This bright maisonette occupies the top floors of a handsome Victorian building on Ellsworth Street in Bethnal Green and has long-reaching views of the city from its coveted corner position. The apartment is refined and elegant and has been recently restored with careful use of fine materials and thoughtful design touches that chime with its period proportions. Within easy walking distance are underground and overground transport links, excellent parks and local restaurants, making the apartment a perfect east London retreat.
Setting the Scene
Dating to the 1870s, the apartment is a perfect example of Victorian commercial architecture. Large-scale building clearances and broader town planning in the early 20th century mean that very few Georgian and early Victorian commercial spaces remain – those that do, now mainly form the Bethnal Green Conservation Area. Today, this maisonette sits above a cobbler on the corner of Ellsworth Street and Bethnal Green Road. For more information, please see the History section.
The Grand Tour
A pretty blue front door on Ellsworth Street, complete with hand-painted lettering and a very pleasing wind-up doorbell, opens to an inviting hallway with a geometric tiled floor, in keeping with the building’s Victorian origins. The original staircase rises to the open-plan first floor, a space drenched in light from windows on three sides.
At the rear is a contemporary kitchen fitted with bespoke joinery and a five-ringed Smeg hob. From the kitchen, a glass door frames views to the outdoors. At the front of the plan is a space currently used as a dining area, where an antique wood-burning stove creates an intimate and cosy atmosphere. There is also a handy WC on this floor. The entire apartment has been fitted with new, period-appropriate double-glazed casement windows and a layer of secondary glazing.
Sitting in dramatic contrast with the light tones of the apartment, the dark wooden staircase leads to the second floor. Here, the eaves have been exposed, revealing the structural fabric of the building and creating a surprisingly voluminous space with a clever storage level. The bedroom area is positioned at the back of the plan; set on a five-finger parquet pediment, it is separated from the rest of the apartment by heavy curtains and a wall of built-in storage. Adjacent to the bedroom is a perfectly formed shower room.
At the front of the plan on this floor is a space with another wood-burning stove and built-in shelving, which makes a wonderful living area. Windows on the west-facing aspect of the room frame spectacular views of the London skyline, while south-facing windows mean it is bathed in light throughout the day.
Out and About
The apartment is within striking distance of some of London’s best-loved parks, Museum Gardens and Bethnal Green Gardens are only a five-minute walk, and the larger Weaver’s Fields, so named for the area’s rich industrial past, is also nearby.
Bethnal Green has an exciting mix of traditional pubs and cafes, such as E. Pellicci, Tayyabs and The Approach Tavern, and a new wave of bars and restaurants, including Brawn, Redchurch Brewery, Sager and Wilde and Cave Cuvee. Common E2 is just around the corner for coffee, the lauded Satan’s Whiskers and the Florist Arms are within walking distance, and the Sun Tavern could not be closer. The area is home to many design and architecture practices and many commercial galleries, including Maureen Paley, Modern Art, and Herald St.
Broadway Market and Columbia Road Flower Market are within easy walking distance, while slightly further afield are Brick Lane and Shoreditch. There are numerous small local parks, including Museum Gardens and Bethnal Green Gardens. Victoria Park is less than a 20-minute walk and home to a weekly farmers market and excellent fare at Pavilion Bakery. The Young V&A Museum (previously the Museum of Childhood) is just around the corner. This fascinating example of Victorian iron engineering, now dressed in a geometric stone façade by Caruso St John, is a fantastic architectural landmark in the city.
Bethnal Green Road is a five-minute walk from Bethnal Green Underground Station (Central Line) and a 10-minute walk from Shoreditch High Street. There are excellent bus links to Hackney, Canary Wharf and central London.
Tenure: Leasehold
Lease Length: approx. 102 years remaining
Service Charge: approx. £300 per annum
Ground Rent: approx. £100 per annum
Council Tax Band: C
History
The 17th century arrival of the Huguenot journeymen, a population of particularly skilled and industrious silk weavers fleeing France, established a thriving silk industry in the east end of London. Initially focused in Spitalfields, the concentration of weavers, mercers and merchants soon spilled to neighbouring Bethnal Green, colouring it a new epicentre for the city’s silk works.
The lives of Bethnal Green’s weavers were dominated by work, and, as the urban fabric of the city grew around the flourishing industry, it too became steeped in the silk trade. Those working the looms lived in the same buildings as their work was carried out, and a curious architectural vernacular emerged; buildings that were in equal measure domestic and industrial, they hovered on the cusp between traditional cottage industry and factory architecture.
Lining the eighteenth-century streets of Bethnal Green’s weaving district, these buildings were arranged to maximise light for such intricate weaving work. Exceptionally wide ‘weavers’ windows allowed sunlight to stream through brick facades and rear timber elevations on the top floors where weaving took place. On residential lower storeys tiny windows lit utilitarian newel staircases. Only a handful of these journeyman houses now survive, a few survivors can still be glimpsed on Sclater Street, Bethnal Green Road, and Redchurch Street.
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