CONTEXT 182 : DECEMBER 2024 41 in the English Heritage London region, a junior member of the team assessing listed building consent applications. Many of my colleagues seemed mystified, slightly incredulous and, in some instances, either outrightly disparaging or amused at the decision. Was this really ‘proper’ heritage? Feeling somewhat under-stretched by an inbox that seemed to consist mainly of evaluating applications for dormer windows or back extensions to Georgian terraced houses, I volunteered to take Alexandra Road on as my case. It ended up swallowing up huge amounts of my time; there were, after all, over 500 homes, as well as the community buildings and the especially challenging park. I was concurrently studying at the Architectural Association (on the now defunct day-a-week building conservation diploma, fully funded by English Heritage in those more affluent times) and I proposed drawing on my experiences for my thesis. ‘Alexandra Road? Is that a tower block,’ queried a highly disdainful Jane Fawcett, former secretary of the Victorian Society, stalwart campaigner alongside Nikolaus Pevsner for St Pancras Station, ex-Bletchley Park decoder and ex-opera singer (I wish I had appreciated more of her backstory at the time). ‘Well, it’s a sort of horizontal tower block,’ I suggested, somewhat taken aback. With some reluctance and scepticism, my topic was approved, giving me some space to think more widely about the issues raised by the listing, including the desirability and practicality of attempting to control alterations to interiors, concrete repair techniques and the designation of a wider conservation area to protect adjacent buildings not covered by the listing. I visited the estate with original design team members Neave Brown (architect), Janet Jack (landscape architect) and Max Fordham (mechanical and electrical). I spoke about Alexandra Road at conferences in London, Philadelphia and Bratislava, organised by English Heritage, the US National Parks Service and Docomomo International respectively. There was a huge amount of interest in what was being achieved and a consensus that England was leading the way in both designation of post-war heritage and in developing strategies for its conservation management (albeit, for the latter, by drawing on conservation management planning work originating in Australia). Over the next few years further public housing listings in England followed steadily: Denys Lasdun’s Keeling House in East London later in 1993, Erno Goldfinger’s Balfron in 1996, Trellick Tower and Park Hill in Sheffield, and Wyndham Court in Southampton in 1998, and gradually more of the London Borough of Camden estates, closely related to Alexandra Road. More recently, momentum has been lost, and many more recent listing submissions made by the C20 Society and local residents’ groups have been turned down. I most regret the resulting lack of protection for the very high-quality series of estates designed for the London Borough of Lambeth under the leadership of Ted Hollamby, an achievement which ranks alongside the Camden estates programme. Foremost among these are Central Hill and Cressingham Gardens. Ernő Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower in Poplar, London, was listed in 1996. (Photo: John East/ C20 Society)
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