40, The Green

House, early 19th century with some later 19th century alteration.

This is a three-bay, two-storey house built in yellow stock brick in Flemish Bond, two rooms deep, with a single-storey extension attached to the south-east corner. The roof is pitched with brick chimney stacks at either end, and the rear extension is weatherboarded. Windows and doors at the back are uPVC.

The front elevation is symmetrical, with three twelve-paned unhorned sash windows above a centrally placed six-panelled door flanked by two tripartite windows with horned sashes. The door has a fanlight above and is set within a round gauged brick arch. All windows, both front and back, have cambered gauged brick arches. The rear elevation is slightly narrower than the front, pinched by No. 41 to the north. The arrangement of windows is regular, with two casements in each storey, and a back door placed slightly off centre between the two ground floor windows. An additional narrow window has been inserted into the upper storey. Iron railings run along the boundary with the footpath to the front of the house and beside the front door. A local Blue Plaque on the right of the facade records that in 1881 this house became the first seat of local government in Southgate following the separation of Southgate from the Edmonton Board of Health in that year.

The ground floor has four rooms, two front and two back, arranged either side of a central corridor running from front to back, with a step down to the two back rooms. The dogleg staircase rises between the north rooms, set against the north wall. A shallow lozenge shape has been cut into the ceiling just inside the front door to accommodate the height of the fanlight. The hall has a dado rail, and the doors to the two front rooms are six-panelled with mouldings. The north front room contains a late 19th century fireplace with decorative tiled sides, and the window has sliding shutters concealed within the wall. The doors to the back rooms are four-panelled without mouldings; the north back room contains the understairs cupboard.

The closed string staircase has stick balusters and simple panelling to ceiling height. Upstairs, the arrangement of rooms mirrors the ground floor, again with a step down to the back rooms. The toilet at the end of the corridor appears to be a late insertion. The north front room extends across the corridor and has a wood-panelled east wall behind which is a walk-in cupboard. All doors are four-panelled, and all three bedrooms have fireplaces with plain surrounds. Those in the north front and south back rooms are blocked, while that in the south front bedroom retains its original grate. The ceiling over the back rooms and corridor is battened.

Southgate was originally a wooded hamlet in coppice woods outside Enfield Chase, the name referring to the Chase's south entrance, in the parish of Edmonton. The Chase was enclosed in 1777 and High Street, Southgate (formerly South Street), became an area of small businesses and services, while The Green seems to have been favoured by the slightly more affluent classes. On the Tithe map of 1801 there are narrow rectangular buildings in the plot now occupied by Nos. 40 and 41, which are shown in their current form for the first time on the 1882 Ordnance Survey map. However, elements of their appearance suggest an early 19th century date, substantiated by the history of the development of the south end of the High Street immediately to the north of The Green. Surviving houses and documentary evidence indicate that this area was redeveloped in the first half of the 19th century, and it is probable that The Green was subject to the same economic and social forces driving change elsewhere in Southgate. In the later 19th century, alterations were carried out to both houses, including the replacement of the original unhorned sash windows with larger tripartite sashes. In the front elevation of No. 40 only the ground floor windows were replaced. Recent changes include the replacement of all windows and doors at the back of the house with uPVC. The house makes a considerable contribution to the character of the conservation area and has group value with the Grade II listed Nos. 38 and 39 The Green immediately to the south.