Got £1.5 million to spare?

It would give you an opportunity to own a classic 1935 modernistic extravaganza here in Sydenham. This majestic ocean liner of a house in Crescent Wood Road is a Grade II* listed creation by Berthold Lubetkin's Tecton partnership was built for the headmaster of Dulwich College Preparatory School.

Lubetkin is arguably the most important figure in the British Modern Movement in the pre-war period. As head of the prolific Tecton practice, he brought a Russian's revolutionary zeal to a British architectural scene. By the time he had effectively retired in 1950, Lubetkin and Tecton had built everything from the London Zoo Penguin House, luxury flats, a pioneering health centre to much acclaimed examples of planned social housing estates.

The current owners carried out a restoration programme initiated by their predecessors from whom they bought it in 1997 for £540,000. They told 'The Times':

"We weren’t Lubetkin addicts when we moved in, and didn’t really know who he was. We were living in the area and were aware of the house. It’s been a fantastic house to live in.”

Want to buy? Be quick and go to <www.hamptons.co.uk>.
Want to know more? You can read The Times article at <Times Online>

Upper three Six Pillars photographs courtesy of Hamptons. Berthold Lubetkin courtesy of The Open University

sdg 03/08/05