Entrance lobby

Improvements and additions to Thorpe Lodge historic gate house at Holland Park School, London

Of the seven great houses on this part of the Phillimore estate, which became Holland Park, only Thorpe Lodge remains. A protected historical building that serves as an ancillary space for the school, first built in 1956 and recently rebuilt as an academy in 2013, Thorpe Lodge sits high in the north-east corner of the school site, next to the front entrance.

The house, home of Motagu Norman, Governor of the Bank of England, from 1904 until his death in 1950, has a rich and varied history of tenure with particularly high‐quality and special additions to match. A wealth of large, different and wonderful rooms give onto formal gardens to the south and west, but as the gateway to the new school, Thorpe Lodge currently finds itself in an awkward position. The north elevation feels closed and rear at the front entrance to the school and the building is poorly serviced, inaccessible and showing the wear, tear and gloomy decoration of the last fifty years.

A vision for sustainable school use with an enhanced identity for this special old building is timely.

Service: Feasibility with Kay Pilsbury Thomas Architects

Location: Holland Park, London

Client: Holland Park School

Cost: £tbc

Dates: Tbc

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