Bradstowe House in the centre of Harrow was empty for months. Scaffolding. An eyesore. Everybody passing must be so pleased it is finished. I like the design, curves. Different.
Complete Community
Inside it now has one and two bed flats, two bed penthouses, and for the residents, a gym, a cinema and a lounge. No need to leave the building on a rainy day.
It would have been nice for residents to have a swimming pool. Maybe they have plans. Maybe they will, one day. (Failing all else, residents can join one of two nearby gyms with pools which are in Harrow, Golds and Fitz, currently lowest price is about £25 a month for a first or second membership. Plus the public leisure centre, Harrow Leisure Centre.)
Many blocks in Singapore, known as flats, when they have few facilities, condos when they provide much more, have gardens with benches, fish ponds, fountains, swimming pools, communal lounges you can hire, open spaces where you can erect marquees for weddings, national holidays, charity events, rows of shops and services (doctor, convenience store - in the UK called a corner shop since they used to be on corners), creche, primary school. Every group of buildings has a Community Centre with tennis court or tarmac sports area in front, meeting room with table, display cabinets, storage cabinets, pull down screens, computers, indoor sports hall, art exhibits along walls (some static, some constantly changing). Often a coffee shop and cafeteria or restaurant.
Unique Blocks Or matching Blocks?
I like the Bradstowe house design from the outside, in isolation. I must admit Bradstowe House with its stepped curves does not in any way match the building beside with brown bricks and triangular top gables.
Useful buildings
The latter building was previously an office building. It was a public service. It was very useful for the community. It was a tax office for everybody in Harrow.
Moving Offices Out of Town
I am annoyed that the tax office has moved out of Harrow to faraway Cardiff in Wales. No chance to go in to see somebody for advice. Instead letters can take over a week. Governments are selling off expensive land in city centres to raise money and moving out. The advantage, if any, is that they provide employment in rural areas. But city centres are getting more crowded. Rant over.
Victorian And Edwardian Terraces
Bradstowe house may seem a novelty in Harrow, surrounded by the two storey terrace houses. But Singapore has every big building different. We used to build long lines of identikit terraces, grander ones such as those in Bath, and the Nash Terraces in London's Regent Park. They may look pretty in pictures. But they are a nuisance when you are trying to find your way.
I drove along a long row of houses in Hampstead, NW London, once, looking for friends who'd invited me for dinner. I an my partner both assumed the other one had the address, but neither of us had it. We'd been there before (with the right address first time). We lost our friends who had moved from Singapore to London, literally and metaphorically, on that night and forever. They moved yet again. Where are you Ash and Sarah? Bradstowe House, easy to find building, count the number of floors, that should not be a problem.
Same Block Confusion
Getting lost in identikit buildings is not just a problem in Victorian or Edwardian rows of similar houses. Nowadays skyscrapers march or stand in circles leaving the newcomer gawping in the middle wondering where friends and family live. When the blocks are all the same it wastes endless time, for the young children, for the elderly, for visitors, taxi drivers, parcel deliveries. I kept going into the wrong block where I live in Singapore for weeks, until I realise one has an oblong roof overhanging the entrance, the other has an arched entrance. One buildings is set back. Even that's not enough. Every week we have a visitor turning up twenty minutes late. They would not be able to spot that. You forget the number or can't see it until you get near. An estate with different blocks has to give buildings different. In Korea I've seen blocks painted different colours, with a different flower on each one. You can give somebody a business card with a picture and when they come to visit they can find you.Conclusion - new design - I like it.
Rooftop Terraces
I also like what looks like private of public outdoor spaces on the roofs, with protective edges.They need to be protected with high fencing or plants so that people can't get drunk at parties and lean over the edge, fall, be pushed, jump. We've seen several of these accidents in London in 2015.On the other hand, platforms can be useful in an emergency for escape.
Working Near Home
Working near home. Living near work. Why? Why not? The advantage to you, if you live in the new skyscraper in the city centre, is that you are near transport to your place of work. You may even be able to walk home.
At one point planners divided cities into residential and commercial. Commercial was not allowed to invade residential areas, creating noise, pollution, ugly buildings. People were able to go home, away from their place of work and forget about it, living in a specious, less crowded area with green trees. However, the workers had stressful journeys increasingly expensive, and with more traffic, increasingly long.
Rental only or Mixed Office and Residential
Bradstowe House - I thought might be offices, or flats for sale, or a mixture, like Singapore, with offices on ground floor, and flats above two people could live above their workplace and go downstairs for shopping or dining out or services. No, not what I had hoped, I went onto their website and it's rental property.
Rental Price
To me it seems expensive. The price on the website is quoted in weekly rental. You have to multiply by four to get the monthly rental and compare it what you see in newspapers and on property websites.
However, I like the design. It's a centrepiece on the roundabout. It's a landmark. If you live there, people would find you easily. It's very near the railway and bus stations to both central London and outlying areas. Great for workers.
Medical Care nearby
Also for accidents, emergencies, and ongoing or temporary problems. Sports injuries - sports and road accident injuries can be treated by a sports physio at a nearby gym. (I was sent there for physio after another car shunned mine and the other vehicle's insurance sent my for physio for arm and shoulder problems.)
In a civil trouble you are near a hospital. The pregnant or the retired are near a hospital. The bus routes go to the nearest hospital, Northwick Park, plus the less known adjacent buildings where people are isolated, eg for cancer treatment when radiation gives you a low immune system. Two shopping malls are a few steps away.
I went away and forgot the name and had to take a picture. It needs a building name. memorable names stick, such as London's The Gherkin. How about calling Bradstowe House - The C u r v e r y? Too similar to Carvery. Make it shorter. and less easy to confuse with anything else The Curvy? The Ellipse? The Harrow Ellipse?
Want to see more?
www.bradstowehouse.com
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
