In the photos seen here, a direct hit from a bomb during the Blitz destroyed a group of houses and the shockwave severely damaged other nearby houses.
The destroyed terrace was never rebuilt but later replaced by a modern development.
When buying any property, or if asked to do a survey, in central London, the very first tasks should be look on Google Street View to get a sense of what the locality is like and then to find the specific location on the London Bomb Maps. It is very important to understand whether the property has been a total loss, and thus reconstruction, after WW2 bomb damage.
I have a copy of the maps in paper format, but they are now available in digitised formats online from various sources – although with varying levels of accuracy, so beware.
In the image of the damaged property you see here, it is structurally fine. The displaced brickwork from the bomb shockwave looks worrying at first sight, but it is of no consequence following the post-war repairs.
There are thousands of partially repaired or totally rebuilt houses like this all over London.
Another clue to look out for is where you get a street of older houses, with an otherwise random 1950’s or 1960’s building in the middle. This will almost always be from WW2 bomb damage reconstruction .