Summary
Pair of houses dating from between 1789 and 1798, with later alterations and additions.
Reasons for Designation
Numbers 5 and 6 Bruce Grove, a pair of houses dating from between 1789 and 1798, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a pair of houses of some grandeur dating from between 1789 and 1798, presenting an elegant symmetrical Classical frontage;
* the principal elevation of each house survives substantially intact, with a shared eaves cornice, and original window openings holding sash frames; number 6 retains its decorative fanlight.
Historical interest:
* the houses belong to a wider sequence of similar dates on Bruce Grove, comprising the most prestigious and one of the earliest groups developed around the High Road at about this date;
* each house has an additional bay, which despite considerable later change, serves as a reminder of the carriage accommodation originally included as part of the development.
Group value:
* with numbers 7 to 16 Bruce Grove, which are contemporary with numbers 5 and 6, and also with numbers 1 to 4 Bruce Grove, which date from about 1820; all these houses are listed at Grade II.
History
Tottenham High Road, known historically as Tottenham Street, is part of what was once Ermine Street, the Roman Road leading from London to Lincoln and York. A settlement is recorded at Tottenham in the Domesday survey of 1086, and a manor house existed by 1254, on or near the site of Bruce Castle (the name, bestowed in the 1680s, derives from medieval ownership of the manor by Robert the Bruce). The linear settlement grew along the High Road, with what was effectively the village centre being marked by the Green and High Cross, which commemorates the medieval wayside cross which once stood there. By the C16, Tottenham was a favoured rural retreat for city merchants, with a number of mansions along the High Road; subsequent development reflects the area’s status as a place of residence for wealthy Londoners, whilst a number of schools, as well as charitable and religious foundations were established there. Thomas Clay’s 1619 map of Tottenham depicts the High Road with intermittent buildings along its frontage, and others set back within enclosed grounds. Daniel Defoe observed in the 1720s that the building along the road from the city, passing through Newington, Tottenham, Edmonton and Enfield had increased so much recently as to give the appearance of ‘one continu’d street’, especially Tottenham and Edmonton; Defoe remarked on the houses of the wealthy merchants, some retaining houses in the city: ‘many of these are immensely rich’ (‘A Tour Thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain’, 1724-1727). However, as in most villages, Tottenham’s inhabitants were socially mixed: Peter Guillery has noted that ‘the face of Tottenham High Road was hugely varied; few of the many timber-built small-scale buildings survive’ (‘The Small House in Eighteenth-Century London’, 2004). Wyburd’s parish map, surveyed in 1798, shows much of the High Road north of High Cross bordered by buildings, many within spacious grounds.
In the late C18 and early C19, new villas and terraces began to spread outwards along existing and new sideroads running from the High Road. Of these, one of the earliest and much the most prestigious is Bruce Grove, running north-west from the High Road to Bruce Castle, following the line of one of the avenues of Bruce Castle Park. The development of Bruce Grove was made possible by the break-up of the Bruce manorial lands in 1789. Building commenced on the south-west side near the junction with the High Road with a group of villas (now numbers 5-16) completed by 1798. These houses, mostly semi-detached pairs, were soon associated with a number of wealthy Quaker families. In about 1820, a short terrace (now numbers 1-4) was built. The opposite side of Bruce Grove, and the stretch to the north-west, was still undeveloped in 1894.
Substantial houses of the sort built at the end of the C18 in Bruce Grove were for those who owned carriages, but with the advent of daily coach services from London in 1823, of omnibuses in 1839, and the arrival of the Northern and Eastern Railway to the east at Tottenham Hale in 1840, Tottenham became accessible to less affluent middle-class people, and the Tithe map of 1844 shows increasing development of smaller houses along the High Road. The opening of the Liverpool Street-Edmonton branch of the Great Eastern Railway in 1872, with a station at the junction of Bruce Grove and the High Road, brought about a development boom, providing more modest housing. Industries established locally during the C19 included a lace factory in 1810, a silk factory in 1815 – this became a rubber mill in 1837 – and brewing from the mid-C19. The abundance of brick-earth in Tottenham meant that brick- and tile-making was a strong local industry from the middle ages to the C19, whilst many farms and market gardens along the banks of the River Lea supplied the London market with fruit and vegetables.
Numbers 1-16 Bruce Grove have seen considerable change during the course of their history, including the insertion of Woodside Gardens in the late C19, running westwards from Bruce Grove between numbers 12 and 13. Numerous alterations and additions have been made to all the houses; most have been divided into several dwellings or units, and some have been in institutional, commercial or industrial use. The spacious front gardens of the larger houses are now hard standings for parking, whilst numbers 1-4 have C20 shops built over their front gardens.
Numbers 5 and 6 Bruce Grove form an attached pair, originally built with carriage houses/stabling. In both cases, this subsidiary area has seen much change, and both houses have been altered and extended to the rear. From early in the C20 number 5 was in use as the headquarters of the Tottenham Conservative Association, but this has recently closed and the building is now empty. Number 6 is in use as offices. To the north of number 6, a new lane, Champa Close, was formed in the late C20 from the house’s former access passageway and yard; new housing has been constructed in the large rear gardens of both houses in the C21.
Details
Pair of houses dating from between 1789 and 1798, with later alterations and additions.
MATERIALS: stock brick, with brick stacks. The two houses share hipped M-shaped slated roofs, divided by a row of brick chimney stacks, running from north to south. A separate hipped roof covers the bay to the south-east of number 5. Window openings hold sash frames, some thought to be original.
PLAN: the attached houses face east to Bruce Grove, with number 5 to the south and number 6 to the north. Each originally had an outer range, believed to have served as a carriage house and stable. The Tithe map suggests that these were originally slightly detached; certainly, these parts have been subject to alteration and rebuilding. Both houses have alterations and extensions to the rear.
EXTERIOR: the houses are of three storeys with basement, and present a symmetrical frontage, with both houses being three windows wide, with a doorway set within a wide round-headed brick arch to the outer bay. A stuccoed eaves cornice supported by paired blocks beneath a blocking course runs along the top of the frontage. The junction between the houses is marked by a narrow projection, taking the form of a pilaster. The windows have gauged flat brick arches, and the openings hold six-over-six sash frames; the second-floor window openings are square, with three-over-three sash frames. The doorway of number 5 appears to have been modified: the fanlight is enlarged, and fitted with decorative coloured, whilst sidelights (now blocked) have been inserted flanking the door. There is now a late-C20/early-C21 fascia above the door. The doorway of number 6 appears to remain as originally designed, with a stuccoed inner arch, and a fanlight. Both houses have six-panel doors.
To the south of number 5 is an additional bay, slightly set back, with a single wide tripartite window at both first- and second-floor levels. The eaves cornice continues across this bay. At ground-floor level is a door opening with a C20 concrete lintel. Attached to the elevation to the north is a functional late-C20 single-storey addition with garage doors; these may indicate a former carriageway behind, converted to garage use. Historic mapping indicates that the presence of building filling the gap between this bay and number 4 Bruce Grove, and until 2016/2017 there was a single-storey element in this position, clearly much if not completely rebuilt. The area to the north of number 6 has also been through considerable change. Attached to the main house is a two-storey bay, with a square bay window at ground-floor level; a straight joint in the brickwork indicates that this element is the result of rebuilding. Running to the north is Champa Close, which originally fell within the building plot of number 6; historic mapping indicates a structure in this position, in line with the house, apparently providing access to the rear, and the flank walls to either side of Champa Close show the scars of the gabled roofs of lost low buildings.
To the rear, the main section of each house is two windows wide; the windows to number 5 have segmental arches and the windows to number 6 have flat arches. There is a large double-height semi-circular bow across the northern part of number 5. Both elevations are obscured at ground-floor level by later accretions.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the front doors are approached by three steps having wrought-iron hand-rails with scrolled detailing, partially lost to number 5. The area railings are thought to be replacements.
