Sally McFall at Howitt Close

DEVELOPERS are having another go at trying to build an extra floor of flats on top of an Art Deco complex in Belsize Park.

Residents living in the architectural gem in Howitt Close had already helped see off a similar application earlier this year, which was rejected by council planners.

But Freshwater, the freeholder of the building, has submitted another round of proposals, aiming to build an additional seven homes on top of the 46 flats in Howitt Close.

The first application received more than 100 objections and was refused in part because its design was not in keeping with the rest of the building. Its plan to build a sloping mansard roof with dormer windows was deemed out of character with the building’s distinct flat roof and overhanging eaves.

Freshwater’s new application has updated its design to include a flat roof with solar panels to give a “contemporary” appearance.

But David Thomas, chair of the Belsize Conservation Area Committee (BCAC), said of the application: “The building is a very special 1934 Art Deco design. It’s complete as it is. You can’t add to it.

“The developers have noticed the flat roof and they see it as an opportunity to build another floor on top. You can’t do that with a special building like this. It’s designed as it is.”

BCAC is also concerned that the back gardens of homes behind Howitt Close along Belsize Park Gardens would be cast in more shade if an extra floor was added, and fear mature trees will be lost during construction.

Resident Sally McFall said the “contemporary” design was “still both extremely historically and architecturally incompatible with our building, not to mention really ugly,” adding: “Contemporary is not the same as a 1930s Art Deco look.”
Commenting on the drawing of the potential new roof, she said: “It looks as if a warehouse has been bolted on top of this.”

She also took issue with the application’s heritage statement, which she thought to be a “desperate” attempt to play down Howitt Close’s importance. It states that the original architecture firm Henry F. Webb & Ash were a “relatively minor practice” who “never attained membership of the RIBA above that of Licentiate class”.

The Belsize Society’s planning spokesman Tom Symes said: “It is a very important example of 20th-century design and it is extremely rare that a building of such quality has remained as it was built.”

None of the new flats will be affordable housing, but Freshwater said it would help fund affordable housing elsewhere.

Freshwater declined to comment, but said in its application: “The proposed development, which consists of a roof extension to the existing building maximises the use of the land and delivers much need housing for the area.

“The single storey addition will represent a change, but in its muted form and simplistic style will not compete with the existing architectural treatment.”