Gutted: after almost a decade of a planning tug-of-war, the owners of 275 Addiscombe Road now appear to have no alternative but to have the building demolished
“Owners and developers should be held responsible when something like this happens.”
That was the quick take of one concerned resident yesterday, which was typical of the angry and saddened reactions of many, as firefighters continued to damp down the embers of an overnight blaze which had gutted 275 Addiscombe Road, a badly neglected Victorian heritage landmark building.
The London Fire Brigade says that the cause of the fire is under investigation. No one was injured in the fire; with the exception of squatters, no one has lived in the building for at least eight years.
The two-storey, large family house, known as “Ecclefechan”, has been subject to a preservation battle by locals, including ASPRA, the Addiscombe and Shirley Park Residents’ Association, who led opposition to what they saw as inappropriate proposals for redevelopment by the property’s owners. ASPRA described one of the many versions of schemes submitted for the property as “greedy vandalism on a grand scale”.
Bare boards: as internal photos taken a couple of years ago show, the building had been stripped and left derelict
275 Addiscombe Road had no architectural or heritage protections through the listing process.
According to Croydon Council records, the property at 275 Addiscombe Road had been subject to close to 30 planning applications since 2020.
Not all of them were refused, and in 2024 the developers even won an appeal against the decision of Croydon planners to refuse permission to build a three-storey building with nine (and therefore no “affordable”) flats.
There is no suggestion of wrong-doing connected to the fire by the property’s owners. It is a bitter irony, after the years of unsuccessful applications in the face of strong public opposition, that the owners have actually had a valid planning permission for the site since 2022.
Four years ago the owners – Marlpark 275 CRO Ltd – put forward a revised scheme to demolish the badly derelict building and replace it with a larger, modern pastiche of the design, including copies of the house’s feature turrets.
Tall order: around 60 firefighters took more than two hours to douse the flames on Addiscombe Road
When this was about to expire last year, they re-applied and were granted permission for “demolition of the existing house and replacement with a new three-storey detached house (C3 use) plus basement, with associated on-site car parking and other site alterations” (C3 use is as housing).
There appears to be no alternative now to demolition of the building following the fire in the early hours of Thursday morning, a blaze serious enough that emergency services were forced to close off some neighbouring roads into the morning rush hour.
After two hours, firefighters had the blaze under control just before 7am.
Eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters were called out. “Half of the ground and first floors of a two-storey, derelict, detached house were damaged by fire and the roof was destroyed,” the LFB said.
Station Commander Tom Sharp, who was at the scene, said: “Firefighters worked hard to bring the fire under control as quickly as possible.
Overgrown: 275 Addiscombe Road was left derelict for the past seven years
“One of the Brigade’s 32-metre turntable ladders was used as a water tower, allowing crews to tackle the fire from above. The Brigade’s Drone Team was also deployed, giving the incident commander an aerial view of the incident and using thermal imaging cameras to identify hot spots.”
Marlpark 275 CRO Ltd, run by brothers Abbas and Habib Datoo, and registered at an address in Scarbrook Road in Croydon town centre, bought the property in July 2019 for £1.2million.
Despite having an approved scheme for the site, in April this year Marlpark submitted yet another planning application.
Latest proposal: the developers have now submitted a scheme for outline consent to build a four-storey care home on the site
This time, they said that they wanted outline consent “for the demolition of the existing house (Use Class C3) and erection of a four-storey building comprising a nursing home (Use Class C2) for 30-60 residents plus an ancillary basement”. Which represents a significant departure from previous plans, perhaps a sign of changes in the housing market.
The proposed building, at four storeys plus basement, is at least twice the scale of the now destroyed Ecclefechan – so unlikely to be a popular suggestion with residents of neighbouring bungalows.
The council public consultation process on the latest proposals is open until October 1.
Read more: Croydon’s planners save historic Addiscombe house – twice
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