In the 1960s and 70s Camden Council had a progressive architects department which re-examined ideas behind social housing and built some landmark estates, one of which being Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate designed by Neave Brown – an American architect working for Camden Council at the time. The brutalist development was given a rare Grade II listing by English Heritage and became the youngest and largest building ever to be listed, as well as the first modern housing estate to be listed. Completed in 1978, the development contained over 520 homes for more than 1,600 people.
Rejecting the standardised high-rises that had come to dominate social housing since the Second World War, Brown designed the estate as a trio of parallel blocks of flats, all comprising several levels of apartments with balconies facing towards the central walkway leading from one end of the estate to the other. Parts of the estate are low rise, whilst others go up to 8 stories high. The design drew on traditional terraced housing but also a range of influences including the Royal Crescent in Bath.
Brown believed that every home should have its own front door opening directly onto the network of pedestrian walkways; and wanted each apartment to have its own private external space in the form of a roof garden or terrace. He also had a desire to create a self contained community with a school, youth centre, park and shops all on the same estate, meaning the initial budget of £7.15m quickly ballooned to £20.9m.
The first tenants were impressed by the ceramic-tiled kitchens, big picture windows, sliding wall partitions and central heating hidden inside the walls, however the heating soon caused issues as tenants complained about extreme temperatures. Current tenants have also addressed the issue, explaining that because the heating comes through the wall in order to save floorspace, it has to be set to one temperature for all the neighbouring flats. Further complaints included crumbling concrete that was inevitably blamed by a lack of maintenance by the council and resulted in an £8m refurbishment project. Despite the negatives many of the residents, past and present, speak very highly of the estate and are proud to be apart of revolutionary architecture.
It’s easy to forgive the mishaps of the development when appreciating Brown’s commitment to providing a community driven space to the often underfunded and marginalised public housing sector. He showed that low-rise housing could be delivered in the heart of a city with the density of a tower block but with the quality of public space that high-rises seldom have.
Brutalism has divided opinion since its inception and this remains true for the Alexander and Ainsworth estate. Some people see the mass of concrete as an eye-sore whereas other see it a modernist masterpiece. More recently it seems to be becoming a desirable place to live by those in the design crowd. Flats have been listed on The Modern House at prices of around £500k – the two bedroom, ground floor flat pictured above was sold for £525,000 in 2021. The majority of the estate still exists as social housing, however as more apartments are sold at a price of half a million, it will be interesting to see how the estate and its community develops over the next coming years.
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