These blocks were built in the 1950s as part of the Alton West estate. Once described as “the best low-cost housing in the world”, Alton West was designed by a team of London County Council (LCC) architects under Colin Lucas, a pioneer of reinforced concrete construction.
Dedicated followers of the French architect Le Corbusier, they conducted an expedition to Unite d’Habitation in Marseilles, one of his most famous buildings. Along with his 1945 plan for Saint-Die, this was the inspiration for these ten-storey ‘slab’ blocks. They were largely designed by Bill Howell, whose wife Jill Sarson was responsible for similarly Corbusian blocks at the Loughborough Road Estate in Brixton.
The plans for the estate also included 15 eleven-storey ‘point’ blocks, and were so bold that the Chief Architect at the LCC, John Leslie Martin, asked the team to consult local residents on them. Despite mixed feedback, they were approved. When built, the blocks shown in this photograph were faced in aggregate, Dorset shingle and Derbyshire spar. As shown in this photograph, the boiler house and chimney abutting one of the slabs served an aesthetic role as well as a functional purpose.
