Mick Hartley

Those murals are such a giveaway. This building has to be late Fifties or early Sixties: 

It's near the river in Fulham. I've cycled past it often enough but never bothered to investigate before. It's named after artist John Piper, responsible for those murals but probably best known for the stained glass windows he designed for Coventry Cathedral.

It's a survivor. Originally built in 1963 for the North Thames Gas Board, it would have appeared pretty damn cutting-edge when it first went up, but by the Eighties it no doubt looked grubby and brutal: times and tastes had changed, and now everyone hated those concrete Sixties blocks. When the Gas Board moved out in the Nineties it must have been a prime candidate for demolition, especially in an area of high property prices like this part of West London. I wonder if those murals proved to be its salvation. It was converted a few years back into private apartments, with the addition of balconies and a shiny white finish.

Prestigious private apartments, it goes without saying (does anyone apart from an estate agent ever use that word?) Solid prices for this much sought-after development - £795,000 for a 2-bedroom flat, or 4-bedrooms for a million more. 

Perhaps when the site across Carnwath Road is developed, and the river view's blocked, it'll be slightly de-prestigified. But it's still a fine building – and I do like those murals. What a shame it would be if we constantly knocked everything down as soon as it was out of fashion.