The Society has made an extensive objection to two planning applications by Manaquel, owners of Dorchester Court. Read the full text of our objection.
Dorchester Court, near the top of Herne Hill, is a locally-significant Art Deco-era building. It is Grade II-listed and on the Heritage at Risk register, having being seriously neglected by its owners for many years. The landlord has submitted planning applications to build 16 penthouse flats, along with eight terraced œtownhouses (three storeys high) on the site of the garages.
There is talk in these applications of restoring Dorchester Court to its former glory, but no binding commitment to do so. The long-suffering residents, most of whom would be evicted, are objecting. The Herne Hill Society will also be objecting, not because we do not want to see Dorchester Court restored, but because we strongly oppose the damage that this new development would do to a valued heritage asset and its wider setting, and because, in any case, we do not believe the proposed scheme would achieve the restoration of the building.
It is such a shame to see these flats in a state of disrepair. I lived in Flat 11 in the winter of 1969 and then moved to Flat 93 a year later and stayed there for 4 years. Mr Farley was the caretaker.
During the war, my late mother was a physiotherapist at King’s College Hospital down the road and had to attend Dame Joan Hammond, an Australian Opera singer, who had sprained her ankle on stage at Covent Garden. She lived in a top floor flat overlooking Dorchester Drive. My mother told me of the wonderful view over South London.