Open House Festival

Alton Estate

housing, mixed use, walk/tour, online

Rosemary Stjernstedt, Oliver Cox, LCC, 1950

49 Danebury Avenue, Roehampton, SW15 4DQ

Alton Estate is renowned for its mix of high-rise Le Corbusian architecture in Alton West & its low-rise Scandinavian approach to modernism in Alton East. Designed by the London County Council architects they completed in 1959.

Getting there

Tube

East Putney

Train

Putney

Bus

170, 430

Additional travel info

Buses from East Putney Tube or Putney Train Station

Access

Facilities

About

Brief History of Alton East and West

The Alton Estate is a large council estate designed by the London County Council architects in Roehampton, South West London. One of the largest council estates in the UK, it occupies an extensive area west of Roehampton village close to Richmond Park.

Designed by the London County Council design team led by Oliver Cox & Rosemary Stjernstedt, the estate is renowned for its mix of low and high-rise modernist architecture consisting of Alton East (1958) styled a subtle Scandinavian-influenced vernacular and its slightly later le Corbusian inspired counterpart, Alton West (1959).

At Highcliffe Drive on Alton West, the LCC essentially retained the Georgian landscape and placed within it five modern blocks of Binley, Winchfield, Dunbridge, Charcot and Denmead inspired by Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation. These are now all Grade II* listed buildings.

In Alton East, the group of LCC architects were inspired by their trips to Sweden, Denmark and Finland in their approach to design high-density low-rise housing. Rosemary Stjernstedt, in fact, worked in the City of Gothenburg Planning Office before coming back to London after the WW2. She was the first Woman architect to achieve Grade 1 status at the LCC for her work at Alton Estate.

The estate celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2009 with its 13,000 residents. However the whole estate was earmarked for partial demolition and regeneration by Wandsworth Council and its developer Redrow. A successful campaign led by residents and supporters exposed the serious flaws and issues of their plans leading to the eventual collapse of the redevelopment proposals.

Online presence

twitter.com/altonwatch

www.altonwatch.org.uk

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