Thomas Coram Foundation for Children and Attached Railings, Lanterns and Parapets is a Grade II listed building in the Camden local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 May 1974. Office block. 5 related planning applications.
Thomas Coram Foundation for Children and Attached Railings, Lanterns and Parapets
- WRENN ID
- dreaming-minaret-root
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Camden
- Constituency
- Holborn and St Pancras
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 14 May 1974
- Type
- Office block
- Address
- Thomas Coram Foundation for Children and Attached Railings, Lanterns and Parapets, 40, Brunswick Square, WC1N 1AZ
- OS grid reference
- TQ 304 823
- Coordinates
- 51.52527, -0.12166
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Thomas Coram Foundation for Children is a detached office block built around 1937 by architect J.M. Shepherd for the Thomas Coram Foundation. This Neo-Georgian style building is constructed of brown brick and features a hipped pantile roof with dormers. It has two storeys, an attic, and a basement, with a symmetrical double front and seven windows, plus a one-window recessed extension at the west end.
The central entrance boasts a stone architrave, a bracketed cornice, and a scrolled pediment that includes a central bust of Coram. The entrance has wooden panelled double doors and a stone sill band at the ground floor. The slightly recessed sash windows are topped with gauged brick flat arches and feature exposed boxing and glazing bars. At the first floor, roundels carved in low relief with putti heads flank the scrolled pediment. The building is capped with a stone cornice and blocking course, and a central stone plaque on the second floor is inscribed with "RFTHG 1937."
Inside, the building retains three rooms from the former west wing of the Foundling Hospital, which was constructed between 1742 and 1747 and demolished in 1926. These rooms include the court room, the committee room, and the picture gallery.
The building is approached by a double flight of steps, which are flanked by piers that carry lanterns, and features a rainwater head on the extension with a relief of a lamb. Additionally, there are attached stone area parapets.
Local climate
Thomas Coram Foundation for Children and Attached Railings, Lanterns and Parapets sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2023
- Related listed building consents — 5 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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