Bleier Estates Ltd

The sun shone for one of the happiest days that 44 Grove End Road  had seen for many years. Bleier Estates, working with the St. Johns Wood Society, entertained over 120 guests at 44 Grove End Road for a day of art appreciation and architectural history. Our guests were treated to a tour of the property with Bleier Estates Director – Caroline Peers – who showed the property from the restoration of the roof to Sherlock Holmes’ lair in the cellars… Then, architectural historian and fellow Director – David Peers – gave a talk on how the property has influenced the work of famous artists including Tissot, Tadema and Hogarth as well as Enrico Caruso, Pieter Tchaikovsky and Dame Nellie Melba to name but a few.

We were pleased to accommodate a class of fine art students from University of Warwick and honoured to have descendants of Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema as guests too! On behalf of the owners of the property, we are applying for Blue Plaques for Lady Laura Alma Tadema and James Tissot – both wonderful artists in their own right and deserving of recognition.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the owners of the property for the use of the property – allowing us to make this wonderful day possible – and to our sponsors, Goldschmidt and Howland and Knight Frank.

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Work is currently underway restoring and redeveloping the former home of the celebrated international artists Jacques Joseph Tissot and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. The Grade II listed building was built around 1825 and is located at 44 Grove End Road, St. John’s Wood, London. Due to its history, the property has become an imposing Victorian mansion of architectural and cultural importance.

The current construction work seeks to restore the property to its former glory as the years following the Alma-Tadema’s occupation of the house saw the building fall into disrepair. Requisitioned for army occupation during World War II, the building subsequently suffered some resulting bomb and fire damage. After the war, the house was then divided into 11 apartments. This conversion will ultimately be reversed by the refurbishment scheme which will return the house to a single residence. As the house is set in approximately 0.6 of an acre, with the building itself covering 1,473sq m, this will mean that the completed dwelling will be of an expanse rarely encountered in the area today. This floor area is spread over three-storeys and a 468sq m basement with 495sq m to the ground floor, 413sq m to the first and 97sqm to the second. The sheer size of the venture has led to ‘Project Tadema’ being separated into two distinct phases. Stage one sees the refurbishment of the building and is completed early this year. Completion of this stage will leave a fully repaired and restored shell with infrastructure and plumbing available for the bathrooms, kitchen and final finishes to be fitted during the refurbishments next stage. Internally, stage one has necessitated the complete reinstallation of the mechanical and engineering works – using a fully integrated touch screen operation – and water supply. All plasterwork has been replaced, as have the doors and windows along with all the joinery features including window and door linings and skirts. The building’s staircases and the double height conservatory have also been replaced to return them to their original standard.

External works have included the sunken rear patio, refuse store and entrance colonnades. The lead, copper and ironwork have also been refurbished. An important and necessary part of the external refurbishment has been the extensive roof repairs. The building features around 30 individual but linked roof structures using natural slate and various coats of lead. The individual roof system means that a number of materials features throughout including timber parapets capped in lead, copper work and ash felt work. The individual designs feature a dome and a roof lantern suspended over a stair well. The sensitive and complicated nature of this roof system has led to a year long restoration project which has resulted in a roof system which is in keeping with the Grade II listed building.

The building is now entering the second phase of the refurbishment programme. This stage will see the fitting out of the kitchen and bathroom areas, decoration of the entire building and the landscaping of the surrounding grounds. These fittings will be decided in consultation with the project’s purchaser who will therefore be able to plan their own personal style to the building.

The main contractor for the project is Diamond Construction and Bleier Estates have developed and managed the entire programme which has ultimately restored and redeveloped 44 Grove End Road in line with the original RIBA drawings.

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