British Tower Blocks

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by citybus

The thing about Britain is there weren't many private sector buildings built in this style of architcture- the Barbican estate in the City of London being the main exception- whereas I get the impression that in America a high percentage of modernist/ brutalist buildings were for the upper classes. In the UK & Ireland you can often detect if a building is a council house just by looking at them, despite the range of architectural styles it's usually obvious. But with American buildings I'm not so sure. For example:

Richman Plaza, Bronx. Off Jag9889's photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jag9889/with/4277482244/

image hosted on flickr

Reminds me a bit of the World's End Estate in Chelsea

It has a fairly unusual appearance as it's entirely clad in red brick rather than bare concrete. I personally think it's a nicely designed estate, but it's pretty notorious.



image hosted on flickr


Fin Fahey on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/albedo/541108862/

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


james_rawimages on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/44639544@N00/4538913854/

[Tubeman]

Chanced across a pretty good flickr photostream of many UK and French tower blocks

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolas...page3/?view=lg

There's some images of now demolished estates in London like the Trowbridge (Hackney Wick), Holly Street (Dalston) and Nightingale (Clapton)

[TH29]

Not sure if you guys have ever seen these odd shaped bldgs on NYC's Roosevelt Island, they really are like nothing much else in the city. But I know this isnt a NY thread, but those worlds end estate bldgs posted above reminded me of these. Its a very odd place to start with and there is definitely a bit of creepiness to the island like outsiders arent welcome.

[citybus]

The story behind World's End is that is was originally a posh development, only the company behind it went bust and the local authority continued it's construction only now for use as council housing. Incidentally it got it's source of heating from the nearby Lots Road power station. Two miles downstream the Battersea power station provided hot water for Churchill Gardens estate, and further east the Deptford power station heated the Pepys estate.

Atmospheric black & white clips of Worlds End to be found in this music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI3bg...eature=related

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by citybus

The story behind World's End is that is was originally a posh development, only the company behind it went bust and the local authority continued it's construction only now for use as council housing. Incidentally it got it's source of heating from the nearby Lots Road power station. Two miles downstream the Battersea power station provided hot water for Churchill Gardens estate, and further east the Deptford power station heated the Pepys estate.

Atmospheric black & white clips of Worlds End to be found in this music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI3bg...eature=related

Just goes to show it's often not the fabric of the estates... it's the people who live in them which make them hell-holes

[ullulator]

Never knew this place existed, Turkey Lane Flats aka White Flats aka Lego-Land, near Harpurhey Manchester.

http://images.manchester.gov.uk/web/...ue&refirn=2880

http://images.manchester.gov.uk/web/...ue&refirn=2881

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...o/legoland.jpg

[lneylon]

Originally Posted by ullulator

Never knew this place existed, Turkey Lane Flats aka White Flats aka Lego-Land, near Harpurhey Manchester.

http://images.manchester.gov.uk/web/...ue&refirn=2880

http://images.manchester.gov.uk/web/...ue&refirn=2881

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...o/legoland.jpg

Thought I'd seen most of Manchester's demolished estates, but that's a newbie to me. Different, I'll give it that:

[Tubeman]

I wonder what the record is for the shortest-lived estates?

Some must have lasted less than 20 years... what a waste of public money! There's still postwar prefabs out there standing...

[citybus]

While the Lower Shankill estate in West Belfast still exists, the Weetabix flats on it only lasted ten or 15 years.





By the 00's virtually all the low rise flats were demolished and it looks like this

image hosted on flickr

[NorwichJewels]

I have gone in a few towerblocks and took photos from up high or of the hallways and such. And a few office blocks and took a few pics esp of a 1970s built office block.

[lneylon]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

I wonder what the record is for the shortest-lived estates?

Some must have lasted less than 20 years... what a waste of public money! There's still postwar prefabs out there standing...

Balloon Woods in Nottingham. Finished in 1970. Emptied in 1983. Demolished 1984. Repair bill in 1983 was £20 million.



Basford Flats in Nottingham. Finished in 1971. Demolished in 1985.



http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Ba...ail/story.html

[lneylon]

And a great film of the Hyson Green flats in 1978. Watch for the guy on the motorbike going down the "street in the sky". Like the idea of the dead shopkeeper still under the now renamed and refurbished "The Pinnacle" (what a sh*te name).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N31Xd...layer_embedded

[lneylon]

Nice and colourful Evelyn Estate, Deptford.

image hosted on flickr

[NorwichJewels]

I wonder if the reason for the demolition of these short lived towerblocks was due to structure? Balloon Woods lasting just 13 years in a way seems eerily sad.

[NorwichJewels]

Winchester Tower, Norwich completed November 1965, first habited February 1966.



Looking down to the ground from the top floor of Normandie Tower, the identical twin of the Winchester Tower just the opposite end of the city centre.

[ill tonkso]

This lasted 12 years from completion to demolition.



Portsdown Park in Portsmouth.

[NorwichJewels]

Jeez talk about waste of money. All that lasted 12 years.

In Norwich there was a huge 11 storey hospital towerblock completed in 1974 and demolished in 2003. When it opened it was deemed the most modern hospital building in the country but later suffered structural faults.

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by ill tonkso

This lasted 12 years from completion to demolition.



Portsdown Park in Portsmouth.

What's the jackanory with that one?! It looks magnificent!

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by EastLondoner

East London tower 'James Sinclair Point' Formerly situated on Queens Road, Plaistow E13 overshadowing Queens market in Upon Park, got demolished in 1994. This place building to scare me when i was a child lol

[IMG]http://i42.************/o5ccyg.jpg[/IMG]

I feel the need to resurrect this beaut from earlier in the thread

[ill tonkso]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

What's the jackanory with that one?! It looks magnificent!

Terrible build quality, isolated from the rest of the city, issues with damp that were prohibitively expensive to fix. Demolished before I was born.