1-16 Spenser Court

Courtyard development of sixteen flats arranged in four linked blocks, built 1954–5 by Eric Lyons for Bargood Estates Ltd, subsequently operating as Span Developments Ltd. Geoffrey Paulson Townsend was the developer, G Scroble the project architect, and Wates the builders. The scheme is located on the site of a former nursery at Parkleys, Ham Common.

The buildings are constructed with brick cross- and partition walls, concrete, Eternit block and tile hanging, with flat felted roofs. Two brick stacks serve each block. Flats Nos. 1–4 form the western block abutting Marlowe Court; Nos. 5–8 form the northern side of the courtyard; and Nos. 9–12 and Nos. 13–16 occupy the eastern blocks, with Nos. 13–16 also abutting Nos. 1–3 Marlowe Court. Nos. 1–4 and Nos. 5–8 comprise a rectangular block of six bays divided by exposed ends of brick crosswalls, with entrance way and staircase positioned in the third bay from the north of Nos. 1–4 and from the west in Nos. 5–8, the latter set at right angles to the rest. The other blocks contain five bays with central entrances, and Nos. 13–16 are set back.

All long facades feature full-width timber windows of three square lights per bay, some with top-opening casements, with storeys divided by tile hanging. Entrance bays have large plate glass windows to the front, left of the entrance and divided by a horizontal panel, while the rear contains a ground floor entrance way, a vertical staircase window of two lights to first floor, and louvres to both storeys. Living rooms are denoted by two deeper windows at sill level with window boxes to each storey; other bays have one blind light in alternating composition. Rear fenestration mirrors this arrangement about the centre. The north bay of the west facade of Nos. 9–12 is blind, instead having square lights to each storey of the north end with an Eternit panel between. This pattern is repeated at the south end of Nos. 13–16.

Staircase halls have paved ground floors with terrazzo stairs, steel balustrade and handrail, and timber panels on the first flight and to the top landing. The entrance to Nos. 1–4 features a glazed half screen of timber with an inset panel for flat name and number. Those serving Nos. 5–8, Nos. 9–12, and Nos. 13–16 are positioned at the side of a timber-clad store. All these stairwells have blue glass to their store doors, except Nos. 9–12, which have green. The interiors of the flats originally featured timber floors and some had sliding living room partitions, though they have not been inspected in detail.

Spenser Court represents one of the largest courtyard developments at Parkleys and was Lyons's first and largest scheme for Span, as well as arguably the most influential. Eric Lyons and Geoffrey Townsend first met in the late 1930s and renewed their partnership after wartime service, developing several small private schemes in south-west London and the north Surrey borders until 1954, when Townsend established himself as a developer and was obliged to relinquish his RIBA membership. This was their first mature work and their first as Span Developments Ltd.

The careful layout preserved existing trees from the former nursery site, and the developer incorporated the nursery's stock and gardener as part of the scheme. The blocks are organised as a series of cul-de-sacs and pedestrian courtyards contrasted with larger blocks on the estate edges. The combination of two- and three-storey blocks is distinctive to Parkleys, as is the mixture of brick and tile hanging, repeated in subsequent Span works, notably at Blackheath. The use of traditional materials in a modern manner created a particularly humane environment that was widely admired.

Lyons's squares and terraces were a modern vernacular response to the Georgian tradition of central London, set within lush suburban landscaping yet achieved at relatively high densities—approximately eighty persons per acre—which frequently brought Span into dispute with planning authorities. Parkleys was developed for first-time buyers, and Span was among the first companies to promote the endowment mortgage. It also pioneered the residents' management company system that has kept most Span developments in exceptional condition, with each leaseholder contributing to paid maintenance staff while serving as a member of the management company overseeing the estate.

Lyons was admired for "bridging the gap" between speculative work and the creativity many architects of his generation found only in the public sector. As noted in the Architectural Review in February 1959: "Twenty years ago he would have been regarded as barely respectable, today he is important. He may even come to be looked back upon as a key figure"—a prediction that proved accurate. The close partnership with a sympathetic developer enabled Lyons to pursue his own ideas in materials, layout, and design, yet the blocks had to remain simple, as "the architect has to design and organise so that buildings can be produced at the same cost as a builder's scheme providing the same accommodation," as stated in the Architects' Journal on 20 January 1955.