Pentland House (Now Goldsmiths College Hostel)

Pentland House, now known as Goldsmiths College Hostel, was built between 1691 and 1699 on land purchased by John Smith from the widow of Christopher Boone, whose house was located just to the north. The main house is two storeys high, with an attic and basement, featuring five windows. It has a high-pitched, double-span roof that has been renewed with machine tiles and includes three flat dormers. The exterior is now stuccoed, with a modified entablature and a coved eaves cornice. The first floor has a bard, and there are moulded architraves around the replaced sash windows.

To the left, there is a one-storey entrance link with a Doric porch that leads to a mid-19th century addition, which is two storeys tall and has four windows. This addition is also stuccoed and has a moderately pitched slated roof. A 19th-century glass-covered walkway on cast iron posts connects the porch to the street gate.

Inside, the house features a panelled hall and staircase with a solid string and replaced balusters. The square newel posts are adorned with carved finials that depict large heads of flowers and fruit, which are believed to have been imported from Boone's house, where Grinling Gibbons was known to have worked. There is one long, fully panelled room on the ground floor. The plaster ceiling in the landing has a raised border with a mistletoe pattern, while the ceiling in the first-floor library features a raised border of fruit and flowers, rounded at the ends, with leaf and flower panels in the spandrels. Some exposed timbers and old floorboards can be seen in the attic.

In the 18th century, the house belonged to Mathew Smith, who was the Major of the Tower of London, and in the early 19th century, it was owned by Admiral Sir George Martin, who served under Nelson. Pentland House, along with the Lee Public Library and the walls and gate piers, forms a group of listed buildings.