Turner House, Millbank Estate

Turner House is a block of flats on the Millbank Estate, built between 1897 and 1902 as part of one of the London County Council’s earliest and most significant housing estates. The estate was designed by the Architects’ Department, under Owen Fleming and particularly R. Minton Taylor, who likely devised the layout radiating from a rectangular public garden. Constructed of red brick with stone dressings and tiled roofs, the design reflects a humane, Arts and Crafts socialist approach, inspired by the work of Webb, Lethaby and Smith and Brewer, incorporating “Queen Anne” and Northern European features to a high standard.

The building is a long block with a splayed (angled) south end that follows the street line, situated to flank St. Oswulf Street. It stands four storeys high, with an attic, and features a slightly asymmetrical facade with 22 windows. Central and terminal pavilion gables break the roofline, as does a similar splayed south end with 16 windows. Camber arched, pent-roofed recessed porches are located on the courtyard elevation. The windows are segmental arched, with glazing bars, exposed box frames, and tripartite and quadripartite arrangements on the ground floor, grouped to reflect the interior layout. Dormers are present above the flat eaves between the gables. A stringcourse runs above the ground floor. Turner House balances its twin, Ruskin House, on the opposite side of St. Oswulf Street.