London 1981

Peter MARSHALL


New Sun Wharves, Narrow St, Limehouse, 1981
29j-32: wharf, Tower Hamlets,

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New Sun Wharves along with Vanes Wharf and Oporto Wharf were converted Byscott, Brownrigg and Turner into a house and 120ft long riverside garden for film maker Sir David Lean in 1983-5 at a cost of £6m.
 
He took personal charge of the conversion which has balconies and terraces on all levels. It also had a basement screening room and a turntable for reversing his Rolls-Royce, as well as a 'private beach' he created on the Thames in front of his property. He died in 1991 and the house was put up for sale three year later but is said to still belong to the family.
 
The building is still recognisable from Narrow St. No 28, London Wharf, immediately upstream, was converted to housing in the 1980s and to the east is Old Sun Wharf, 36 flats built in 1996 by Galliard Homes.
 
Lean's three wharves had been badly damaged in the Blitz, and although the facades were still standing there appeared to be relatively little behind them other than a dividing wall. I'm not sure if Northern Recovery were still selling car spares and buying cars as the signs indicated and if they had closed down, or, as a chalked sign on the doors indicated had simply 'Gone to Dinner 1-2".