CONTEXT 181 : SEPTEMBER 2024 21 URBAN HOUSING and out of Clapham Junction. The presence of Clapham Junction highlights another prerequisite for gentrification: good transport links, preferably by train or tube (Battersea has both), for access to professional hotspots like the City. It was period housing that supported this form of gentrification. In more central or older districts like Chelsea or Clapham there were run-down Georgian houses but further out in later suburbs it was the supply of good, solidly built Victorian and Edwardian houses that attracted gentrifiers. These had been run up quickly to deal with rapid population growth as the railways and industrialisation transformed the Victorian city. Many would have been in multiple occupation and were often designed with that in mind; the important thing for the pioneer gentrifiers was that they were cheap to buy and easily converted back to single family homes, with capacity for improvements like new bathrooms and kitchens to suit modern lifestyles. It is the availability and suitability for gentrification of this stock of old, low-rise housing which is found all over the capital, that marks London out from other major cities in Europe and North America, where gentrification tended to occur in former industrial areas or along disused waterfronts. Who were these early gentrifiers and for how long did they stay? To begin with many were university educated, middle-class people in cultural professions – artists, writers, architects, teachers, academics, also civil servants and lawyers – people who appreciated the urban environment. In fact, many of the factors that had driven more mainstream middle classes out of cities were attractive to them, such as old houses, crowded streets, social and cultural diversity, greater tolerance and openness. Many were young, either childless or with very young children and so often stayed only a few years before moving further out to larger properties with bigger gardens for the next phases of the family lifecycle. While they were there, that sense of history and the architectural style of their houses became a stage for the display of wealth and taste. This was evident in the changes that the gentrifiers made, exposing or restoring cornices, tiled fireplaces or ceiling roses, and searching out suitable pieces in salvage yards. Gentrifiers became a force in local amenity groups and societies, and one of the benefits of the process was in building conservation. The 1960s was when this took off in London, and when local government began to move away from clearance and redevelopment to reinstatement, supporting homeowners who wished to make improvements through grants. This mode of gentrification probably saved much of London’s outdated inner-city housing from demolition, helping to preserve the historic urban character of these areas. The most visible impact was the change in local shops and facilities. Upmarket bars and cafes sprang up to meet the requirements of the new residents, old pubs became gastropubs and branded coffee shops and estate agents began to litter the high streets. All of this and the brash, conspicuous levels of consumption were Conspicuous consumption in gentrified Northcote Road, Battersea, in 2011. (Photo: Nigel Corrie for English Heritage)
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