The house
Number 1 Goodwins Court is a freehold, two-bedroom, Grade II* listed building of around 1700 in the Covent Garden conservation area, reached down a narrow alley and up four worn stone steps. The listing says it was the inspiration for Ollivanders Wand Shop in the Harry Potter films. It started as a haberdashery, and a ten-year conservation project is now finished.
The work was overseen by Stephen Bull of Heritage Building Conservation and Repair, whose rule was conservation, not restoration. A gas lamp is fixed to the wall outside the front door.
Inside
The kitchen is below the entrance floor, with a York stone floor, exposed beams, a period fireplace holding a Mrs Beeton range and an induction hob set into a solid oak counter. The fridge, freezer, microwave and dishwasher are hidden away.
On the raised ground floor the reception room keeps a bow window from the early 1700s, wainscot panelling and a central fireplace with recessed shelving. Two worn patches in the floorboards mark where a shopkeeper stood. A double bedroom on the first floor looks onto the alley through sash windows, and a second on the floor above has sashes on two sides and lime rendered walls. The loft still has its 1700-era pegs and roof tiles.
The record
Goodwins Court appears in the rate books in 1690, when it was Fishers Alley, and its houses were laid out between 1690 and 1720. Numbers 1 to 8 were listed in 1958, and the house carries Historic England entry 1066764.
The listing suspects the four steps came from an older building demolished when the alley was cut, which would make the stone medieval or earlier.
