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Poplar High Street, LONDON, E14 0BN

Small supermarket, part of the Resolute (large block of apartments) on Poplar High Street.

Robin Hood Gardens comprises two blocks of council flats completed in 1972. In 2008, an attempt was made to get Listed Building status for the blocks, which are an example of "brutalist" architecture. This attempt was unsuccessful. The blocks are due to be demolished, to make way for new housing.

At the corner of Cotton Street.

As seen from Cotton Street. Surely nobody ever thought these flats were attractive?

The west side of the west block. Robin Hood Gardens is one of London's most notorious 1960s housing estates which is loathed by some but revered by others as a beacon of modern architecture. There are probably more people in the former camp than the latter. There are two blocks aligned roughly north-south with a patch of green space between them. They were designed by Alison and Peter Smithson in 1966-72, with Christopher Woodward and Ken Baker of the Greater London Council. The buildings embody the Smithsons' idea of "streets in the sky" and are an example of concrete Brutalism, with the pre-cast concrete being rough and shuttered. Pevsner comments that while being "impressively monumental" the scheme is also "inhumane" because of the high density, the narrowness of the decks and its proximity to busy roads on two sides. Tower Hamlets Council plan to demolish the buildings and redevelop the site. A campaign by the Twentieth Century Society and others to halt this by applying for listed building status in 2008 was unsuccessful.

The protracted death throes of the Smithson estate are finally nearing their end (Image]). Redevelopment of the site has been on the cards for at least ten years. Campaigns to have it listed have failed; a succession of starchitects proclaiming the estate to be the best building since the Parthenon have left the powers that be unmoved. As to what the current residents think, you can find an opinion poll to support demolition and another to preserve the estate. The western block (here) is now empty and largely boarded up behind hoardings; the eastern will follow in a few months. Demolition has started at the north of the site. The replacement development, Blackwall Reach, looks to be offering bog-standard fare, in many ways inferior to RHG, but will at least have the merit of providing more housing than is being demolished. That is a novelty. It seems unlikely, however, that many current residents will be able to remain in the area. One would not have to be overly cynical to suspect that that is not an accident.

Looking north-northeast.

Looking north-northwest.