Charles Rowan House and Attached Iron Railings

Charles Rowan House is a block of former flats for married policemen, now council flats, built between 1928 and 1930 on a steeply sloping site enclosed by roads. Designed by Gilbert Mackenzie Trench, who was architect and surveyor for the Metropolitan Police Authority, the group of buildings incorporates elements along Margery Street, Wilmington Street, Amwell Street, and Merlin Street.

The construction utilizes red brick in both Flemish and English bonds, with moulded brick dressings for the street elevations and multi-coloured stock bricks for the courtyard. The roofs are obscured by the complex stepped roofline punctuated by projecting red-brick stacks. The architectural style is Expressionist, characterized by four massive facades parallel to the surrounding roads. Large arches provide access to a central courtyard from Merlin and Margery Streets. The building rises five stories over a basement, with six bays on Amwell Street (each a three-window range) and differing bay arrangements on the other streets. The street elevations exhibit a powerful rhythm, with bays emphasized by full-height moulded brick stacks that act as pilasters, creating a strong skyline. Decorative extradoses and dressings adorn the arched entrances. Metal casement sashes are separated by narrow, full-height moulded brick pilasters that extend into decorative brickwork above the top floor sashes. The stacks and intervening parapets resemble battlements. Attached iron railings are present along the exterior elevations.

Originally containing ninety-six two and three-bedroomed flats spread across five floors, the interior also included a covered playground in the basement. Minor alterations have occurred since the original construction.

The site previously occupied by Nos. 22-24 Wilmington Square was cleared for the construction of Charles Rowan House. While plans for earlier police housing dating back to 1904 were not fully realized, a concerted effort to build accommodation began in the 1950s. Charles Rowan House is considered the least altered and most architecturally distinguished of Trench’s police flats, which also include properties on Crawford Street, Marylebone; Kintyre House, New Park Road, Lambeth; and Cornwall Street, Waterloo. Its Expressionist style is typical of continental design of the period and unusual for Britain.