HGY/2010/1246
The above application has been made to replace the cottagy low level white buildings on the stapleton hall road corner with lancaster road (across the road from the launderette). The developer wants to squeeze a huge three storey development of modern terraces with the fronts right up to the narrow pavement.
A sensitive and well proportioned redevelopment of that corner could look great but this design is truly hideous - take a look at the above reference and see the design statement photos. It is three stories high and looks like a glorified council block. There is still time to lodge objections - maybe the reason many local residents dont know about this is because there does not appear to have been a planning notice outside (maybe it was taken down by someone).
It looks like a glorified 80s council block and is MASSIVE and will really harm the feel of that part of the area.
Please object to this monstrosity on the council planning portal HGY/2010/1246 as quickly as you can before this slips below the radar and we are all stuck with it.
Comments
Big problems with land to the rear belonging to railway co. who point blank refuse to accept any design that extends a building further back than current one.
Removal of billboard is quite pithy too as the owners have paid a tidy sum for that site well into the future and were demanding compensation in mid- five figures.
Not sure that corner could rely on the 'interesting spot' argument - developers could point to the generally unloved appearance of Station House and shopfronts on either side of that parade, the urban Camping look of Triangle and running joke of the Nickelby. Saving grace possibly being the walk up to Parkland by the bridge.
If they were designing an attractive contemporary building which will be a real addition to the area thats one thing but this looks like an unhappy muddle
Arches look quite weird don't they, but the view down Ferme Park Road to the corner (taken from outside Hobarts by the looks of it), does look quite good.
Hopefully when/if they build it/complete it, they'll remember to remove the hoardings and we're not stuck with a perpetual shithole like the site next to John Jones.
Having myself failed an architecture degree I do wonder how some of these people do become qualified if this is the best they can come up with.
Dull, boring, ugly, no imagination. An attempt to imitate it's much older neighbours with modern materials. May as well get Bovis or Wimpy or any of the other crap house builders to do it.
Arkady - re space I agree we will lose the corner of the current bay but thats about it. The advertising board will be replaced by a cycle storage area and the centre of the building will jut out in front of the line of the neighbouring gardens. For such a huge building to be built up to the line of the pavement will feel oppresive and completely out of kilter with the rest of that street.
I disagree that its better than whats already there - the existing buildings are at least innoffensive. I agree that a good development for that area would be great but this block is not it.
The architects website is interesting - they are clearly capable of designing decent looking contemporary buildings - I suspect they have gone for this barratt home rubbish because they dont think theyll get anything original or exciting through the philistines in the council planning team - if you are a developer in haringey wanting to make some money do you suggest something new and original or do you go for some tired victoriana that you know will get thru - the latter - just look across the to the other side of stapleton hall road for an example of what passes as decent architecture!
we shouldnty try to stop this but to get them to redesign something better - they need the confidence the council will go for it tho which is the other issue
Nick_m - i agree its rubbish
Still, I suppose money always talks.
The replacement looks vile by any standards. Arches are for Italian piazzas, not Ferme Park Road.
Arches - the examples they have shown are low rise edwardian and victorian terraces. Those arches are completely different in scale and work in their setting becuase they are repeated and form part of the visual rhythm in those streets. These arches dont - they are much bigger and dont fit either with the building or the pattern of the street. I bet the materials will look crap as well.
I agree you cant judge the quality of the exterior (but we can guess!) but you can clearly see the form and scale and that alone has got most people here against it.
I really think half the problem here is with the message the council is sending - if as an area we actively encouraged high quality design as they do in islington and camden etc we would not have this continual problem with legoland pastiche eyesores being proposed and passed - quite understandably thats what people think the council will go for and so thats what they design - we need the council to make clear what "good design" is - it seems like they are in a muddle themselves. Maybe that goes some way to explaining the monstrosity you refer to - I'm sure the application for that made all the same "victorian" references that this one does - and it worked!