Casadanza III
Manwood Road, London SE4

SOLD

Architect: Chance de Silva

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This outstanding two-bedroom house forms part of a small new-build development designed by the renowned architects Chance de Silva.

Known as Casadanza, the development comprises three flats and this house, which is semi-detached.

The ground floor of the house contains a kitchen / diner and a reception room, both of which open onto a south-facing patio garden at the rear. There is also a cloakroom off the entrance hall. The first floor contains two bedrooms, with lovely high ceilings and skylights, as well as a bathroom. The house also comes with its own off-street parking space.

Chance de Silva’s work has been shortlisted by the RIBA and the Civic Trust, and has been published internationally. For more information about the architects, and about Casadanza, see the History section.

The property is located a short walk from Ladywell station, with services to London Bridge, and Crofton Park, with services to St Pancras. Also within walking distance is Honor Oak Park station, from where regular fast services run to London Bridge (12 minutes). The station is also now part of London Overground, with trains to Dalston via Canada Water (Jubilee Line), Shadwell (DLR), Shoreditch High Street and Whitechapel (District and Hammersmith & City Lines).

Nearby green spaces include Ravensbourne Gardens and Blyth Hill Fields Nature Reserve, as well as the newly transformed Ladywell Fields. Local amenities include the Brockley Jack theatre and pub, Hilly Fields Farmers’ Market, the Horniman Museum, the Broadway Theatre, Honor Oak Gallery, Jam Circus, the Brockley Mess, Ladywell Arena and Aquarius Gold Club.

Tenure: Leasehold with Share of Freehold
Lease: approx 999 years remaining
Service charge: £600 per annum

Please note that all areas, measurements and distances given in these particulars are approximate and rounded. The text, photographs and floor plans are for general guidance only. The Modern House has not tested any services, appliances or specific fittings — prospective purchasers are advised to inspect the property themselves. All fixtures, fittings and furniture not specifically itemised within these particulars are deemed removable by the vendor.


History

Having acquired a derelict former schoolkeeper’s house, the architects
Chance de Silva retained the shell of the existing building and
extended it in all directions to make a small residential complex.

With
its pitched blue-zinc roof and white-painted brick, the building
references its Crofton Park neighbours, but there is also a nod to
Alvar Aalto’s houses in Helsinki and Noormarkku.

The name Casadanza refers to the nearby Rivoli Ballroom – the
wonderfully preserved 1950s ballroom that is a still-thriving local
institution.

Chance
de Silva describe Casadanza as follows: “We have experimented with
dance imagery, for example combining the forms and movement of a pair
of dancers with ‘stretching’ the existing box, subdividing it into
dwellings of different sizes. In particular the blocky rectangular
brickwork erupted into a rakishly tilted ‘hat’, crowning the house and
flats respectively. Under the ‘hats’ the ceilings follow the eccentric
lines of the sloping roof planes, and rooflights drop in here and there
to augment low-level views with high-level illumination.”

The building makes the most of having three different aspects by carefully managing the views and the natural light.

Chance
de Silva have become particularly well known for designing intelligent
and experimental new-build houses. Each incorporates characteristics of
the local area and is tailored to the requirements of the client.

For
example, a house in Highbury called Venus, which occupies a site on a
very private and “defensive” street, opens up at higher levels to
permit views and let in light.

Cargo Fleet, built in 2005, is
clad in Cor-Ten steel and larch. This ‘lifetime live-work’ home can be
used flexibly to accommodate the
changes in circumstance of occupants over a lifetime. It could be one
larger dwelling, containing a home-office, or two smaller houses.
Writing about the project in the Architects’ Journal, Andrew Wulf declared that it “successfully addresses the changing face of the domestic”.

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