Modern Arts and Crafts: Council Housing in Lambeth 1965–1980

Schedule

Tuesday 30 May | 16:00 - 17:30
Speaker: Christiane Felber
Supervisors: Peter Guillery and Colin Thom
Guest Panellist: Barbara Penner from The Bartlett School of Architecture

Abstract

In a time of pressing housing need, this project reviews the contribution of historic council housing to societal well-being by investigating Lambeth Council's housing developments of 1965 to 1980 – tracing the ideas of the welfare state, and challenging arguments in contemporary discussions on post-war modernity.

Particular to Lambeth's architecture and planning department was appreciation of the Arts and Crafts movement, which this research looks to uncover. From the 1950s onwards the modernist ‘tabula rasa’ approach to urban regeneration was challenged; rehabilitating the 19th century housing stock however was yet to become part of London’s urban renewal strategy. In the early 1960s, the welfare-state government had encouraged high-rise housing. Larger areas for new low-rise-high-density development involving Compulsory Purchase Orders were difficult to find, as many residents claimed their right to stay, resulting over time in incremental developments, adapted to existing communities.

Image: Tomorrow’s Lambeth Today. An exhibition in the Festival Hall, South Bank, showcasing work by Lambeth’s Department for Architecture and Planning, dated November 1965. Transparency from Borough Development Directorate files. © Lambeth Archives.