Description

1900/0/10296 LANGFORD PLACE
18-JUN-02 St John's Wood
12

GV II

12 Langford Place, St John's Wood.

House, former sculptor's studio complex, attached to the east side of 14 Langford Place. C.1882 by Mr Tall, architect, for the sculptor John Adams-Acton RA (1830-1910).
MATERIALS: Kentish ragstone ashlar facing with Portland stone dressings, wooden barge-boards, slate roof.
PLAN: slender deep plan to right of adjoining house with projecting single storey bay with glazed canopy.
EXTERIOR: sharp twin gables with fretted barge-boards, with pointed narrow windows within. All front windows are leaded, with decorative margins of coloured glass. Two-light square windows at first floor. Gabled ground floor projection with curved glazed hood over triple trefoil-headed lights. Stone inscription tablet below with text from St John's Gospel xvii, 21: 'That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me'. Narrow link to left, with balcony at first floor level. Narrow arched window in stone surround to right of projecting bay. To right, modern ground floor with arched opening, replacing former recessed window. Above, to first floor, panels of herringbone brick beneath an arcade of arched windows with decorative leadwork, with rectangular lights above. Glazed dormer window to side of eastern gable.
INTERIOR: not inspected, believed to be considerably altered but retaining some decorative features.
HISTORY: this adjunct to the neighbouring house, formerly called 'Sunnyside' was built in c.1882 for the sculptor John Adams-Acton. Adams-Acton was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy and is remembered today for his statues of Gladstone (Blackburn), of John Wesley (City Road, Finsbury), his effigy of Cardinal Manning (Westminster Cathedral) and the Cruickshank memorial in St Paul's Cathedral. The studio complex included carving and painting rooms, and a long top-lit sculpture gallery. The actress Sarah Bernhardt is said to have tried to rent the house at some point. Listed for its very distinctive exterior and interesting historical associations.

SOURCES: A.M.W. Sterling, Victorian Sidelights: from the Papers of the late Mrs Adams-Acton (1954), esp. 167-8; Hampstead and Highgate Express 29 August 1986, 8.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26642866

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
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  For the Record
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  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
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  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)