Sutton Place is a fine collection of Grade II Listed Georgian and Victorian houses situated in the Clapton Square Conservation Area on a pedestrian route linking Hackney Central with Homerton. The name originates from former resident Thomas Sutton, a wealthy patron who in 1611 founded the famous Charterhouse School and Hospital in Clerkenwell.

 

Early nineteenth century dark brick terraces face mid nineteenth century paired villas in buff brickwork and white stucco. At the end of the cul-de-sac, on a prime site overlooking St. John’s Gardens and the Grade II* Listed Parish Church of St. John at Hackney, a 1950s council building lay vacant, derelict and burnt out.

 

Community Housing Association, later merged into One Housing Group, sought to regenerate the site with urgently needed affordable housing. Influenced by Gordon Cullen’s ‘The Concise Townscape’, a right-angled composition completes the ensemble by closing the vista at the end of the street, creating a gateway to the gardens beyond. The eastern arm is composed of four terraced family houses with top floor setbacks moderating their scale and creating private south facing terraces. To the west, light filled apartments overlook the parkland.

 

The new architecture integrates with its historic surroundings but is unashamedly of its time. The buff brick of the Victorian villas continues through as the dominant material. Mirroring the adjoining Georgian terrace, an articulated volume in engineering brickwork creates a focal point in the streetscape. Cantilevered balconies, angular bay windows and a four storey glass entrance screen define a more contemporary language.