HISTORY OF THE BUILDINGS
Devon Mansions and Hartland House are a set of five residential mansion block buildings situated along the south side of Tooley Street in Bermondsey, London. The buildings are located within the London Borough of Southwark and are included in both the Tower Bridge and Tooley Street Conservation Areas.
During the Victorian era, the area between Tooley Street and the River Thames to the east of what is now Tower Bridge was one of the largest warehouse complexes in London. Completed in 1873, these warehouses housed huge quantities of tea, coffee, spices and other commodities, and became known as London's Larder, due to the vast array of goods and provisions from across the globe.
Despite the commercial success of the warehouse businesses, there were serious problems of poverty, overcrowding and poor sanitation amongst those living in the local area. In 1875, a number of model dwelling tenement blocks were built in the area adjacent to the docks to help house local residents and address some of these social problems. Originally called the Hanover Buildings, these buildings were renamed Devon Buildings around WWW1 to remove the German influence from the name. They were later renamed Devon Mansions. The block was built by James Hartnoll.
Devon Mansions was an early example of social housing and, as such, its initial tenants were predominantly working class residents from the local part of Bermondsey, then known as Horsleydown.
The buildings were a private rented complex until acquired by London borough of Southwark in 1965.
However, like many social housing initiatives close to Central London, the composition of tenants in Devon Mansions changed significantly during the 1980s following the launch of the Right to Buy Scheme under the Thatcher Government. As a result, a significant proportion of current occupants of Devon Mansions are now private owners.
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
Devon Mansions and Hartland House comprises five separate, six-storey mansion buildings, all built in a near identical style, each containing several separate but interconnected blocks. Blocks 14-21 have pitched roofs, whereas blocks 1-13 have flat roofs.
The buildings are of yellow brick, with a repetitive pattern of domestic scale sash windows organised within a simple arrangement of string courses and cornices, providing balancing vertical elements with splayed windows and stone quoins. Interest at street level comes from street railings that protect half basements and the main entrances to the buildings.
There were originally 549 flats within Devon Mansions when constructed. The block containing original flats 168-191 was demolished in approximately 1902 to make way for Tower Bridge Road, bringing this number to 525. Following installation of integral bathrooms, lifts and internal reconfiguration of the flats undertaken during modernisation works carried out between 1965 and 1980, there are today approximately 337 flats in all. The current numbering is flats 1 to 180, then jumping to flats 331–489.
The Devon Mansion buildings are a good example the mansion block style of the era. Indeed, during its Conservation Area Appraisal, Southwark Council specifically identified Buildings 1 and 2 of Devon Mansions as "making a positive contribution" to the local area - one grade below listed status.
DAMAGE DURING THE BLITZ
The area along the south bank of the Thames was heavily targeted by the Luftwaffe during World War II, due to presence of strategically important transport and storage infrastructure. As a result, buildings on Tooley Street were often at threat of destruction from German bombs during the Blitz.
On 29 December 1940, in one of the most devastating bombing raids of the Blitz, German planes attacked the City of London with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs, causing what has been called The Second Great Fire of London.
During this raid, a high explosive bomb landed on Building 3 of Devon Mansions, destroying a 20-metre section of the building between Blocks 12 and 13. According to the Civilian War Dead Register of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, three residents were killed by the blast.
The damaged section was repaired in full in 1950 - however it is still possible to see the site of the bomb impact, as the brick used to repair the building is of slightly darker colour than its surroundings. A plaque also commemorating the event is also visible at street level.
MODERN DAY
During the 20th century, the docks that had brought so much prosperity to the area went into decline. When the London Borough of Southwark acquired Devon Mansions in 1965, it originally considered demolishing the mansion blocks due to the squalid nature of them (most of the flats did not have any bathrooms, none of the blocks had lifts and the toilet was in with the kitchen). However, this was dismissed because of the extremely narrow site on which the blocks were built and also because of the large number of tenants occupying the blocks. A plan was therefore devised for the blocks to be modernised in stages so as to minimise disruption to the residents. Work started in 1967 and finally concluded in 1980, taking some 13 years to conclude. This is why the numbers jump from 108 to 331 (although some of these numbers are because a block was demolished to make way for Tower Bridge after 1894 but no later than 1902.
During the 1980s and 1990s, many of the disused but picturesque warehouses along the River Thames were converted into expensive flats, highly sought-after by those wanting to live close to the City of London. This became known as Shad Thames. Although apartments in Devon Mansions have not seen the same level of property price inflation as those in neighbouring Shad Thames, they have benefited from gentrification of the local area. An increasing number of the properties are privately owned, though a large proportion remain council properties occupied by council tenants. Lately, Devon Mansions has attracted a number of young professionals from the creative industries such as contemporary artists Marjolein Verheij and Dominik Platen. There is currently a healthy demand for rental properties driven by city workers attracted by the proximity to the city, and selection of top restaurants, cafes and bars in Shad Thames, London Bridge and Borough High Street.[citation needed] The freehold to Devon Mansions is owned by Southwark Council and the property was managed by the Fair Community Housing Services tenant management organisation (TMO) until Friday 1 November 2024. Fair Community Housing Services is no longer managing properties on behalf of Southwark Council. On Friday 1 November 2024 the Council took over all day to day services.