House renovation
& refurbishment
in Kentish Town, NW5
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Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building ConsultancyKentish Town's houses were mostly built in groups, so refurbishing one well means keeping the details its neighbours still share.
Camden's 2011 extension of the conservation area describes terraces in defined groups of brick and coloured stucco, substantially intact, where missing details warrant careful repair.
Our survey of a Kentish Town house lists what must survive the refurbishment, room by room, before it lists what will change.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Houses built in groups
Lady Margaret Road and Leverton Street were built quickly by developers as uniform terraces: brick and stucco on one, stucco on the other, with neat front gardens.
Camden wants any application here to explain itself against the repeated terrace forms, and the scale, mass, roof line and rhythm that the original builders set.
On a uniform terrace, the neighbours' surviving details tell us what the house lost, and they become the pattern for putting it back.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Leighton Road's one-off houses
Leighton Road is the exception: a road of early nineteenth century houses in stucco and some brick, designed one at a time as plots were sold.
Near Kentish Town Road its western end has two-storey houses on both sides, and on the north side some very long gardens survive.
At the eastern end the houses are taller, in brick, some with pediments and artists' studios and deeper front gardens.
Because each Leighton Road house was built to its own plan, we measure it fully rather than borrowing drawings from next door.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Sash windows and glazing bars
Camden's appraisal ties pane sizes to dates: small panes up to the mid nineteenth century on Leighton Road, larger ones on Leverton Street once the 1845 repeal of the window tax halved the price of glass.
It records sashes lost to mullion, casement and pivot windows as poor alterations that erode the area.
Its strategy expects original features to be retained and refurbished, with replacement only where repair is shown to be impossible.
Sash repair has a line of its own in our quotations, set beside the price of replacement. The work is done in our joinery workshop.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Front doors, railings and ironwork
Kentish Town's front doors began as painted, panelled timber; plenty survive, and Camden says poor substitutes wear away the area's quality.
The war took most railings, leaving survivors at 20 to 28, 68 and 70 Leighton Road.
Leverton Street still shows 'antique greek' window ironwork on some houses and cast iron anthemions on a few sills.
Where railings are reinstated, we copy a surviving section on the same street, cast to its pattern.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Brick, stucco and pointing
Most fronts are brown buff stock brick or stucco, the stucco sometimes rusticated at ground floor or painted to imitate ashlar in various colours.
Camden warns that careless repointing, paint or render spoils historic brickwork and shortens its life; on Leighton Road bad repointing has already marked some fronts.
We sample the existing mortar before repointing, and match its colour, strength and joint profile with a lime mix.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Listed houses
Among the Grade II houses are the 1840 pair and detached house at 20 to 24 Leighton Road, the rendered trio at 66 to 70, and the Leverton Street terraces.
Altering a listed house without consent is a crime, Camden stresses, and not knowing about the listing is no defence.
Routine repair in matching materials rarely needs listed building consent; repair that strips out significant fabric or changes the look does.
Sources: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011), Camden Council: Listed buildings, Camden: Inkerman Conservation Area Statement (March 2003)
Making the house warmer
Window changes made in the name of energy saving did unnecessary harm, the appraisal found, above all where sashes gave way to casements or timber to metal or uPVC.
The management strategy asks for each upgrade to be balanced against what it would cost the house's character.
We start with draught-proofing the sashes, insulating the roof and the floor, and secondary glazing inside, which leave the front unchanged.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Front gardens and boundary walls
In 2011 the appraisal suggested Camden look at Article 4 Directions covering front gardens and boundaries, windows and front doors in the Kentish Town Conservation Area.
Its strategy also promotes reinstating front gardens, railings and hedges that are missing or damaged.
When a refurbishment includes the front, we rebuild the low wall, relay the path and plant the hedge with the house, not as an afterthought.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Patshull Road and the Bartholomew Estate
Camden's Bartholomew Estate statement finds Patshull Road's quality in its detail: red brick dressings, painted coade stone lintels and keystones, shallow pot balconies and balconettes at first floor.
Most of those houses are flat fronted, with a single group of bay windows at the west end of Patshull Road.
Coade stone dressings are cleaned gently and repainted in breathable paint, never sandblasted.
Source: Camden: Bartholomew Estate Conservation Area Statement (adopted 2000)
Plaster, floors and services inside
Lath and plaster ceilings with their cornices are kept wherever they are sound; we screw-fix loose areas from above rather than taking them down, and only run new cables along the joists.
A full rewire and new heating are planned floor by floor, with pipe and cable routes drawn so floorboards are lifted once and refixed with screws for later access.
Where floorboards are kept, we number them as they come up and put each one back in its place.
Running a refurbishment on a terrace street
Under Camden's rules, loud work can run from eight in the morning until six on weekdays and until one on Saturdays, never on Sundays or bank holidays without authorisation.
Where the Party Wall etc Act 1996 applies, adjoining owners must be served notice in the form it sets down, GOV.UK explains.
Our site lead tells the households on both sides what the coming week holds and sends the client a written report each Friday.
Sources: Camden Council: noisy building works, GOV.UK: Party Wall etc. Act 1996 guidance
Questions about refurbishing a Kentish Town house
Is it better to repair or replace sash windows in Kentish Town?
Repair first: Camden expects originals kept and refurbished, and replaced only when beyond repair.
May I paint my brick front?
Camden says inappropriate painting or render harms both the look and the durability of historic brickwork.
Is my Leighton Road house listed?
Several are, including Nos 20 to 24 and 66 to 70; the list entry for your address will confirm it.
Can I put railings back on my house?
Most were lost in the war, and Camden's strategy promotes putting back missing railings, front gardens and hedges.
How can I make my house warmer without losing the sashes?
Camden balances energy upgrades against historic character, so draught-proofing and secondary glazing come first.
What does a house refurbishment in Kentish Town cost?
Your Kentish Town figure is confirmed after a feasibility visit.
Source: Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
Related pages
Sources
- Camden: Kentish Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011)
- Camden Council: Listed buildings
- Camden: Inkerman Conservation Area Statement (March 2003)
- Camden: Bartholomew Estate Conservation Area Statement (adopted 2000)
- Camden Council: noisy building works
- GOV.UK: Party Wall etc. Act 1996 guidance
Guides & Local Reading
House Refurbishment in Nearby Areas
More Services in Kentish Town
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Kentish Town history & architecture
Background on the streets, buildings and conservation history of Kentish Town: The Atmosphere of Kentish Town Roads