Much of 19th-century lodging house demolished
Apt has completed the partial demolition and conversion into flats of a 19th-century building in Covent Garden’s Seven Dials conservation area.
Chapter House, formerly Parker House, was built by the London County Council as a lodging house in the 1890s when the area, immortalised by Dickens in Sketches by Boz, attracted an influx of Irish labourers. The architects were London-based Scots Gibson and Russell. Gibson went on to design Middlesex Guildhall, now home of the Supreme Court.
Apt - formerly Robin Partington & Partners - was appointed in 2016 by development manager Londonewcastle to convert the 52,000sq ft building into 40 flats. After multiple uses over the decades, the building had long been unoccupied. The flats, some of which are behind gables or within a water tower, range from studios to duplex penthouses.
The architect retained the four-storey Parker Street façade but demolished the building behind to create a new structure. It added a two-storey extension of copper-like cladding, balustrades, a large lobby and a basement gym.
Architect Stephane Piazza said: “We have meticulously remodelled and rebuilt Chapter House, bringing a redundant building back to life while remaining sympathetic to its historic surrounding.”
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