Demolished in 1982, Coventry Hall was originally a villa that once stood in parkland to the east of Streatham High Road and to the north of Streatham Common, predating the construction of Polworth Road. It was built on the site of Howland Manor House for George William Coventry, Viscount Deerhurst and 7th Earl of Coventry (1758-1831). By the time of the 1881 Census, it was the home of banker Otto von der Meden (1828-1906), together with his family and staff. Later incorporated into St. Andrew’s Convent and subsequently converted into residential apartments, it was much extended by the mid-twentieth century, with east and north wings added. The Coventry Hall name is retained today for the sheltered housing development built on the adjacent land. This view shows the derelict villa’s stucco west-facing frontage and south elevation. Comprising two storeys with attic, and symmetrical in layout, the central entrance is shown recessed with a balustraded balcony to the first-floor window, supported on a pair of Doric columns. The cornice extending around the villa has eye-catching console brackets, echoed to lesser extent above the ground floor windows and first floor windowsills. The south elevation has a full height canted bay. The corners have inscribed pilasters. The mansard roof shown is thought to be a twentieth-century addition. The said extensions already demolished, most of the windows are shown broken or boarded over. In the background, the two-storey buildings shown beyond the corrugated sheet site fence are parts of the modern-day Coventry Hall sheltered housing development.