Surrounded by a council estate, Kingswood Arts (formerly known as Bovril Castle) is an unusual site to behold in south London.
Today you can still tour part of this historic house, which is now used as a free arts space for the local community, hosting workshops and events with the help of volunteers, and funded through renting the space for events, weddings, and functions.
The history of the estate can be traced back as early as 1576, long before there was a house on the site, when it was called King’s Coppice before later being named as King’s Wood.
However, the name ‘King’ is not believed to suggest that one of our former monarchs owned the woods, it was more likely that a person by the name of King was the former proprietor.
Edward Alleyn, who is known for being the “proprietor of brothels”, purchased the estate in 1619, and much later in 1811 a house was built by William Vizard who lived there up until 1831.
Kingswood Arts CEO Jack Hartshorn told News Shopper that the ordinal and much smaller build was “never knocked down”, and additional buildings were added over time, with architecture dating right up until the 1940s.
Vizard was famously appointed the solicitor of Caroline, Princess of Wales, who was the wife of the then Prince Regent George IV.
Vizard managed to successfully defend her against his divorce attempts, and in a rare move the public sided with Caroline, with Vizard being appointed to many more cases following his success.
The house had a stint of five short term owners between 1831 and 1890, before being taken on by millionaire John Lawson Johnston in 1891, and the house was nicknamed ‘Bovril Castle’ after the famous drink he invented.
After buying the lease from Dulwich College, James set to work expanding the house, with Henry Vaughan Lanchester appointed to give it that castle aesthetic that you largely see today.
Works included the addition of the entrance hall, Great Hall, and Palm Court – an orangery-style building which is today used by locals – as well as adding 17th century style panelling to the inside of the building.
Today if you visit for a tour you’ll see many of these features, including the tapestries that were made, plaster ceilings and fireplace that were sourced from palaces and chateaus during the Prussian war.
One of the house’s most famous residents was Russian prince Serge Constantivich de Bolotoff, who was granted the lease in 1908, although there were some allegations that he was not in fact a royal.
He lived in the house for several years, not paying bills, and later married Rosalie Selfridge, the daughter of Gordon Selfridge.
Serge was also a pioneer of aviation, with the grounds serving as the holding spot for his planes, which he occasionally would crash when he flew them.
The house had a number of other residents over the course of the 20th century, including the Vestey family, who took on the house in 1919 and made a number of changes, including the installation of marble flooring and additional panelling.
The family were also famously known for pioneering refrigerated shipping and funded a large project to revamp Liverpool Cathedral.
Explorations of the house led to the discovery of a bomb shelter with a reinforced concrete ceiling, which would have been used when a V-2 rocket landed near Sydenham Hill station, which blew the windows of the house out.
Currently, Kingswood Arts are working to reveal a section of the bomb shelter to expose the original kitchen, with its original white tiling, which is hoped to be completed later this year.
In the 1940s the estate was acquired by London City Council, who issued a compulsory purchase order to develop it into housing.
The estate, offering housing for 789 families, was built around Kingswood House, which was heavily used by locals throughout the 60s and 70s.
The house had other uses as a library when it was under Southwark Council, and today it is now used as a thriving community space for local people, after it was acquired by CEO Jack Hartshorn who renamed it Kingswood Arts.
Kingswood Arts hosts free community events for the people of the Kingswood Estate, with a huge portion of its funding coming from hiring out the historic house for events, as well as tours to learn about the history of the building over the centuries.
