Maclise House, Millbank Estate

Maclise House is a block of flats built between 1897 and 1902 as part of the Millbank Estate, an early and important housing development by the London County Council. The estate was designed by the LCC Architects' Department, under Owen Fleming and primarily laid out by R. Minton Taylor, with the design radiating from a central public garden. The building is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and tiled roofs. Its design reflects humane, Arts and Crafts socialist ideals, influenced by the work of Webb, Lethaby, and Smith and Brewer, incorporating Queen Anne and Northern European design elements, all executed to a high standard.

The block is slightly asymmetrical, with a shallow east-west plan and a rear entrance courtyard. It stands at a right angle to John Islip Street with a front elevation facing Marsham Street. The design features a five-storey gabled pavilion wing, a four-storey section with an attic, and a five-storey centrepiece with a parapeted finish to its outer bays on the courtyard side. A central porch is angle buttressed and topped with a steep pent slate roof, featuring a cambered arched opening leading to the courtyard elevation’s complex design. The windows are flush framed glazing bar sashes with varied groupings, reflecting the internal room layout. Dormers are set within the overhanging eaves. Maclise House balances its twin, Lawrence House, within the group of buildings to the south of the garden.