The Marlowes

The Marlowes 1960s

Rarities down in The Wood   – from a newspaper cutting

St Johns Wood used to be a  rather unsaintly place where actresses lived and where rich men kept their doxies.  Nowadays ,  of course , it is one of London’s most plush areas –  referred to by aficionados as The Wood. Not that there’s a great deal of green stuff left there now. In the past few years a massive amount of flat building has gone on and it still proceeds apace. Even Lord’s has been violated.

New developments of houses are comparatively rare in The Wood.  One very big one that is on the go at the moment is at St Johns Wood Park, off Finchley Road.  This is  probably one of the plummiest residential sites in London – houses in nearby Avenue Road float in the £100,000 ether – and it is being developed by Sunley Homes. All told, there will be about 70 houses built here, some terraced, some semi-detached and the rest detached.

The terraced houses are being built first and they will extend down the Finchley Road frontage and along the south end of the site.  The semis will be in the middle and the detached houses on the St Johns Wood Park side. The first group of terraced houses has been sold, but the second group  of about a dozen is now being built. Accommodation: four bedrooms, two reception rooms (one about 18 by 14 ft ) two bathrooms, kitchen, cloakroom, garage and small back and front gardens. Prices just under £20,000 for a lease of over 90 years ( ground rent £95 a year). Needless to say, all mod. Cons. including gas-fired central heating.

The semi detached houses will  be ready about July. Inside they will be much the same as the terraced houses, but outside they will have bigger gardens and an extra garage. Prices will start at £24,000. The four and five bedroom detached house will be built last, and no prices or completion dates are available yet. These are expected to sell pretty fiercely when they do come on the market, because modern detached house so near to the centre of  London are pretty scarce.