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Camden News - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 10 July 2008

Paddy Pugh

English Heritage attacks ‘waste’ of town house left to lie empty

ENGLISH Heritage’s London chief has criticised the Town Hall for allowing a listed Georgian town house to lie empty for more than three years.
Paddy Pugh had hoped to launch English Heritage’s annual Buildings At Risk register with a photo-shoot outside the property in Calthorpe Street, King’s Cross, but he says Camden Council was not keen.
He said: “It is just a waste to have it lying there like that. It is a historic building and there is a housing crisis. It is terrible that it has been left standing empty.” Mr Pugh added: “We originally asked Camden Council if we could use Calthorpe Street and they said it was not advisable.”
Instead, the report was unveiled at a photo-shoot with London Mayor Boris Johnson at a derelict town house dating from 1775 in neighbouring Swinton Street.
Former tenant Kathleen O’Donoghue, whose family lived in the Calthorpe Street building for nearly 60 years, was moved out in 2005 with a promise she would be allowed to return once repair work was completed.
But costs rose and now the building lies empty while council housing chiefs haggle over whether to sell the property or hand it over to a housing association.
A council press official said: “There has been no decision taken by the council to sell 9 Calthorpe Street. As the future of the property is subject to ongoing legal correspondence it is not possible to comment any further.
“We were more than happy to work with English Heritage to publicise the ‘at risk’ register and provided them with a list of properties in the borough they could use.”
English Heritage’s register includes numerous Camden landmarks, ranging from a horse-and-cattle trough and the grave of painter John Constable to a £60 million Highgate mansion and an empty women’s hospital.
It includes the Downshire Hill home of murdered Hampstead recluse Allan Chappelow and the Camden Town terrace that housed a garret where 19th century French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine once lived.
Helping to launching the London report, which included 56 listings in Camden, Mr Johnson announced a new £60 million grant budget to help renovate at-risk buildings.
Mr Johnson claimed the scheme would protect Camden’s heritage and provide new housing. He said: “I hope this will help save listed buildings and boost public housing.” But Mr Johnson admitted the funds would renovate only about 100 properties.

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