Croydon landmark: the Thruppeny Bit building shortly after it was completed in 1970
The 20th Century Society, the organisation that seeks to protect and promote the best architecture built between 1901 and 2000, has described as “disappointing” the decision that its application for a listing for No1 Croydon has been rejected. Again.
It was the C20 Society’s second application to get listed status for the building, also referred to as the Thrupenny Bit building, a landmark which was designed by Richard Seifert and Partners and built between 1968 and 1970, and positioned alongside East Croydon Station, and now the tram tracks and the busy bus station.
The rejection leaves the building at real risk of being at least compromised, if not ultimately destroyed. The lack of any meaningful listed status meant that the carbuncle of a Sainsbury’s Local was allowed to be plonked next to the building in recent times.
The C20 Society says that they believe No1 Croydon to be the most significant example of Seifert’s surviving works to remain unlisted.
They submitted the latest application for listing last August, soon after Inside Croydon broke the news that the building’s owners want to convert it from office use and turn it into 250 microflats across the building’s uniquely shaped 24 floors.
Announcing the news this morning, the Society tweeted: “Disappointing news that C20’s second listing application for No 1 Croydon… has again been rejected.
“The Society supports in-principle plans for residential conversion, but as Seifert’s most significant tower to remain unlisted, a sympathetic approach to any works is essential.”
Second time lucky?: how the 20th Century Society announced its latest attempt to preserve some of Croydon’s heritage architecture
Had the listing application been accepted by the culture minister, Lisa Nandy, it would have had little or no impact on the proposals to convert the block into residential under permitted development rules.
The C20 Society had previously applied for listed status in 2012.
Inside Croydon had broken the news that the building’s owners, Britel Fund Trustees Ltd, have done their sums and reckon that now is the time to get out of the office landlord business and move into the residential property business instead.
The proposals include no affordable homes and no open space for residents.
“Private rented homes on a concrete island surrounded by tram lines, a bus station and roads,” was how the proposals were described by a disgruntled Addiscombe councillor.
More flats: Seifert’s architectural landmark will soon have new occupants, but has been rejected by government agency’s as a significant building
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. These include some of the worst residential accommodation to be found in London – what we were warned would be “the slums of the future” made a reality as the slums of the present.
On its website, the 20th Century Society suggested that what the owners of No1 Croydon do with its interior is of less concern to them than preserving this monument to 1960s brutalism.
“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 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 has said that the rejection of their first listing application was “overly reliant” on information from English Heritage based on “questionable information provided in a dossier submitted on behalf of the building owners, intended to rebut the listing submission”.
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 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.”
Read more: Seifert’s Croydon landmark set to be converted into 250 flats
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