Pissarro's place: new homes with Help to Buy near the Overground extension are giving Sydenham a spring in its step

The area has changed little since it was painted in the 1870s by Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro.

David Spittles3 October 2017

Sydenham, the high-lying south-east London district, has a spring in its step, energised by the Overground extension through its leafy terrain.

The land rises steeply from well-heeled Dulwich before reaching Crystal Palace, whose splendid park is encircled by handsome Victorian villas and wide avenues, one painted in the 1870s by the Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro.

Explaining the work, the National Gallery informs us that the painting “depicts a scene that is little changed today, conveying the atmosphere of an early spring day, with oak trees coming into leaf against a soft blue sky”.

Lawrie Park Place sits in one such quiet patch and brings 27 new houses on the site of a former Salvation Army mission.

Sympathetically clad in warm yellow stock bricks, with gabled roofs and bay windows, each house has either four or five bedrooms, a garden and garage or parking space.

Sydenham Tennis and Squash Club is right next door. Prices from £1,095,000.

Completion will be in spring next year, so there is time for families to plan their move. Call Pedder on 020 8702 9999.

From £550,000: homes at Wells Park Place

Wells Park Place is another of the area’s new builds, and a tasteful one, too — 46 homes set around landscaped gardens on Sydenham Hill.

Prices from £550,000 for apartments and £1.45 million for townhouses, some of more than 2,000sq ft and with a ground-floor “super-room” opening to a garden. Call Crest Nicholson on 020 3437 0473.

The same developer has unveiled a new show flat at Dylon Works, situated in less-auspicious Lower Sydenham but right next to the train station, so good for young first-time buyers commuting to London Bridge, a 16-minute journey.

Two-bedroom flats start at £469,995, or £281,997 with Help to Buy. Call 020 3437 1262.