Blue plaque celebrates history

Blue plaque gives homebuyers a history lesson

A VICTORIAN schoolhouse, which was also once home to the world famous Chelsea College of Art & Design, will be marked with a memorial plaque.

A blue heritage plaque will be unveiled at the former Townmead Road School, Fulham, which opened in 1905 and closed in 1935, on Thursday 4 February at 11.30am.

The Chelsea Secondary School moved in soon after the Second World War and stayed until 1968.

The buildings then became home to the Chelsea College of Art & Design – where the sculptor Henry Moore was once a pupil and the painters Patrick Caulfield and Graham Sutherland taught.

The unveiling will be attended by Leader of the Council, Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh and Councillor Lucy Ivimy, Cabinet Member for Housing, representatives from Hammersmith and Fulham Historical Buildings Group and housing provider Affinity Sutton/Astral Homes will also be in attendance.

In early 2010the schoolhouse was given a new lease of life when it and the rest of the site were converted into a stylish boutique development called The Gallery|sw6 - a selection of new townhouses and apartments plus converted homes in a grand restoration of some of the original buildings.  Built by contractors Wilmot Dixon Housing Housing, there are a total of 109 properties here with 56 being sold to private purchasers and the remaining to local applicants on a part buy/part rent basis.

Homebuyers will soon be able to snap up a piece of the capital’s artistic history at the renamed schoolhouse which has been transformed into  one and  two bedroom apartments and a three bedroom double fronted detached Lodge – which was originally the caretaker’s residence. Most of the brand new homes built on the site have now been sold, with only four apartments remaining.

Councillor Ivimy, said: "With high house prices and the credit crunch making mortgages harder to come by, buying your first home can be a distant dream for many Londoners. But, with schemes like this, this council is helping low and middle income earners to get that vital first step on the ladder. Turning this famous old schoolhouse into housing really is a fantastic example of just what can be achieved with some imagination. 53 low cost homes to buy in one development in an areas with some of the highest land values in the country is an outstanding achievement only possible through the close working relationship between Affinity Sutton and the Council.

The council is planning for at least 6,500 new homes over the next ten years. That exceeds the house building targets set down by the London Plan by more than 150 new homes each year."