WCXX

They are all over 60, widowers or single, and many of them have suffered severe reversals in their material circumstances through no fault of their own. Others have no family or lack the means to keep themselves in a dignified state. Many have served in the armed forces. Among their number are not only clergy, actors, writers, artists, musicians and teachers but businessmen and tradesmen too. The selection process is open to all, but meticulous and arduous: what is offered would not be everybody's cup of tea. Fewer than one in four applicants is admitted.

Charterhouse is emphatically not a hotel or sheltered accommodation: it is a community with simple but firm rules and a kindly spiritual discipline - the pensioners here are known as Brothers, and are expected to be fraternal with each other. You come to The Charterhouse to live and to die: those who can no longer cope with daily existence in their self-contained apartments are moved into the attached infirmary.

Although privacy and independence are corner-stones of The Charterhouse, there is also a great deal of communal life, and not only at meals (which take place four times a day in a dining hall). Some Brothers organise charitable events and recreational activities, others play an active part in the management of the place: everyone is expected to contribute.

Since the war, there have been alterations. Luftwaffe bombing necessitated some reconstruction and Michael Hopkins added a new accommodation block. Film crews have occasionally been allowed into the inner courtyards, but the governance and atmosphere has remained very much as Sutton would have wanted: this is a quiet place, a good place.

Now two further and larger changes are now afoot. At some point women will be admitted: this seems uncontroversial, although changing the terms of Sutton's bequest will require an Act of Parliament.

The other change seems to me to be riskier. At present, public access to The Charterhouse is largely limited to small and pre-booked guided tours. But in order to fulfil increasingly stringent charitable law and to be eligible for grants which can help to fund expansion (the aim being to increase the number of Brothers to 50), there is a plan to raise £4 million for exhibition facilities (in collaboration with the Museum of London), as well as a re-landscaping of Charterhouse Square by top-notch urban gardener Todd Longstaffe-Gowan.

This scheme will open the premises to a much greater extent than ever before, in effect turning the Charterhouse into a daily and mainstream tourist attraction, drawing on the crowds which will pass through the area after the opening of Crossrail. The anticipated number of visitors to this newly "accessible" Charterhouse is 100,000 a year, and my guess is that once news gets out, this will prove an under-estimate - the place really is something unique and will soon be on every whistle-stop itinerary.

The current band of Brothers is said to be happy about this prospect and the management, led by The Charterhouse's impressive Master, Brigadier Charlie Hobson, claims to have thought all the potential problems through and be confident that the flow can be controlled. Yet one must worry that that soon uncomprehending gawpers, rowdy back-packers and restive school parties will be queuing round the block with their snapping cameras, demanding lavatories, refreshments and souvenirs, and something impalpable will be lost.

Surely The Charterhouse is an essentially private sanctuary intended for the living, not a museum or a zoo. If its wonderfully rich and tranquil spirit is to be preserved, should admission not remain something of a privilege rather than a mere financial transaction at a turnstile?