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Heritage Protection

Post War Listed Public Housing Estates

References are given to Elain Harwood, England. A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings (2003).

The Barbican, City of London

Grade II: listed 2001.

Chamberlin, Powell & Bon 1963-82. Harwood, 650-53.

Main claims to note:

  • Ambitious scale
  • Integrated arts, teaching and domestic complex
  • Architectural boldness of towers, walkways, concrete
  • Internal quality of public spaces
  • Landscaping and incorporation of St Giles Cripplegate
  • Cultural importance of post-Blitz rebuilding

Lillington Gardens, Pimlico, City of Westminster

Grades II* and II: listed 1998 and 2000

Darbourne and Darke, 1964-72. Harwood, 656.

Main claims to note:

  • Humane reaction against monolithic planning
  • Complex, intricate arrangement of units
  • Place-specific use of brick (big Victorian church nearby)
  • Successful planting and landscaping


Balfron Tower, Poplar, LB Tower Hamlets

Grade II: listed 1996

Erno Goldfinger, 1965-68. Harwood, 568.

Main claims to note:

  • Significant work by major modernist architect
  • Realising vision of Le Corbusier
  • Distinctive service tower with boiler house above
  • Boldness of approach to high-rise units

Trellick Tower, Ladbroke Grove, RB Kensington & Chelsea

Trellick  Grade II*; listed 1998

Erno Goldfinger, 1968-72. Harwood, 574.

Main claims to note:

  • As above, plus:
  • Ne plus ultra of high-rise block
  • More elegant sculptural treatment of lift tower

Alexandra Road Estate, West Hampstead, LB Camden

Alexandra Rd  Grade II*; listed in 1993

Neave Brown of Camden Architects’ Department, 1972-78. Harwood 578-81

Main claims to note:

  • The most formal and dramatic of high-density, low-rise designs
  • Modern variant on a long curving terrace
  • Influence of European urbanism: creating large-scale developments

Spa Green Estate, Finsbury, LB Islington

Spa Green  Grade II*, listed 1998

Lubetkin & Skinner, for Finsbury MB; Harwood 486-7

Main claims to note:

  • Very early post-war housing
  • Major modernist architect
  • Architectural interest of elevations
  • Structural innovation: Ove Arup’s box frame

Churchill Gardens, Pimlico, City of Westminster

Grade II, listed in 1998

Powell and Moya, for Westminster; 1947-54; Harwood 584-85

Main claims to note:

  • 1945 competition winner: post-blitz vision of new world
  • European influence in planning
  • Bold scale
  • Architectural interest of restrained narrow blocks with lift-shafts protruding along roof lines
  • Technical interest of heating: hot waste water from Battersea pumping station

Bevin Court, Bloomsbury, LB Camden

Bevin Ct  Grade II*, 1998

Sinner, Bailey & Lubetkin 1951-54; Harwood 510-11

Main claims to note:

  • Innovative Y-plan around central stair
  • Flexibility of structure
  • Major architectural practice

Alton Estate, Roehampton, LB Richmond

Grade II*; listed in 1998

LCC Architect’s Department, 1952-60; Harwood 678-82

Main claims to note:

  • Embodiment of post-war thinking on new housing
  • Le Corbusier influenced slab blocks appear
  • Combination of point blocks, low-rise and bungalows
  • Notable landscaping beside Richmond Park
  • Pioneering concrete panel construction (costs kept down)

Golden Lane Estate, Clerkenwell, City of London

Grades II* and II, listed in 1997

Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1953-63; Harwood 598

Main claims to note:

  • Arrival of tall block of flats
  • New construction method: glass panels on concrete frame
  • Architectural interest of new language of modernism
  • Planning and layout: flats around facilities
  • Heralds arrival of Barbican concrete idiom in later lower part
  • It was a vision of integrating housing and landscape to create an entirely urban, high-density entity, again anticipating Barbican.

Usk Street, Bethnal Green, LB Tower Hamlets

Grade II, listed in 1998

Fry, Drew, Drake & Lasdun, 1955-58; Harwood 524-25

Main claims to note:

  • Planning: butterfly plan around central stair, creating ‘cluster’ block
  • Architectural novelty
  • Community interest: seeking to promote neighbourliness

Keeling House, Bethnal Green, LB Tower Hamlets

Keeling House  Grade II*, listed 1993

Fry, Drew, Drake & Lasdun, 1957-59; Harwood, 528-29

Main claims to note:

  • See Usk St above
  • Taller cluster block of 16 storeys: new stage in high-rise

Park Hill, Sheffield

Park Hill  Grade II*; listed in 1998

Jack Lynn & Ivor Smith for Sheffield City Architects’ Dept, 1957-61; Harwood 52-55

Main claims to note:

  • Major ‘streets in the air’ scheme, with long deck access passages
  • Scale of development: replacing large slum area with 994 flats
  • Architectural interest: boldness of concrete frame
  • Planning interest: sequence of inter-connected slab blocks
  • Landscaping: takes advantage of sloping site over city

Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury, LB Camden

Grade II; listed 2000

Patrick Hodgkinson, 1967-72

Main claims to note:

  • Architectural novelty of stepped terraces of flats over shops
  • Early ‘mega-structure’: mixed uses
  • Architectural boldness and use of concrete

Byker Estate, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Byker  Grade II* and II (81 sep listings); listed 2007

Ralph Erskine for Newcastle Corporation, 1978-81

Main claims to note:

  • Community architecture-led mega-development
  • ‘Romantic pragmatism’: humanising through vernacular details and materials
  • Sophistication of lay-out
  • Dramatic lay-out exploiting topography


 

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