Shad Thames. Block 8, with its decorative fire escape, bears the marks of demolition — an adjoining block was demolished to make way for the new Tower Bridge Road in 1902. Block 13, although part of Building 3, is known as Hartland House. Hartland House was originally a public/beer house of some description although there are no remnants of its earlier life, other than a picture in the local studies library which is testament to this fact. It is likely that the pub was converted into flats quite soon after the buildings were built as the Ordnance Survey only ever recorded it as a PH (public house) on one edition. It was known as the City of Salisbury Public House, 198 Tooley Street.
- Building 4 (blocks 14–19) is located between Fair Street and Tanner Street, opposite Shad Thames.
- Building 5 (blocks 20–21) is located between Tanner Street and Sweeney Crescent, opposite the southern end of St Saviour's Dock.
The nearest stations are Tower Hill (District and Circle lines), London Bridge (Jubilee, Northern and national rail), and Bermondsey (Jubilee line) each about 10–15 minutes' walk away. The walk towards London Bridge or Tower Hill is extremely scenic, particularly at night, with views of many landmarks such as City Hall, the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Devon Mansions are also served by London bus routes 188, 47, N47, 381, N381, 343 and RV1.
The area along the south bank of the Thames was heavily targeted by the Luftwaffe during World War II, due to presence of strategically important transport and storage infrastructure. As a result, buildings on Tooley Street were often at threat of destruction from German bombs during the Blitz. [4]
On 29 December 1940, in one of the most devastating bombing raids of the Blitz, German planes attacked the City of London with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs, causing what has been called The Second Great Fire of London.
During this raid, a high explosive bomb landed on Building 3 of Devon Mansions, destroying a 20-metre section of the building between Blocks 12 and 13. According to the Civilian War Dead Register of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, three residents were killed by the blast. [5] [6]
The damaged section was repaired in full in 1950 - however it is still possible to see the site of the bomb impact, as the brick used to repair the building is of slightly darker colour than its surroundings. A plaque also commemorating the event is also visible at street level.
During the 20th century, the docks that had brought so much prosperity to the area went into decline. When the London Borough of Southwark acquired Devon Mansions in 1965, it originally considered demolishing the mansion blocks due to the squalid nature of them (most of the flats did not have any bathrooms, none of the blocks had lifts and the toilet was in with the kitchen). However, this was dismissed because of the extremely narrow site on which the blocks were built and also because of the large number of tenants occupying the blocks. A plan was therefore devised for the blocks to be modernised in stages so as to minimise disruption to the residents. Work started in 1967 and finally concluded in 1980, taking some 13 years to conclude. This is why the numbers jump from 108 to 331 (although some of these numbers are because a block was demolished to make way for Tower Bridge after 1894 but no later than 1902.
During the 1980s and 1990s, many of the disused but picturesque warehouses along the River Thames were converted into expensive flats, highly sought-after by those wanting to live close to the City of London. This became known as Shad Thames. Although apartments in Devon Mansions have not seen the same level of property price inflation as those in neighbouring Shad Thames, they have benefited from gentrification of the local area. An increasing number of the properties are privately owned, though a large proportion remain council properties occupied by council tenants. Lately, Devon Mansions has attracted a number of young professionals from the creative industries such as contemporary artists Marjolein Verheij and Dominik Platen. There is currently a healthy demand for rental properties driven by city workers attracted by the proximity to the city, and selection of top restaurants, cafes and bars in Shad Thames, London Bridge and Borough High Street.[ citation needed ] The freehold to Devon Mansions is owned by Southwark Council and the property is managed by the Fair Community Housing Services Tenant Management Organisation (TMO).
Southwark is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed due to its position at the southern end of the early versions of London Bridge, for centuries the only dry crossing on the river. Around 43 AD, engineers of the Roman Empire found the geographic features of the south bank suitable for the placement and construction of the first bridge.
Bermondsey is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, and to the north is Wapping across the River Thames. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Surrey. During the Industrial Revolution Bermondsey became a centre for manufacturing, particularly in relation to tanning. More recently it has experienced regeneration including warehouse conversions to flats and the provision of new transport links.
The London Borough of Southwark in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963. All districts of the area are within the London postal district. It is governed by Southwark London Borough Council.
Rotherhithe is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, with the Isle of Dogs to the east. It borders Bermondsey to the west and Deptford to the south-east. The district is a part of the Docklands area.
Borough High Street is a road in Southwark, London, running south-west from London Bridge, forming part of the A3 route which runs from London to Portsmouth, on the south coast of England.
The River Neckinger is a reduced subterranean river that rises in Southwark and flows approximately 2.5 kilometres through that part of London to St Saviour's Dock where it enters the Thames. What remains of the river is enclosed and runs underground and most of its narrow catchment has been diverted into other combined and surface water sewers, flowing into the Southern Outfall Sewer and the Thames respectively.
Tooley Street is a road in central and south London connecting London Bridge to St Saviour's Dock; it runs past Tower Bridge on the Southwark/Bermondsey side of the River Thames, and forms part of the A200 road.
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Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Most widely known as being founded in the 11th century, it had a precursor mentioned in the early eighth century, and was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England.
St Saviour's Dock is an inlet-style dock in London, England, on the south bank of the River Thames, 420 metres east of Tower Bridge. It forms the eastern end of the Shad Thames embankment that starts at Tower Bridge. The east side of the Dock is Jacob's Island.
Southwark and Bermondsey was an inner city constituency in London, United Kingdom. Its sole Member of Parliament was Simon Hughes, in the first stage of his career in the house, as a Liberal then Liberal Democrat after the party's founding in 1988. It was replaced with the North Southwark and Bermondsey seat in 1997.
The Borough Compter was a small compter or prison initially located in Southwark High Street but moved to nearby Tooley Street in 1717, where it stood until demolished until 1855. It took its name from 'The Borough', a historic name for the Southwark area of London on the south side of the River Thames from the City of London. This replaced a lock-up as part of the city's court house under the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of the city, and their High-Bailiff of Southwark. This first court house was converted from the old church of the parish St Margaret. A floor was made across the level of the church's gallery and the windows below that were blocked in, the Court Room being on the first floor. This structure was destroyed in the Great Fire of Southwark in 1676.
St John Horsleydown was the Anglican parish church of Horsleydown in Bermondsey, South London. Built for the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James in 1726–1733, it was noted for its distinctive spire in the form of a tapering column.
St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey is an Anglican church dedicated to St Mary Magdalen in Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark. The majority of the present building is late 17th century and is Grade II* listed.
The King's Manor - formally 'The City of London's King's Manor of the Town and Borough of Southwark' - is an institution of the City of London which is not a Livery Company as it is territorially rather than trade based, being the organisation of the Juror freemen of the Court Leet. The Manor covers the area from the western-side of Borough High Street, Southwark, to the borders of Newington and Lambeth. The manor originally lay in Surrey.
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St Olave was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London, England from 1855 to 1900. It was formed by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 and was governed by the St Olave District Board of Works, which consisted of elected vestrymen.
Southwark St Olave was an ancient civil and ecclesiastical parish on the south bank of the River Thames, covering the area around where Shard London Bridge now stands in the modern London Borough of Southwark. The boundaries varied over time but in general the parish stretched east from London Bridge past Tower Bridge to St Saviour's Dock. Southwark St Olave and St Thomas replaced the civil parish in 1896. It was abolished in 1904 and absorbed by Bermondsey parish.
51°30′04″N0°04′32″W / 51.50098°N 0.07546°W
