Grade I listed almshouses in East London

Built 1695 these almshouses are reputedly designed by Sir William Ogbourne with the possible involvement of Christopher Wren for the care of old and wounded mariners and their spouses with the benefit of a hospital and chapel. On the verge of being demolished due to inadequate drainage, they have survived due in no small part to the efforts of several dedicated campaigners including Charles Ashbee who first included it on a formal list of monuments and buildings worthy of protection and lead the way in establishing what we now perhaps take for granted as the listed building

The houses are arranged in two terraces either side of a communal garden and overlooked by a community chapel. They were badly damaged in the second world war and then repaired and upgraded in the 1950's by London City Council.

These internal works to restore the dwellings to habitable standard post WWII were the best that could be achieved at the time with the knowledge and construction techniques of the day and, we speculate, on a limited budget.

Whilst the materials and methods used in the 1950’s refurbishment are universally derided today as inappropriate and out dated, they did however serve the dual purpose of both providing much needed sanitary accommodation, and also found sustainable use for the buildings and saved them up to the present day. 
 

As these almshouses become privately owned, we have got to know them very well. Using the combination of our traditional restoration expertise, planning, design & drawing skills, with no hesitation with hands-on involvement to ensure the highest quality of workmanship, we have helped to upgrade and restore several of these national treasures to comply with current building regs and produce outstanding, beautiful and desirable but practical homes for their owners and generations to come.

"I'd highly recommend Ecovril. They were very helpful in explaining he planning process and negotiating listed buildings regulations,and kept me well informed on the application's progress through the local council's antiquated system. 

They went above expectations with advice on budget, building materials and timescales and were invaluable to the whole project."

Morwenna Lytton Cobbold