The area of south-east London is teeming with examples of housing by some of the biggest names in post-war architecture. Ana Francisco Sutherland, the author of a new book on the subject, explains the combination of factors that led to this architectural bounty
Blackheath and Greenwich, by the River Thames in south-east London, provide a unique treasure trove of modern architecture.
The area is home to around 40 individual architect-designed modern houses and over 30 housing estates or blocks comprising hundreds of individual dwellings. In 1973, the South London Society of Architects (a RIBA branch) noted in its newsletter that ‘the most striking concentration is the 97 [architects] at Blackheath, a postal district over-architected to the tune of 38 to the square mile’.
Many of the biggest names in post-war architecture designed buildings in the area, including Trevor Dannatt, Eric Lyons, Chamberlin Powell and Bon, James Gowan, Richard MacCormac and Peter Foggo. Some of these might easily be labelled seminal works if not minor masterpieces. Other architects – Peter Moro, Walter Greaves, Royston Summers, David Branch and Patrick Gwynne – established firm roots and built (or extended) their own homes or houses for important clients, most forming lifetime connections.
Why did this intense architectural activity occur? As I uncovered while researching my book, Modern Buildings in Blackheath and Greenwich, the answer is fourfold.
Existing architectural excellence
The Georgian splendor of the area, together with a now residual royal influence, created a well-established excellence in the existing architectural context.
The walled royal park has historic connections to the Tudor dynasty of Henry VIII, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The Tudor palaces are long gone but this is more than compensated by the architectural treasure that is the Old Royal Naval College –- in part by Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor – as well as the Queen’s House by Inigo Jones. Further up the hills on either side of the park are fine Georgian terraces culminating in the Ranger’s House, Vanbrugh Castle and the world-class set-piece of Georgian crescent the Paragon, with Morden College across the way.
Special topography
Architects have long been drawn to the area because of its leafy charm and open spaces. The grassy and elevated heath is reminiscent of Hampstead and Highgate – but with a much lower price tag.
The greenery also provided space to build. Blackheath’s Cator Estate attracted housebuilder Span Developments as well as many one-off modern projects. Its roads are unadopted and approaches are gated. Isolated from the usual commercial pressures, land occupied by an orchard, an allotment or a market garden could easily accommodate an estate of compact modern dwellings, and large plots could be partitioned from Victorian gardens or even just by demolishing the existing houses. Notably the protection of listed buildings as we know it and the introduction of conservation areas were not established until 1968.
Post-war opportunity
There was a national urgency to rebuild during the years immediately after the Second World War, both by public and private enterprise. The London County Council and Span were the main protagonists, responsible for filling in the gaps with a denser mix, with some of the sites being the stage for intense planning battles during the 1960s. The modern estates were the target of heated local opposition and, in many cases, planning permission was only granted after appeals and public enquiries.
The Paragon was badly damaged by war bombing. Its restoration project – selected for a Festival of Britain Award– was completed by Charles Bernard Brown, whose friend Leslie Bilsby subsequently went on to form Span, responsible for so much of the area’s modern architecture.
People and their connections
As architects, we all work upon and through each other’s ideas; we work with tradition and influence continuities of style, developing interdependencies. So was the creative community formed in Blackheath and Greenwich after the war, a community that still exists today.
Of the architects covered in my book, Dannatt is one of the few local lads who can trace their ancestry back through generations of Blackheath-shop owners and Greenwich-dwellers. It was he who in the 1950s first introduced Peter Moro (his teacher at the time) alongside fellow-students Walter Greaves and Ursula and Gordon Bowyer to the area’s charms and architectural possibilities. Moro was one of a number of inspirational émigré architects and his school, the Regent Street Polytechnic (now University of Westminster), became a key meeting point for the group.
Moro was drafted into the design team of the Royal Festival Hall alongside Leslie Martin and furniture designer Robin Day. His students and others, including Patrick Gwynne, were all involved in the 1951 Festival of Britain, a pivotal event for many.
Other architects gravitated here, attracted by the new Span housing. This was characterised by a family-friendly landscape-led and seemingly car-free environment. These estates for middle-class young professionals offered affordable modern light-filled homes and attracted intense interest from the best architects, planners and designers of the day. David Branch, Royston Summers, Brian Meeking, Paul Tvrtkovic and Graham Morrison all moved into family homes in Span estates, establishing a foothold before going on to build individual houses for themselves elsewhere in the area.
Blackheath and Greenwich are teeming with extraordinary modern architecture due to a fortunate combination of historic architecture, topography, post-war opportunity and connections between contemporaries. My book provides a guide to the area and a celebration of the culture, the buildings, the clients and the architects – both the well-known and the overlooked.
Ana Francisco Sutherland is an architect and the founder of Francisco Sutherland Architects