At a planning meeting last week, officials approved proposals to refurbish Vestry House Museum, and transform Chestnuts House into a creative workshop and café, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
Waltham Forest Council has greenlit two major building renovations as it pushes ahead with its £17million plans for Walthamstow’s “cultural quarter”.
Proposals to refurbish Vestry House Museum and transform Chestnuts House into a creative workshop and café were approved by the authority’s planning committee on 16th July.
Both schemes – part of the council’s wider plans for a ‘cultural quarter’ – will be paid for with Levelling Up funds, which were provided under the previous government in February.
Chestnuts House, a Grade-II listed manor in Hoe Street, is on Historic England’s ‘heritage at risk’ register and costs the council around £15,000 a year to maintain.
Creative company Eat Work Art, which specialises in opening ‘functional’ workspaces in disused buildings, is among those on the shortlist to take over the lease.
The proposals, which were greenlit last Tuesday (16th July), comprised internal redecorations, window repairs, new doors and the demolition of an outdoor building.
Plans to refurbish the building – costed at around £1.8m – were unveiled in early 2023, after around 15 years of dormancy. Its listed status prevents any dramatic changes being made to the building, which has in turn ruled out turning it into flats or a hotel.
Work on Chestnuts House is currently projected to be finished in “early 2025”.
The renovation of Vestry House will be far costlier. The council’s plans to partly demolish a ground-floor extension to make way for an events space, as well as improve disabled access and “generally refurbish,” will use up £4.5m of the allocated fund.
The plans also include for a new café and restaurant in the museum, similar to the plans for Chestnuts House.
Storage will be moved offsite, opening up space inside for public use. Councillors say the museum will instead offer flexible spaces for hire and free cultural and community events.
Vestry House was built as a workhouse in 1730. It was then used as a police station, an armoury, a builders’ merchants and a private home before opening to the public in 1931 as a local history museum.
It brings in around 22,000 visitors a year, though the council hopes to boost the footfall to 60,000. The William Morris Gallery, by example, sees around 100,000 annual visitors, following a revamp in 2012.
The museum’s gardens and galleries will be closed until early 2026, the council says.
Councillor Rosalind Doré, the council’s cabinet member for culture, called the decisions “such an exciting cultural moment” for the borough.
The rest of the money will be used for the new £30m Soho Theatre in Hoe Street, as well as public art, new planters, and various improvements to signage and street lights.
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