6/6A-7/7A Old St Andrew'S Mansions

Two pairs of flats, built in 1936 by Ernest George Trobridge. The buildings are constructed of brick, with render to the first floor and sides, and have timbering and bargeboards to the gables. They have tiled roofs. The design is symmetrical and resembles a conventional semi-detached pair of houses, but with a remarkable central staircase leading from the centre of the main elevation to the first-floor flats, entered under a dramatic central brick stack, a characteristic feature of Trobridge's idiosyncratic style. The flats have opening casement windows with latticed toplights in timber frames, arranged in symmetrical compositions. Smaller side bays jut out under their own timber gables. Original panelled doors with small timber lights lead to the ground floor. The external staircase is straight, with brick balustrades and a surround of stepped brickwork laid like tiling, without horizontal courses, incorporating crow-steps. Canted brick gables with square tops are set at an angle to the rest of the structure. Interiors are reported to retain panelling to the living rooms, with picture rail, a deep frieze, and a ceiling cove. Doors are lined in timber, and other rooms have coved ceilings, with picture rail in the bedrooms. These flats are part of the best-surviving group designed by E G Trobridge, a local architect whose limited surviving works are concentrated in the Kingsbury area where he lived. His own house in Slough Lane is already listed. Trobridge initially gained attention in the 1920s for building timber-framed houses using unseasoned timber and employing unskilled ex-servicemen to create affordable, charismatic homes. In the 1930s, he progressed to building flats of brick, again with unusual detailing. The design is inspired by Trobridge's devout Swedenborgian beliefs, reflecting a system of correspondence between worldly, spiritual, and divine ideas, influencing the idiosyncratic design of every chimney, staircase, and external detail. This resulted in remarkable artisan rented housing.