1-9 Tennyson Court

Block of nine flats built in 1956–7 by Eric Lyons for Bargood Estates Ltd, subsequently Span Developments Ltd. Developer Geoffrey Paulson Townsend, project architect G Scroble, builder Leslie Bilsby.

The building is constructed of brick cross- and partition walls with concrete, Eternit block and tile hanging. It has a flat felted roof and rises to three storeys. The plan is rectangular with eight bays; entrances and stairwells are located in the third bay from the right on the east (rear) elevation and in the south return.

The main facades feature horizontal strips of glazing in timber frames, with three windows per bay set between tile hanging. The west facade contains living rooms, each with two deeper windows divided at sill level and fitted with window boxes. The south facade displays full-height staircase windows of four square lights serving the upper storeys; the ground floor has an entrance way with a two-light vertical window to the left, with louvres to the right on all storeys. The entrance bay in the east facade is similarly treated. The ground floor is paved. Internally, the stairs are of terrazzo with a steel balustrade having timber panels to the first flight and on the landing. The entrance to flats 1–6 is shielded by a timber-clad store with a stairwell to its side. The entrance to flats 7–9 is shielded by a metal screen with wired glass below a timber dado rail. The interiors of the flats originally had wooden floors and some featured sliding partitions to living rooms, though these have not been inspected.

Tennyson Court forms a distinctive element at the east end of the Parkleys Estate, the first, largest and perhaps most influential of Lyons's schemes for Span. It was the last part of Parkleys to be built. Eric Lyons and Geoffrey Townsend met in the late 1930s and renewed their partnership after wartime service, developing a number of small private developments in south west London and the north Surrey borders. In 1954 Townsend established himself as a developer and was forced to relinquish his RIBA membership. Tennyson Court represents their first mature work together and their first as Span Developments Ltd. It occupies the site of a nursery; the blocks of flats were carefully laid out to preserve existing trees, and the nursery stock and its gardener were taken over as part of the development. The estate is laid out as a series of cul-de-sacs with taller blocks serving as distinctive landmarks within a grid of lower developments. Tennyson Court is the only three-storey block given a terrace form. The mixture of traditional materials used in a modern manner created a particularly humane environment that was widely admired. Lyons's squares and terraces represented a modern vernacular response to the Georgian tradition of central London, set within lush suburban landscaping but at notably high densities of 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 was also the first example of the residents' management company system established by Span, which has maintained most of their developments in exceptional condition. Each leaseholder contributes to funding paid maintenance staff and serves as a member of the management company running the estate.