River Court East
Upper Ground, London SE1
Architect: Richard Seifert
Register for similar homes"Seifert built more London buildings than Sir Christopher Wren, and undeniably had as great an effect upon the city skyline." - Martin Pawley, The Guardian
This exceptional penthouse apartment occupies the top floor of River Court, a landmark residential block perched on the banks of the river Thames, designed by Richard Seifert and completed in 1977.
With its smooth concrete render and jutting balconies, River Court adds beautifully to the architectural vernacular of the Southbank and Lasdun’s neighbouring National Theatre. But it is this apartment’s expansive 450 sq ft private roof garden, offering astonishing skyline and river views that betrays Richard Seifert’s ruthless talent for securing space and height on behalf of his clients.
Internally, the penthouse is configured around a large entrance hall, leading off to two double bedrooms. One is currently configured as a study, while the other has a south-facing balcony and en-suite bathroom. The living and dining rooms have views north across the river and lead out through glazed doors to the roof gardens, which wrap one side of the apartment. A modern kitchen has fixtures designed by Vico Magistretti for Schiffini. There is a further guest bathroom with Flaminia fittings and a Japanese ‘furo’ deep-soaking bath.
In addition to the roof garden, the penthouse shares private communal riverside gardens. It also has a parking space which can accommodate two cars.
Judging by quantity alone, it has been argued that Richard Seifert’s buildings have influenced London’s skyline more than any architect since Christopher Wren. Understandably, many critics seem more willing to rely on his reputation as a wizard negotiator, a loophole exploiter, and a manipulator of town planners and the LCC alike.
Seifert’s style is said to have charted a trajectory from neo-classical orthodoxy to a form of expressionistic Modernism, seen in buildings such as River Court and Centre Point. Favouring pre-cast concrete pieces that slotted together like a jigsaw puzzle, much of Seifert’s later work explored versatile, readily available materials to create buildings that seem to be the physical embodiment of the Modernist maxim, ‘form follows function’.
The apartment is wonderfully positioned for transport citywide. Blackfriars, Waterloo and Southwark stations are all within a ten-minute walk, while St Paul’s and the City are a short walk across Blackfriars Bridge.
Tenure: Leasehold
Lease length: approx. 148 years
Service charge: approx. £5000 per annum
Ground rent: approx. £37 per quarter
Please note that all areas, measurements and distances given in these particulars are approximate and rounded. The text, photographs and floor plans are for general guidance only. The Modern House has not tested any services, appliances or specific fittings — prospective purchasers are advised to inspect the property themselves. All fixtures, fittings and furniture not specifically itemised within these particulars are deemed removable by the vendor.
History
Richard Seifert was born to a Swiss family in 1910 and first came to London as a boy. He won a scholarship to the Bartlett School of Architecture and graduated in 1933. After an apprenticeship as a trainee surveyor and architectural assistant, he set up his own practice, specialising in speculative housing schemes of traditional appearance for which he claims he used to charge three pounds a house.
During the second world war Seifert served in the Royal Engineers in India and Burma, rising to the rank of Colonel, a title he often insisted on using in practice as an architect.
Through a mixture of relentless attention to detail, commercial savvy and a mastery of town planning Seifert essentially brought the commercial tower block to UK city centres. Nowhere did he achieve this more notably than in London. He is said to have built over 500 buildings in the capital alone, paving the way for the high rise aesthetics of twentieth century practitioners such as Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano.
Stylistically, Seifert was a creature of pragmatism, veering from Modernism-by-numbers to bombastic forms of Brutalism, always with a view to securing his clients’ unprecedented space, height and value for money.
Centre Point, at the foot of Tottenham Court Road, remains Seifert’s most notorious building. Dismissed by Ernö Goldfinger as ‘London’s pop-art skyscraper,’ the building has earned a fond place in the public’s heart since its completion in 1963 and has undergone an extensive refurbishment. It was Grade II listed in 1995, thanks in part to the support of Seifert’s former enemies at the Royal Fine Art Commission, who cited its ‘elegance worthy of a Wren steeple.’
Seifert’s reputation has enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent years. Centre Point and the South Bank Tower have both been preserved in line with Seifert’s original designs, proving that an appetite for Seifert’s unique brand of high rise design remains well into the twenty-first century.
