A North London historical society has launched a petition to prevent a 150-year-old Victorian villa from being demolished as part of a redevelopment project. The fate of the locally listed building has been in the balance since planning permission was granted around six years ago, however, it expired before construction began leaving the building’s future uncertain.
More than 200 people have already signed the petition to save the villa, named Altamira, since it was launched by Willesden Local History Society (WLHS) earlier this month. It is situated in the Morland Gardens site, which has been the subject of multiple prior housing development proposals, but now forms part of Brent Council’s ‘Hillside Corridor’ project.
Irina Porter of the WLHS describes Altamira as a ‘much-loved and valued’ part of Stonebridge and is urging the council to ‘retain the beautiful and historic’ Victorian villa as part of any redevelopment of the site – which is proposed be turned into affordable housing and youth facilities. A consultation on the plan was launched last month (March) to gauge public opinion, whilst it doesn’t mention the listed building specifically it is feared that the plan involves it being demolished.
Built between 1872 and 1876 by architect Henry Kendall Jnr, Altamira was one of the buildings of a larger estate – named Stonebridge Park, which was the origin of the name of the area which developed around it, according to WLHS. The villa is now one of only two surviving examples which have ‘distinct belvedere towers’.
It remained a private house until around the time of the First World War before becoming a members’ club for the next few decades. Then in the 1990s it was restored and extended by Brent Council to become home to the Adult and Community Service. In 2018, it was decided to upgrade the facilities for the service that would later be renamed Brent Start.
The council’s original plans for redeveloping the Morland Gardens site were approved in January 2020 and involved demolishing the locally listed building. However, it ultimately failed after the planning consent expired towards the end of 2023 without any construction work starting. Brent Start college was then moved to a temporary home on Twybridge Way and is set to have its permanent residence built at Bridge Park as part of the area’s regeneration instead – which is also part of the £600m ‘Hillside Corridor’ project.
The council has now suggested plans to build new council homes and community facilities at Morland Gardens but WLHS is fighting for Altamira to be retained. The society claims there is ‘plenty of space behind the villa’ to build the homes without losing the ‘heritage building’. The long-awaited proposals are expected to come before the Cabinet at an upcoming meeting (June 16).
Grant Williams is a journalist and Local Democracy Reporter (LDR) for Reach PLC, reporting on local government, politics and community issues across London. As part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he has contributed to Harrow Online, covering council decisions, housing developments, transport, planning matters and stories affecting local communities across Harrow and Brent.
