31a Grove End Road, Former Studio

Former Studio, 31a Grove End Road

Studio built around 1926 by Thomas Tait for the sculptor Sir William Reid Dick. From 1974 it was adapted as a family home by the architects Colin St John Wilson and M J Long.

The building is constructed of rendered brick with a steel-framed roof clad in pantiles. The north wall is formed by large Crittall window units fixed to a steel frame.

The plan is polygonal and double height, with angular single-storey projections either side of the entrance. Originally laid out as a commercial sculptor's studio, it comprised a large full-height, north-lit central space entered by double doors on the front elevation, with a storage loft reached by a ladder above it. At the far end of the studio is a full-width internal gallery above an internal stack and fireplace set back under the balcony to create an inglenook effect.

The entrance is wide to accommodate commercial traffic and has a pair of 1970s doors with vertical glazed lights. Above the entrance is a cast of one of Reid Dick's panels for Selfridges set into the wall. First floor windows, probably inserted in the 1960s, flank this panel. Elsewhere, such as the narrow vertical ground floor windows on each face of the projecting bays, windows are metal-framed Crittalls. The cranked north-facing wall is almost fully glazed with Crittall units and includes a pedestrian entrance towards the western end.

When adapted as a house, the north-lit, full-height studio was retained as a living hall. The building has a cranked, braced roof. At the western end is a gallery with a soft wood frame reached by a tight winder stair with a rope handrail. The joinery is reminiscent of the Scottish Arts and Crafts School, the precise geometry of the beam and joist ends contrasting with the turned balusters of the balustrade. Set back beneath the balcony is a brick stack and fireplace above which is a cast of one of the panels from Reid Dick's Kitchener memorial at St Paul's Cathedral. Behind the stack is a small cave-like triangular space, lit from high up and containing a small fireplace in painted brick. Lined with bookshelves, it was fitted out as a library by St John Wilson. A screen with built-in cupboards and a bed below an internal window with folding shutters, installed in 1974, allows the gallery to be used as a bedroom. A straight flight of stairs with timber tread ends and the timber frame projected to form an open vertical screen provides access to bedrooms above the entrance. A cast iron stove, fixed to the floor, occupies the main studio space.

Built-in fittings allow the gallery to be used as a work space and bedroom. Behind the stack is the small enclosed triangular space, originally conceivably a model's changing room, latterly used by St John Wilson as a study and library. The projecting bays contain a bathroom and study. Further storage was provided to the side of the studio, in the space previously adapted as a kitchen.