1960s Austin Vernon & Partners house on the Dulwich Estate, London SE26
Not often available, this is a 1960s Austin Vernon & Partners house on the Dulwich Estate, London SE26, sitting on Peckarmans Wood.
The Dulwich Estate has been widely featured on the site in the past and if you want to check out past finds, you can see them all here.
This part of south-east London area covers around 1,500 acres and is notable for the number of modern houses sitting within it. Most date from the 1950s and particularly the 1960s, with Austin Vernon & Partners behind a good number of them.
They vary in size and design, although the houses found at Peckarmans Wood are thought of as some of the more desirable.
Why? Well, that’s down to the architecture and the setting, with the architecture adapting to the sloping nature of the site, working to three half floors.
As for the setting, in addition to the landscaping, it is surrounded by Dulwich and Sydenham Woods (a wildlife nature reserve), with the Sydenham Golf Course, an allotment and sports club grounds adding to the green space around. Perhaps not quite what you would associate with the capital.
But ultimately you aren’t buying a plot (though a pleasant setting always helps). This is all about the architecture.
A fine example of 1960s midcentury modern design, it is described as being in ’excellent condition’ having been ‘carefully maintained and sympathetically updated’ by the present owners.
Is it all original? No, it isn’t. Is the character still in place? Very much so. Looking at the interior, you might expect a time capsule. But that isn’t the case when you get through the front door.
The layout of the house is almost certainly original, but the wood floors look recent, as do the wood-clad walls. the kitchen is a recent affair and the staircase, whilst original, has been refurbished.
But the work on the house is generally in keeping with the original 1960s design, and with the addition of some period furniture (lovely Merrow Associates coffee table there I see), it sits well as a modern-era family home with some 1960s character.
As for the layout, that is over those three half floors due to the sloping nature of the land, with the main entrance at the front a half level above the rear garden.
The lower ground floor, which is on the garden side, has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a utility space. The entrance hall, the updated kitchen and dining room plus the second bathroom and a further bedroom are on the upper ground/entrance level) with the living room and one more bedroom (which could work as a study on the first floor of the house.
That’s not quite all as a large storage space sits below the house, which might explain why these houses always seem so tidy and clutter-free. The agent adds that some nearby homeowners have excavated to create further living space. A possibility, but I’m guessing it isn’t a cheap option.
Head outside and you will find a private rear garden, which extends onto the ‘extensive’ communal grounds. You also get a small front garden and an enclosed patio.
Fancy it? If you do, this house on Peckarmans Wood is up for £1,200,000.
Images and details courtesy of The Modern House. For more details and to make an enquiry, please visit the website.