Wed 02 May 2018, 11:32
Tottenham HotspurA former resident of Percy House – the newly-renovated base for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation on Tottenham High Road – was back at the historic 18th-century building last week to discover how his old home is being used for the benefit of the local community.
Dr. Chris Moffatt lived at Percy House, just a stone’s throw from our stadium site, up until the age of eight with his family until 1952, while his father operated RJ Moffat & Co insurance brokers out of the storied venue.
Built on the site of The Black House, a mansion demolished in the early 1740s, with inhabitants, the Percy family, connected to the namesake of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club – Harry Hotspur, a £1.8m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and matched funding from the Club has enabled the full restoration of the former townhouse to secure its long-term future in the area. Percy House now acts as a major community enterprise, employment and skills hub located at the heart of the regeneration of North Tottenham.
Dr. Chris and his wife Anne (pictured, below) were delighted to see what has become of the house as the retired former lab technician set foot on the premises again after some 66 years last Thursday (26 April).
“I really am pleased that Percy House has been acquired again,” said Chris, who attended Lancasterian School and later worked at the Prince of Wales Hospital in the local area. “I last saw the house quite a few years ago around the time of my mother’s funeral in 1995 and it was all boarded up and looking very sad, so you can imagine my delight that it now has a brand new function and with none other than Tottenham Hotspur FC.
“This is more than I ever thought possible. The old building certainly deserves it.”
Careful modern-day repair work has ensured many of the original features of Percy House have been restored including wooden shutters, wooden flooring and wooden wall panelling – providing a fantastic setting for the Foundation to continue its work at the very heart of the local community.
Above: Chris' father, Robert James Moffatt.
“I’ve not been in this building since I was eight-and-a-half,” reminisced Chris, who now lives in Leamington Spa, as he was taken on a guided tour of the house in its present-day guise. “My father lived and died in this building – he was only 42 when he had a heart attack in 1952, shortly after I’d moved away to boarding school.
“We lived in a flat at the top of the house, but a lot of it was offices. I spent most of my time playing in the garden. I was never a big football fan but when Spurs were playing at home, the road was absolutely packed with people walking in the road. I was at the top, looking out the window, fascinated to see all these people.
“As I said, the place was boarded up when I came back in 1995 but my cousin Jenny recently sent me an email asking if I’d heard about the restoration. I think it’s fantastic. At least the building will live again as it is and that’s great – that’s why I’m here.”
Above: An old document from RJ Moffat and Co.
