40 CONTEXT 182 : DECEMBER 2024 CATHERINE CROFT Catching up on listing With so much interest in how to build much-needed new homes, there has never been a better moment to celebrate past achievements in the conservation of post-war housing. It was as early as 1993 that the first major postwar public housing estate in England was listed: the Alexandra Road Estate in Camden, north London. Residents (some of them right-to-buy owners, fearing large bills) were concerned by the impact of proposed repairs on their individual homes and on the wider environment of houses, flats, maisonettes, community buildings and a much-cherished park. Although design had started in 1968, the estate was not finished until 1978, only 15 years previously. In listing terms (that is, measuring from the date of the first work on site), the estate had just made it to 21 years of age. It had hardly reached maturity in many people’s eyes, nor ‘stood the test of time’, as later debates around recent listings would phrase it. In retrospect, listing was an extraordinary decision but one which the outstanding quality of the estate fully justified. At that point, list descriptions were still pretty basic, a far cry from the extremely detailed ones issued now. Modern list descriptions capture huge amounts of research and make explicit ‘reasons for designation’, perhaps most useful for post-war buildings, where significance can be less obvious than for older heritage buildings. I was aware of the Alexandra Road listing from the point of designation, although I do not remember any press coverage, as I was working Alexandra Road, the first major post-war public housing estate to be listed. (Photo: Steve Cadman)
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