Description

TQ 3975
786/45/10134
25-APR-01

BENNETT PARK
Blackheath
47
Blackheath Art Club

II

Artists' studios, now flats. 1885-6 with 1891 Annexe. John C P Higgs and Frank Rudkin, architects. Red Brick with roughcast and hung tile to one gable. Arts and Crafts style of one main range. Separate Annexe to right in warehouse style.

FACADE Two storeys plus attic. Two main entrances at centre. Facade reads of 4 parts: hipped gable section to left with symmetrically arranged segmental-arch windows, extra large at ground floor to accommodate exhibition room; connecting section with band of leaded lights at first floor in roughcast; gabled section in roughcast with large Renaissance-style window dropping into brick ground floor; end section with ogee-headed lights at ground-floor, roughcast first-floor with cross-windows and attic dormer. Tile-hung gable to side elevation. Rear elevation (now facing retaining wall) with large windows to studio space. Separate plainer Annexe of three stories with large windows and buttresses.

INTERIOR Two sections of one range no longer communicating, each with main entrance. Left section of building opens into small tiled hall. Exhibition hall at ground floor (now flat). Stairs to artist's flat (now flat) above. Right section of building steps up into bottle-glass entrance porch. Central tiled hall with fireplace, half-height panelling and frieze. Wide staircase to first floor studios (now flats). Pointed-arch entryway to studio (now flat) at ground and first floors. Doors (now blind) to men's lavatories (gone) and left range. Interiors of flats not inspected.

HISTORY Built as artists' studios and exhibition space for the 1883-founded Blackheath Art Society. Used 1933-1943 as headquarters and studio for the GPO film unit. Given English Heritage Blue Plaque in 2000.

SOURCES Rhind, Neil. Blackheath Village and Environs 1790-1990 Volume 1: The Village and Blackheath Vale.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27082128

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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