Architectural Discourse

NOTES: This image is one of a number illustrating designs for concrete crosswall constructions. Berthold Lubetkin's initial designs for The Priory Green Estate (originally known as the Busaco Street Estate) date from 1937 while he was part of the Tecton Group. The outbreak of World War II delayed the project however and work on the redesigned estate resumed in 1943 with the scheme reaching completion in 1957.

NOTES: This prefabricated steel-framed house was designed by Grey Wornum and Richard Sheppard in the early 1940s and was manufactured by Keyhouse Unibuilt. This example never went beyond its prototype stage.

NOTES: F.R.S. Yorke was the consulting architect for this factory-made steel-clad house commissioned by the Ministry of Works. The house derived its name from Baron Portal, of Laverstoke in the County of Southampton (later Viscount Portal), who served as Minister of Works during World War II.

NOTES: Haus Scherk was built for the perfume manufacture and patron of young, avant-garde architects, Ludwig Scherk.

NOTES: The Alton Estate is situated between Putney Heath and Richmond Park in south-west London. The smaller south-east part, Alton East, was built in 1952-1955, while the much larger north-west part, Alton West, was built in 1955-1959.

NOTES: This village school replaced one that had been bombed and was built with the help of unrepatriated prisoners of war. Part of the Hertfordshire County Council pioneering school-building programme, it is one of its earliest schools to be completed after World War II. Bill Henderson and Dan Lacey were the job architects.

NOTES: Carradale House comprises two low-rise blocks on the Finsbury Estate and was completed in 1970 while the Balfron Tower was completed in 1965.

NOTES: J. L. Womersley was City Architect for Sheffield from 1953 and led the team that planned and designed the mixed high-density housing developments, Park Hill (1957-1961) and the Gleadless Valley estate (1955-1962).

NOTES: Built between 1957 and 1961, this mixed high-density and controversial housing development was planned and designed by Sheffield Corporation City Architect's Department led by J. L. Womersley.

NOTES: Basil Spence was commissioned in 1954 by the local Anglican diocese to design three low-cost parish churches to serve the new residential suburbs around Coventry: St Oswald's, Tile Hill; St John the Divine, Willenhall; and St Chad's, Bell Green. Each church is individually detailed but all are characterized by a freestanding campanile.

NOTES: Designed by Tecton in parallel with the Spa Green Estate, Priory Green was actually completed somewhat later by Skinner Bailey & Lubetkin in 1943-1957. The original design, part of a larger plan conceived before the war in 1937, was modified to take account of the changed post-war situation. The site, which originally was very small, was enlarged by bomb damage but at the same time the Council's housing fund suffered from cuts in government subsidies and Priory Green was denied the money available to the development at Spa Green. Rosebery Avenue opened in 1949 and the first stage of the estate was completed in 1952 consisting of 269 flats in the two eight-storey blocks and the four four-storey blocks. The third eight-storey block, community centre and public house were completed c. 1957. The scheme as first conceived was part of a unified programme that it was hoped would transform Finsbury and alleviate its appalling housing and social problems. The coherence of the strategy, however, was destroyed by changes in personnel in the Council and by post-war austerity.

NOTES: The Spa Green Estate initiated a mass housing programme for the London Borough of Finsbury. The design as executed differed little from that first proposed by Tecton to the Borough Council in 1938 although this was conceived as part of a much wider plan to provide the borough with a whole range of much needed facilities, including the Finsbury Health Centre. Immediately after World War II the Finsbury Plan was abandoned and efforts were concentrated on alleviating the chronic housing shortage. The design for the estate was a development of the one which Tecton had submitted to the competition for working-class flats in 1935 and incorporated a number of new features including the Garchey system for refuse disposal (used in England only once before - at Quarry Hill, Leeds), and an aerofoil-shaped section in the roof to allow clothes to dry. This latter idea was developed in conjunction with the scientist, Hyman Levy. The estate was completed in 1950 by Skinner, Bailey & Lubetkin.

NOTES: Tecton were responsible for the masterplan, which was given Town Planning consent in 1948, and Skinner, Bailey & Lubetkin were responsible for its development and execution.

NOTES: Built in 1959-1964, the St Cross Building is formed of a group of three interlocking cubes of different sizes. The largest cube is home to the Law Faculty and the Bodleian Law Library, the medium-sized houses the English Faculty Library, while the smallest in size originally housed the Economics and Statistics Library.