Second time lucky?: how the 20th Century Society announced its latest attempt to preserve some of Croydon’s heritage architecture
The 20th Century Society has submitted an application for the architectural symbol of Croydon, No1 Croydon, to be protected by listed status.
It’s the second time that the 20th Century Society has sought protection for the widely recognised, if not always admired, former NLA Tower, also known as the “50p bit building” or “Thruppeny bit building”, that sits alongside East Croydon Station, the tram tracks and the busy bus station.
The building was designed by Richard Seifert and Partners and built between 1968 and 1970.
The listing application by the 20th Century Society will have no impact on the building’s owners’ proposals to turn the office block into 250 flats under permitted development rules.
Flat out: No1 Croydon, likely to be turned into 250 flats
“C20 has given support in principal for new plans to convert No 1 Croydon… from office to residential use, while also submitting a renewed listing application for the building, 12 years on from our first unsuccessful attempt,” the Society tweeted last night.
They say that they believe No1 Croydon to be the most significant example of Seifert’s surviving works to remain unlisted.
Inside Croydon broke the news two weeks ago that the building’s current owners, Britel Fund Trustees Ltd, have done their sums and reckon that now is the time to get out of the office landlord business, as far as this Croydon landmark is concerned, and move into the residential property business instead – cramming 250 microflats into the building’s 24 floors.
As one unconvinced Addiscombe ward councillor has grumbled: “Now we have a permitted development rights application to turn NLA Tower (No1 Croydon) from offices to flats, with no affordable homes provided and no open space for residents. Private rented homes on a concrete island surrounded by tram lines, a bus station and roads.”
Mind you, this was Councillor Sean Fitzsimons, who during more than six years as chair of the council’s scrutiny committee, failed to find anything of significant concern about council-owned Brick by Brick’s “business” plan or some of its shoddier developments.
Permitted Development, or PD, nevertheless remains a concern for planners. There was a ban on all PD conversions in Croydon town centre for almost a decade. It is reckoned that there are already around 1,000 flats in converted office blocks in Croydon, following relaxation of planning rules by the Tories in 2011.
On its website, the 20th Century Society suggests that what the building owners do with the interior is of less concern to them than preserving this monument to 1960s brutalism.
Puzzle corner: Seifert’s design for Croydon remains his only significant building not to have listed status
“C20 Society has given support in principle for new plans to convert the No1 Croydon building (formerly the NLA tower) from office to residential use, while also submitting a renewed listing application for the building, 12 years on from our first unsuccessful attempt.
“Commonly known as the ‘Thrupenny Bit’ or ’50p Building’ on account of its unique twisting form, it has been described by John Grindrod as ‘the star attraction on Croydon’s skyline’, and the Society believes it to be the most significant unlisted example of Richard Seifert’s surviving works.”
And they say that with office occupancy rates in decline and given the ongoing housing crisis, “a conversion to residential use is therefore an obvious and wholly reasonable proposition in principle”.
The 20th Century Society first applied to list the NLA Tower in August 2012, but it was turned down.
“The Society stands by the points made in our listing review request, and claims that English Heritage’s report at the time was overly reliant on questionable information provided in a dossier submitted on behalf of the building owners, intended to rebut the listing submission. Furthermore, the understanding and appreciation for the commercial architecture of the mid-late 20th century, and in particular the work of Richard Seifert and Partners, has evolved immeasurably over the past decade,” the 20th Century Society says.
Seifert’s Centre Point, by Tottenham Court Road in central London, and two of the firm’s other buildings are Grade II-listed.
Centre Point, built on the former site of a gallows, was one of the first skyscrapers in London and was controversial into the 1970s as, despite the housing crisis then, the office space remained unused for almost a decade after the building was completed.
Centre Point was converted for residential use in 2018.
No1 Croydon was constructed in 1968 to 1970 to the designs of R Seifert and Partners, in collaboration with the engineers Ove Arup and Partners, and built for Noble Lowndes Anninuities (NLA), a pension brokers. It initially provided ground-floor showrooms, 20 floors of office accommodation, with a restaurant and kitchen on the upper levels, and basement parking for 180 cars.
The 20th Century Society says: “Having had an uncomfortable relationship with its post-war legacy for many years, Croydon has recently embraced this period in its history, with the No1 Croydon building belatedly assuming the status of a pop-cultural icon: appearing prominently on book covers, T-shirts and tote bags, zines, prints and album covers.” They forgot to mention 2012 Olympics pin badges…
Croydon Council’s planning department has until September 24 to issue a ruling on the PD application for the building.
Read more: Seifert’s Croydon landmark set to be converted into 250 flats
Read more: From #MerkyFC to murky No10, Open House opens their doors
The implications of squeezing 250 flats into 24 floors of office space alongside the main railway station, busy bus stops and tram lines was discussed on our latest episode of The Croydon Insider, our news podcast exclusively for subscribers to this website. Click here to find out how you can plug into the Croydon conversation
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Get it listed before some developers tear down the Colonel’s south London masterpiece and replace it with yet another bland brick spreadsheet monstrosity
“Private rented homes on a concrete island surrounded by tram lines, a bus station and roads.”
That sounds like the Island, in the middle of the Newgate/Hogarth Crescent gyratory, although that is less well-connected being half-a-mile away from the tram and the bus station (at West Croydon). Does the Island have a helipad on the roof because there seems to be no other ways of getting to/from the place?
I doubt that there are any plans to list the Island ?!