Bridge House in Preston's Road
More information
Title
Bridge House in Preston's Road
Bridge House in Preston's Road
Reference
SC_PHL_01_293_F5853 (Collage 99031)
Date
Collection
London Metropolitan Archives: LCC Photograph Library
Description
Front elevation of Bridge House, 24 Preston's Road, Poplar, looking north-east. Bridge House was built in 1819–20 for the West India Dock Company's Principal Dockmaster, or Superintendent. In its form as a three-storey (including basement) brick box symmetrically arranged under a pyramidal roof, Bridge House follows eighteenth-century Thamesside villas in type. However, the stuccoed distyle-in-antis Greek Doric porch with triglyph frieze and cornice is unmistakably early nineteenth-century. In 1878 a new Superintendent observed of his house that 'the rooms [are] so large and numerous as to be quite beyond the requirements and means of one holding his position', however it was not until 1894-5 that the property was converted to two dwellings, for a dockmaster and his assistant. By 1938 the house was regarded as old and expensive to maintain and its demolition was proposed, however this had not been done by the outbreak of the Second World War when it was requisitioned by the War Department for the National Fire Service. After the war the building was somewhat neglected and in 1954–5 it was converted as the Port of London Authority's Chief Police Office and Police Training School. The PLA sold the property to a firm of architects in 1981 who used it as offices eventually converting it into six luxury flats in 1987. The Bridge House was Grade II Listed in 1950, listing number1065073.
Front elevation of Bridge House, 24 Preston's Road, Poplar, looking north-east. Bridge House was built in 1819–20 for the West India Dock Company's Principal Dockmaster, or Superintendent. In its form as a three-storey (including basement) brick box symmetrically arranged under a pyramidal roof, Bridge House follows eighteenth-century Thamesside villas in type. However, the stuccoed distyle-in-antis Greek Doric porch with triglyph frieze and cornice is unmistakably early nineteenth-century. In 1878 a new Superintendent observed of his house that 'the rooms [are] so large and numerous as to be quite beyond the requirements and means of one holding his position', however it was not until 1894-5 that the property was converted to two dwellings, for a dockmaster and his assistant. By 1938 the house was regarded as old and expensive to maintain and its demolition was proposed, however this had not been done by the outbreak of the Second World War when it was requisitioned by the War Department for the National Fire Service. After the war the building was somewhat neglected and in 1954–5 it was converted as the Port of London Authority's Chief Police Office and Police Training School. The PLA sold the property to a firm of architects in 1981 who used it as offices eventually converting it into six luxury flats in 1987. The Bridge House was Grade II Listed in 1950, listing number1065073.
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