Hatfield House forms the very northern rim of the estate. It contains 14 bedsit flats on the ground level, and 42 two-storey maisonettes on three upper levels. 36 of these are two-bedroom flats, and 6 near the eastern end have three-bedrooms. I don’t know where the Hatfield name came from.

Hatfield House flat plans

Please note. These plans are illustrations and approximations only. They illustrate types of flats. They don’t show the actual demise, size, layout or dimensions of any particular flat. Individual flats may differ, or have been altered.

Detailed information about Hatfield House

Maisonettes

Lower level

• Main entrance from a rear corridor.
• Kitchen, dining area, and living room.
• Glazed screen between the kitchen and the dining area.
  The living room has parquet flooring.
• Staircase from the living room to the upper floor. (In the upper maisonettes, the stairs rise from opposite the front door.) The staircase has solid risers which also form a series of shelves.
• The double height stairwell and the open tread of the staircases were designed to increase the impression of space.

Upper level

• Two bedrooms and a bathroom. (In two eastern bays, on either side of the secondary access, the flats have an additional third bedroom in the space left by the stairwell.)
• Bathroom is in the centre and has “clerestory glazing” (windows above eye level).
• Balconies at the front (see below).

Bedsit Flats

• Main entrance from a rear corridor.
• Kitchen and living room.
• They have their own gardens at the front.

The overall layout

• 7 storeys, with a roadway underneath.
• “Mono pitch” (flat) roof.
• One row of bedsits at ground floor level. Above, three rows of two-storey maisonettes.
• Maisonettes and flats run through the building from front to back..

Crosswalls and bays

• A series of crosswalls divides the building into bays.
• Each bay contains two flats or maisonettes.
• The crosswalls were built from pink bricks with pink mortar.
• The crosswalls form the main structural support for the building, allowing the flats and maisonettes in between them to have a mainly glass frontage.

Rear of the building

• A ramp down takes a service road under the building and then under Crescent House and an underground car park before coming up under Cullum Welch House.
• There are steps off the ramp down which lead to the access gallery for the ground floor flats.
• There is a ramp up to the level of the first floor flats and the entrance of the building.
• The crosswalls are replaced by wide brick piers.
• The entrances to the maisonettes are timber doors set in pairs behind the piers, so the kitchen windows can look out in between.
• At ground level (for the bedsit flats) and at first, third and fifth floor levels (for the maisonettes), corridors run along the back of the building behind the piers, giving access between the main stairs of the stair case and entrance block and the flats and maisonettes.
• The ground level floor corridor is protected from burglars by metal bars from floor to ceiling, with a glazed window in front of each maisonette’s rear window, presumably to reduce the impression of being behind bars.
• On the upper floors of the maisonettes, two outer windows extend to the front of the piers. Two inner windows are set back behind a waist-high wired glass balcony front. This forms a fire escape balcony between the bedrooms (and also in front of the escape stairs at the end).
• At the eastern end of the building there in an extra set of escape stairs which take up the back half of the penultimate bay and reach courtyard level. A pedestrian route into the estate passes underneath at ground level.

Windows and panels

• The crosswalls extend to the building line at the front, but most windows are set back a couple of feet behind that.
• The penultimate bay on the eastern end contains third bedrooms for flats on either side. The windows of these extra bedrooms are flush with the very front of the building.
• Windows are all set in aluminium surrounds.
• Upper floor bedroom windows project but the staircase windows of the lower level of each maisonette are set-back.
• Blue opaque or glazed cladding panels are set in bands below the windows, which are also in the aluminium framework. Generally there are four panels for each set of two windows.
• Continuous bands of glazing and blue panels appear on the top floor of the upper maisonettes.

Balconies for upper maisonettes

• The upper maisonettes have concrete balconies at the front, facing south.
• Each balcony run between the crosswalls with steel railings along the top.
• Each balcony has gaps for a first few inches from floor level, presumably to allow water to drain away.

Access galleries for lower maisonettes

• Each lower maisonette has an access gallery (a semi-balcony) outside the lower front windows.
• Concrete steps lead up from the front courtyard, and then steps paved in quarry tiles lead up to the access gallery.
• The access gallery has a low concrete wall with metal railings set in it.
• There are glass screens between each pair of units.

Staircase and entrance

• At the eastern end is the main entrance and staircase which is under a flat roof structure. It’s a part-glazed open-well staircase with storey-high glass panes set in timber frames.
• The staircase then opens onto the access galleries (corridors) running along the back of the building at the entrance door level of each set of maisonettes.
• There is a rubbish chute like a huge pipe running beside the staircase and entrance block.
• There are also lifts and stairs at the western end, at the corner of Crescent House.

Secondary access

• The penultimate bay at the western end contains a secondary escape coming out of the rear of the building. It is a metal construction with glazed panels and an entry system. It gives access to the secondary stairs and also down to the basement stores.
• The staircase only takes up the back half of that bay. This leaves spare space for third bedrooms for the maisonettes on either side.

Front garden or courtyard

• The garden is a storey’s height down from street level and protected by a high concrete wall.
• There is a private paved section which then leads down into individual private gardens with pink brick walls for the ground floor flats. Each one has a door and double windows onto it. There are a lot of mature trees and bushes.
• Screening this front garden area, is an area of thick bushes and a lawn with ‘stepping stone’ concrete discs at the estate ground level.