Waterlow Court

Waterlow Court is a philanthropic housing complex built between 1908 and 1909 as accommodation for young women. It was designed by M. H. Baillie-Scott for the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company, founded in the 1860s by Sydney Waterlow. The buildings are constructed of brick, with a limewashed interior courtyard, timber framing incorporating brick nogging, and tile roofs and dressings. A lych-gate-like structure marks the entrance from Heath Close, leading to a timber-framed and covered walkway that connects to a two-story quadrangle. A three-story pavilion with a gable front projects along the main axis, featuring windows of decreasing widths and numbers towards the gable. Flat-roofed dormers are present throughout. The intersection of the pavilion roof with the quadrangle's main ridge is marked by a timber cupola. Axial brick stacks are prominent on each range.

The interior's most striking element is the round-arched arcades on the ground floor of all interior elevations, creating a "cloister" effect and serving as a walkway to the ground-floor flats, as well as providing access to the staircases. Dog-leg staircases, with eighteenth-century style balusters, a Jacobean style handrail, and turned finials on the newel posts, are accessed from the cloisters. The accommodation consists of 3 to 5 room flats, simply designed with similar plank doors and cupboard doors incorporating H-L hinges; some rooms retain open fireplaces. A former communal dining area, now converted into a flat, is located within a gabled block at the rear of the courtyard. Window widths within the cloister ranges vary slightly; they are mullioned, leaded casements of an original design. Timber framing is present on the exterior elevations.

Attached to the main buildings is a single-story bungalow, with a six-window range, constructed in a similar style, incorporating matching doors and fenestration. Originally, Waterlow Court provided flats and communal rooms for working women. The original fittings, including door and window furniture, were crafted by J. Pyghtle White of Bedford for Ambrose Heal of London. Waterlow Court is widely admired for its excellent proportions, the subtle relationship between window openings, dormers, stacks, and especially the arcaded cloister.