History.

The arrangement of buildings in circles and crescents is most familiar to us today in the city of Bath, the epitome of Georgian town planning. In 1790 the crescent reached Greenwich when a local man, Michael Searles, designed Gloucester Circus, a speculative development intended to attract middle-class professionals to the area. Searles, the son of a surveyor, had practised first as a surveyor himself but soon showed his talent as an architect designing dwellings in New Cross. Gloucester Circus was intended to be two crescents enclosing a vaguely circular space. Unfortunately it was not a financial success and only one crescent was completed by 1809.

The Paragon comprises seven buildings of semi-detached houses, each linked by a single storey colonnade, with a lodge house at each end.

Despite this, however, in 1793 Searles proposed a development in Blackheath to the wealthy timber merchant John Cator. Cator had purchased the Wricklemarsh estate in the 1780s and had already demolished Wricklemarsh Hall, which stood where Pond Road meets Blackheath Park. The opportunity to develop the land suited Cator and he appointed Searles as the developer. From 1794 Searles started designing and building The Paragon. The first houses were occupied by 1800, and the crescent was complete before Nelson’s State funeral in January 1806.

Each owner of the 14 semi-detached houses linked by colonnades enjoyed 9 acres of land which provided pleasure grounds and lawns but also allowed space for kitchen gardens, fish ponds, and pasture for keeping cows to provide fresh milk. Servants’ quarters, laundry, stabling and a coach house were provided for each owner. The houses enjoyed pleasant country views and fresh air (there is always a breeze on Blackheath!).

The houses remained individual dwellings for many years, gradually being adapted for other uses as the area changed – a school, a private hotel, among others. Over time those buildings used as dwellings were drastically changed; windows were altered and extra rooms were added on the colonnade flat roofs. The elegant design was seriously damaged.

During the 1939 -1945 war The Paragon suffered bomb damage but from 1947 to 1958 it was rescued and restored by the architect Charles Bernard Brown, a pioneer in the sympathetic restoration of fine buildings for flats. Bernard Brown used architectural salvage, such as fireplace surrounds, collected during the war from 18th century buildings which were completely destroyed, such as those in John Adam Street at the back of the Strand. The excellence of his work led to The Paragon obtaining the award of Grade One Listed Building by English Heritage.

After many years of neglect Michael Searles is now acknowledged as a very talented architect, and The Paragon is his masterpiece.