Hallfield Estate, Bishop's Bridge Road (2)

Image: © Stephen Richards Taken: 17 Jul 2011

A London County Council estate into which it is evident that more thought than usual was invested in its design, appearance and layout. It consists of six ten-storey slabs and eight six-storey slabs arranged at 45 degrees to the surrounding roads and generously endowed with green space and trees. Also included in the plan were schools, a laundry and shops. The varied, patterned facades (note too the balconies on the left) betray the involvement of Berthold Lubetkin of Tecton, although after the firm was dissolved execution fell to Denys Lasdun and Lindsay Drake. It was not, however, without criticism. Pevsner wrote that the "formal planning [subordinates] the individual unit to the whole and to some extent sacrifices private convenience to this grand aim", but concluded thus: "the total design has a visual force and character that distinguish it from much public housing of the 1950s". It was designed from 1947 and completed in 1955. Grade II listed. See also Image] and Image

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