Telling us where you are in Sydenham
The main shops start on Kirkdale around Cobbs Corner, named after a draper's shop run by Walter Cobb. The middle stretch of Kirkdale was Sydenham's original high street. Up the hill, Sydenham Hill Wood is a nine hectare nature reserve west of Sydenham Hill Road, and the Crystal Palace was re erected on Sydenham Hill. Name one of those and a road, and you are told who is coming, the price and how they will try to get in without damage.
What the homes are like, and what that means for the lock
Many large villas were built here in the second half of the nineteenth century, most of them three or four storeys high. Halifax Street keeps houses dating from the 1840s, and there are Italianate pairs on Kirkdale from around 1862. Lewisham Council describes the Thorpes Estate, built between 1901 and 1914, as red brick contrasted by white roughcast, with multi paned sash windows and grey slate roofs.
Where a villa has been split into flats, there is a shared front door and a separate lock on each flat. Older timber doors usually have a nightlatch and a mortice lock that can be repaired rather than replaced. If a uPVC door has gone in, the gearbox is the usual weak point: uPVC door lock problems shows how to tell.
Planning rules on front doors
Sydenham has seven conservation areas, more than anywhere else in Lewisham. Article 4 directions cover the Sydenham Thorpes and Halifax Street conservation areas, and 35 to 35d Sydenham Park. Lewisham says the aim is to keep high quality architectural features. A new lock is not a new door, but check with the council before you order a new one.
Common jobs
- Flats in converted villas, locked out or after a lost key.
- Lock changes between tenants in shared houses.
- Timber doors on the Thorpes Estate with worn nightlatches and mortice locks.
- uPVC doors where the gearbox has given up and the door will not lock.
Questions people ask
I am on the Thorpes Estate. Can I replace my front door? Ask Lewisham Council first. We can still repair or change the lock, and tell you whether the door needs attention too.
My street is in Bromley or Southwark. Do you still come? Yes. Sydenham is shared by Lewisham, Bromley and Southwark, and the borough makes no difference to the job or the price.
Nearby
We also cover Forest Hill, Crystal Palace and Catford.
All areas