Stunningly beautiful in places, ugly in others: Greenwich has certainly had its architectural ups and downs over the years

By Ben West

Greenwich, world famous for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time, possesses some of the finest architecture in Britain. Indeed, Maritime Greenwich, the outstanding historic buildings so popular with visitors and residents alike, is classed by UNESCO a World Heritage Site for it having the “finest and most dramatically sited architectural and landscape ensemble in the British Isles”. They are widely recognised as being the finest collection of Baroque buildings in northern Europe.

There is a famous canvas by Canaletto, painted in 1752, of  Greenwich Park and what is now known as the Old Royal Naval College, which was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Wren announced – rather immodestly, perhaps – that this landscape was ‘the finest view in Europe’ and even in the 21st century few people would disagree about that.  

However, if Canaletto’s sparkling panorama remains thoroughly recognisable, it hides the profound changes seen elsewhere in the area. These have been especially monumental in the last decade or two, as the skyscape was transformed by the creation of a new sub-city at Canary Wharf, and, with Greenwich being home to Greenwich Mean Time, the reclamation of the near-derelict Greenwich Peninsular as a site for what became the mother of all white elephants, the Millennium Dome, now the O2 Arena, a venue for the focus of the nation’s celebrations for the beginning of the third millennium.

Greenwich Millennium Village

Reclamation of the Peninsula was hugely costly as the land was contaminated by toxic sludge. It became home to a new community, Greenwich Millennium Village (GMV). It hasn’t panned out exactly as was envisaged on its launch in 2000: it was going to be a haven of wildlife, with enough public transport to make cars almost redundant, with many vehicles hidden away in landscaped areas to decrease their impact on the environment. It boasted innovative energy efficiency measures that would greatly reduce household bills. It would have a strong sense of community. Completion would take around five years. 

It was originally trumpeted as an outstanding example of high-density housing for the future, although it is stretching it a bit to class its towering apartment blocks a ‘village’.

Although GMV certainly has a dedicated area for wildlife, housed in its impressive ecology park, the bid to banish vehicles has not been so successful, as cars line many streets. There never seems an overpowering sense of community whenever I visit, as there seldom seem to be many people around. 

As for the predicted slashed household bills, residents have posted complaints on the internet in the past about expensive heating, water and maintenance bills, and cheaply-made properties. 

On launch in 2000, GMV was to have 1,377 homes. The initial plans have changed somewhat, too: In 2009 1,100 homes were completed, and a further 1,700 or so are planned over the next decade.

In 2000, for the £195,000 you paid for one of the compact two-bedroom apartments at GMV, it was possible to buy two small Victorian terraced houses a stone’s throw away in Woolwich Road. 

In 2009 newly-built two-bedroom apartments at GMV were offered for sale for around £250,000 – not much more than the original asking price, interestingly. However, terraced houses in the same area of Woolwich Road as a decade ago, were selling for more than £175,000 each in 2009. 

Today you can reserve a two-bedroom apartment in a new phase of the development for around £500,000 and second-hand versions hover around the £400,000 to £530,000 mark.

A small terraced house in Trafalgar Road hovers around the same mark now. Remember, you could buy two for the asking price of a GMV flat at launch, so your £195,000 invested in two terraced houses in Trafalgar Road in 2000 would be worth at least £800,000-£900,000 now, while your one GMV flat would go for £500,000 or so.

Destruction of 1970s architecture

While Wren’s creations remain universally celebrated, Greenwich’s 1970’s architecture has certainly not fared well. In recent years Greenwich Council approved demolition of the 1971-built, 1700-pupil Thomas Tallis School (replaced in 2011 by a brand new £52 million building), and allowed the removal of the 1970 Greenwich District Hospital in 2006, five years after its closure in 2001. After more than a decade as a wasteland, work finally began on the Greenwich District Hospital site in 2012, creating the 645-home housing development Greenwich Square. 

The huge, sprawling 1970s Ferrier Estate in the Kidbrooke neighbourhood was also flattened to make way for Kidbrooke Village, a new development which will eventually see 4,200 homes created.

Demolition was also approved for the council’s own 1972-built headquarters, Peggy Middleton House – which housed the planning department. In its place now is a huge branch of Tesco, so big that astronauts on the International Space Station have been  able to take a selfie of themselves with it in the background.

In the early 1970s would the creators of this massive housing estate, secondary school, council building and hospital have  possibly envisaged that they would have been demolished so soon afterwards? Although these buildings were by no means perfect, such a short shelf life seems shockingly wasteful, especially when you consider the many, many thousands of properties built in the Victorian age and before around the UK which are still standing today.

The council building and school, especially, would not have won any beauty contests. With its heavy use of concrete and quite radical exterior design, Greenwich Hospital was loved and loathed in equal measure. Yet it was a good example of architecture of the period and ingeniously and thoughtfully designed: for example, wards were situated around the outside of the building to gain maximum natural light, while the offices, laboratories and theatres were located in the centre of the building. Engineering services were located between floors to ensure that repairs and maintenance caused no disruption. 

Varied architecture

Greenwich Borough contains a very varied range of architecture. Its splendid centre, dominated by the imposing St Alfege Church designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor (who trained under Wren, working with him on the Greenwich Royal Naval College) contains numerous Georgian and Victorian houses, the National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory.

The attractive streets around Hyde Vale, Crooms Hill and Royal Hill are generally most sought after. The Ashburnham triangle  conservation area of nine streets of stuccoed terraced houses, dating from the 1820s onwards with later cul-de-sacs, is also very popular. 

Further afield, Greenwich has lots of pre-World War II housing as well as a number of large council estates, including huge developments at Thamesmead. Residents first moved there in 1968, and building work continues, with the aim of eventually housing 50,000 people in that corner of the borough.