Lincoln House

Lincoln House

Two identical blocks of mansion flats facing Basil Street in London, designed in 1903 by John A Gill Knight ARIBA for Harry Johnson and constructed in 1915-16. The blocks were subdivided in 1947 by J Hunt of Eastbourne Mews, Paddington, with minor later alterations.

Exterior

Lincoln House is neighboured by the London Fire Brigade Station of 1907 to the north and Washington House, an Edwardian mansion block of flats, to the south. The building comprises two identical six-storey blocks, each of five bays, with rubbed red brick façades plentifully detailed with Portland stone dressings. Iron railings (not original) bound the area in front of the ground floor.

Each block is dominated by a central Ionic entrance portico that projects from a curved two-storey bay. Above this is a two-storey Ionic loggia, followed by a fifth floor with banded pilasters and an attic dormer window in a stone surround with volutes. Each entrance bay is flanked by full-height canted bays with elliptical-shaped parapets that break through the chunky dentil cornice of the principal roofline to encompass the attic storey. Eight stone obelisks set in cartouches rise above the building line to each side of the bays, enhancing the effect of the projecting bays. The end bays are plainer but still feature banded stone pilasters that terminate the elevation.

The ground and first floor windows are set in single large elliptical-headed surrounds. The upper floor windows are flat- or segmental-headed sashes with six panes in the upper part and no glazing bars below, set in architraves with keystones or scrolled consoles. The canted bays have oval windows to the short sides; the four storeys of windows to the long side are set in a single segmental-headed bay-leaf moulded surround. The entire façade is enlivened by abundant carved stone detailing including laurel wreaths, garlands, foliate masks, lozenges, volutes, cartouches and crockets. The rear elevation and inner light wells are plain stock brick with red brick arches over the windows.

Interior

Each block has a central lobby accessed via glazed timber double entrance doors with overlights, either original or from the 1940s refurbishment. The lobbies are lined with modern panelling and have modern marble floors; the lifts are new. The front doors to the apartments are all identical; some are original but others were added when the flats were subdivided in the 1940s.

The rough arrangement of rooms survives, although there are now two flats for every one original apartment. The interiors contain a smattering of plain eight-panel doors and some cornices, but otherwise have modern fireplaces and other decorative finishes.

History

The original plans show one six-storey block with two flats per floor (therefore 12 in total per block), each comprising a drawing room, dining room, kitchen, hall, three bedrooms, bathroom and scullery, plus a servant's bedroom. Permission was granted for the works in September 1903, but the Post Office Directory does not record residents in this part of Basil Street in 1904 or subsequent years. Lincoln House, comprising 24 addresses, first appears in the 1916 directory, suggesting construction around 1916. The Ordnance Survey map for 1916 shows only one of the two blocks, with the survey likely conducted in the previous year, indicating the blocks were built sequentially in 1915-16, over a decade after the plans were drawn up.

During the Second World War, a bomb landed to the north of Brompton Road during the V1 flying bomb attacks between September 1944 and March 1945. This caused damage to Lincoln House, recorded by the London County Council in the category of 'Seriously damaged, but repairable at cost'. In 1946, architect J Hunt of Eastbourne Mews, Paddington submitted plans to subdivide the apartments, creating 48 residences where there had been 24. This work involved new doors to the flats and is likely to have included restoration of war-damaged fabric. Little change has occurred to the exterior since then, although some flats have had their room arrangements altered and kitchens and bathrooms modernised.