The writer’s former home in East Heath Road Pic: Paul Capewell

A LITERARY society has said it is “dismayed” at plans to develop the ­former home of author Katherine Mansfield where a private printing press was established.

The new owners of the Grade II-listed late-Victorian house in East Heath Road, Hampstead, where Ms Mansfield lived with her husband, the critic John Middleton Murry, want to make changes to the property.

Plans sent to the Town Hall seek permission to dig a section of the raised garden to make room for a gym, build a glazed conservatory and install a hot tub in the garden.

But it is the proposal to excavate the lower ground floor of the Heath-side property by half a metre to increase the “floor to ceiling height” of the basement rooms, where Mr Murry set up The Heron Press, which has left fans of the modernist writer distressed.

Katherine Mansfield

The private printing press was more short-lived than Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s Hogarth Press, which it was supposed to emulate, but published limited editions of Murry’s poems and Mansfield’s short story Je ne parle pas français.

Printed in 1918, the book is rare and when a copy appears on the market it sells for thousands of pounds.

The Katherine Mansfield Society, an international trust which aims to promote the author’s work, argues that her home is of “special historical significance” and urged the council to take this “literary association” into account.

Chairman Dr Gerri Kimber said: “The Katherine Mansfield Society is dismayed to learn of plans to excavate the basement of Katherine Mansfield’s former home on East Heath Road in order to ­create a gym, and to install a hot tub in the garden.

“The blue plaque on the wall of the house attests to the cultural importance of the house in the literary life of LondLondon during the early 20th century.”

The literary couple moved to the house in 1918 after Ms Mansfield – a national hero in her native New Zealand – was diagnosed with tuberculosis, nicknaming it “The Elephant” because of its large size and grey brickwork. They were often visited by famous writers including DH Lawrence, TS Eliot and Bertrand Russell, and the couple’s residency was commemorated by a blue plaque on the front of the property installed by the Greater London Council in 1969.

But documents sent to the Town Hall argue the lower ground floor has already changed over the years and that the “modest” proposals would not alter the historic fabric of the house. Robert Douge, director of Marek Wojciechowski Architects, said: “Bearing in mind the importance of the dwel­ling house, our clients engaged The Architectural History Practice to compose a thorough heritage statement to ensure that the proposals preserve and enhance the character of the existing listed building.”

Another former home of Katharine Mansfield was damaged in an earthquake in New Zealand last week. The house in Thorndon, Wellington, is a tourist spot for fans of the writer.