Kingsley Court

Kingsley Court is a block of 54 flats constructed between 1933 and 1934 by Peter Caspari for Davis Estates. The building is located at 935 Park Avenue North, Willesden, and has a distinctive curved, “Z”-shaped plan designed to fit an acute angled site. It is constructed of banded rendered brick and rendered elevations, with concrete floors, and a flat roof. The building has six storeys.

The windows are metal framed, with those in the principal rooms featuring margin lights and prominent horizontal banding between projecting concrete lintels and sills that emphasize the building’s linear design. There are two entrances: one serving the Park Avenue North wing of the “Z”, located at the widest point of the block and sheltered by a curved concrete canopy with a long access gallery alongside brick balustrades and banded corner brick pilasters; the other, with an additional frontage on Chapter Road, has a convex clerestory with rendered bands between the glazing lines and a set-back staircase behind. The rear elevation facing the courtyard is of unbanded brick.

The interiors have not been inspected.

Kingsley Court represents one of the earliest examples of expressionist architecture in England and represents Caspari's first work in the country. Caspari was a former assistant to Erich Mendelsohn and, like his mentor, was a refugee in Britain from 1933. The banded horizontals and curved forms are more sophisticated than seen in comparable British architecture and demonstrate the influence of Mendelsohn. The block is considered Caspari’s most eloquent work in England; he emigrated to Canada after the Second World War.