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LONDON MODERNISM: Council Estates 1946-1981
Exhibition
LONDON MODERNISM: Council Estates 1946-1981
24 Jan 2020 – 2 Feb 2020
Address
- 103 murray grove
- London
England - n1 7qf
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- 76, 354, 21,
- old street tube
- hoxton overground
Event map
London’s modernist post-war council housing is arguably among the most imaginative, impressive and varied in Europe.
About
What stands out is the extraordinary design freedom that we were allowed, explained John Partridge in Housing the Twentieth Century Nation (C20 Society, 2008). Partridge worked in the Housing Division of the London County Council’s Architect’s Department in the 1940s and 1950s. At that time his employer was the largest architectural office in the world, with over 1,700 staff, including 350 architects.This slide show provides a visual insight into the hundreds of estates, both well-known and less familiar. And it shows change and flux: demolitions (Robin Hood Gardens, the South Kilburn Estate, parts of Thamesmead); various questionable planning decisions and vandalistic refurbishments. Most of all it is a record of collective interest in creating architecture for the public good, a record of the modernist future that was.
