1-12 POPE COURT

Block of twelve flats at Parkleys, Ham Common. Built 1954-6 by architect Eric Lyons for Bargood Estates Ltd, subsequently Span Developments Ltd. Geoffrey Paulson Townsend was the developer, G Scroble the project architect, and Wates the builders.

The building is constructed of brick end and partition walls with concrete, tile hanging and Eternit block. It has a flat felted roof with brick stacks. The structure is three storeys tall, arranged in an 'H'-plan with a central entrance and stairwell serving four flats per floor.

The entrance elevation features a centre section of four fully glazed bays in a metal frame, with an open entrance to the right side. The ground floor is masked by a covered timber walkway bearing the block's name. To the side of these windows are concrete lattice ventilation panels. The rear elevation is centred on a tripartite composition of concrete lattice ventilation panels. The flank walls have continuous horizontal glazing in timber frames.

The main rooms overlook the side elevations, which are arranged in four bays. On the upper floors, each group of three windows comprises two deeper windows with a window box, divided at sill level with one opening at the top; the ground floor has a full-length French window instead of the shorter opening. Tile hanging runs between each storey. The brick end walls have one square window towards the centre on each floor.

The staircase hall is an impressive space with grey terrazzo stairs and landings, and steel balustrades with timber panels. The interiors of the flats were not inspected.

Parkleys was the first, largest and most influential of Eric Lyons's schemes for Span Developments. Lyons and Townsend met in the late 1930s and renewed their partnership after war service, developing small private schemes in south west London and the north Surrey borders. In 1954, Townsend became a developer and had to relinquish his RIBA membership. This is their first mature work as Span Developments Ltd.

The development was built on the site of a nursery. The blocks were carefully laid out to preserve existing trees, and the nursery stock and gardener were taken over as part of the development. The scheme is laid out as a series of cul-de-sacs with taller blocks positioned as distinctive focal points within a grid of lower development. The combination of two- and three-storey blocks was distinctive to Parkleys, as was the mixture of brick and tile hanging, a palette repeated in subsequent Span works, particularly at Blackheath. The use of traditional materials in a modern manner created a particularly humane environment that was widely admired. The tall blocks, with their concrete panels, represent Lyons's most distinctive work in the contemporary 1950s idiom.

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 Span's system of residents' management companies, which has kept most of their developments in exceptional condition. Each leaseholder contributes to the funding of paid maintenance staff and is a member of the management company that runs the estate.

Lyons was admired for 'bridging the gap' between speculative work and the creativity most architects of his generation found only in the public sector. The close partnership with a sympathetic developer enabled Lyons to pursue his own ideas in materials, layout and design. However, the blocks had to be simple: as stated in the Architects' Journal, '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'.