Blackheath Lodge

Blackheath Lodge shortly after it was built in the 1850s

Blackheath Lodge is a Victorian building with decorative Tudor styling situated next to the Blackheath Gate. It was once home to the park superintendents but is now a private residence.

On the 1st of August 1851, Parliament passed The Crown Lands Act, and the Royal Parks finally became public property. As a result, all the Royal Parks began to be modernised, and Greenwich Park was no exception. This Keeper’s Lodge was completed in 1852 and replaced the Old Keeper’s Cottage that dated back to the early seventeenth century. The old lodge had been situated next to Queen Elizabeth’s Oak but was demolished in 1853.

The Office of Works commissioned the new modern lodge, and the Assistant Surveyor John Phipps took on the role of designing it. The lodge is typical of the era, with almost excessive detailing that aims to evoke the Tudor period. The ornately patterned brickwork of the ground floor includes stone window frames and matching quoins at the corners with a white timber-clad central section. The upper storey is tiled diagonally in beige with open timber framing. The roof is decorated by horizontal strips of alternating fish scale and plain tiles, and the eaves and facings are carved with a repeating trefoil pattern.

Robert Eaglestone, the then Head Keeper, was the first to occupy the lodge. Angus D. Webster, one of the best-known park superintendents (because of his book about the park), replaced the scullery at the back with a modern bathroom and new bedroom in 1899. Otherwise, the lodge remains unaltered from its original design.