164 Deptford High Street, Lewisham

New build mixed-use scheme of residential and workshop units

This project is one of a series designed by the practice in Deptford with two specific aims, the first being to attract activity back to the High Street by providing low-cost flats and workshops, and the second to repair the decaying yet historic character of the street by filling important sites with sensitively designed buildings.

This prominent development is located at the entry to the churchyard close to Thomas Archer’s celebrated eighteenth-century English Baroque church of St. Paul’s, Deptford. The project introduced the idea of classical form and a classical vocabulary of details to relate to the traditions both of the church and of London street architecture.

Stairs from the pavement lead up to a first floor terrace overlooking the churchyard from which the residential units are accessed. A clerestory gives light to the ground floor workshops, entered from the street on the opposite side of the building.

The project was reviewed in a feature article in The Architects’ Journal