The next property I visited as part of Open House 2024 was Winscombe Street, a small terrace of houses that was the first of three housing projects that Neave Brown built in the UK.

Built on a site in 1965 over a former sewer, Winscombe Street terrace consisted of 5 three-storey identical houses and a studio. It struck me as a private and quite exclusive place to live – photography was not permitted on the Open House Tour (except for at the front of the houses) so I have used sales listings and architectural journals to illustrate what I saw inside and around the back.

The tour started on the ground floor, which contained the kitchen/dining area and a bathroom, all in original condition.

In the hallway was a very distinctive wooden staircase consisting of steps cantlivered from a central pole which anchored down into the concrete on the lower ground floor. The staircase led upstairs to the top floor and downstairs to a lower ground floor.

The upstairs floor, which consisted of two large rooms divided by a sliding partition door, was used by the owner as a living room and the master bedroom. This floor was very bright owing to the domed skylight above the staircase. We were told that this floor gets a bit too warm in summer.

The lower ground floor consisted of a half bathroom (containing a Japanese sized bath), a bedroom, a utility room and a large flexible room containing sliding doors affixed on a system of rails and tracks. This could be arranged as two narrow bedrooms or one larger space. We were told that this downstairs space was often used by residents for children’s bedrooms or a granny annex as it was self contained (with its own entrance into the back garden) and separate from the rest of the house.

Outside was the communal garden, which was well maintained by the residents via a system of clearing days during the year. We were told that the residents abide by self-imposed rules not to play any music, hang washing or erect fences in the garden.

We were told that the residents of Winscombe Terrace are leaseholders but shareholders of a freehold company responsible for the overall maintenance of the terrace. The residents struck me as a close, quite exclusive community- we were told that prospective buyers need to submit an application to the existing residents and undergo an interview process with each existing resident granted the power of veto, which is reportedly exercised every so often if the prospective buyer is not deemed the right fit.