Months later and my brother is living in Singapore, but luckily some other friends have moved to the area.
Suddenly the small windows and lack of outside space on this make more sense.
The main entrance is a pretty bizarre thing.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
The Brixton Barrier
Since I've started this blog I've had countless suggestions for council estates to visit. When my brother moved to Brixton around Christmas one of the first things he said was: "You've got to see this building. It's mental."
Months later and my brother is living in Singapore, but luckily some other friends have moved to the area.
Southwyck House is part of the wider Somerleyton Estate. The building presents a long, impenetrable wall to the outside world.
Planning permission for the building was granted in 1970. Its design is based around other plans mooted at the time - namely to build an inner London motorway network, which would run adjacent to the block in all its six-lane glory.
Suddenly the small windows and lack of outside space on this make more sense.
Fortunately for Brixton, and for the rest of London, the motorway idea never took off. But by then it was too late and Southwyck House was standing. The first tenants moved into their new homes in 1982.
The main entrance is a pretty bizarre thing.
Nevertheless, once inside the barrier you can see it is quite well designed - housing 183 two and three bedroom maisonettes.
The southern entrance pretty much mirrors the northern side - and it looks like this....
It's well worth visiting this area of town. Just around the corner is Zaha Hadid's Evelyn Grace Academy - winner of a 2011 RIBA Award.
Months later and my brother is living in Singapore, but luckily some other friends have moved to the area.
Suddenly the small windows and lack of outside space on this make more sense.
The main entrance is a pretty bizarre thing.
The design bears some similarity to the Wessex Gardens Estate built by the City of Westminster a few years later (it's between Westbourne Park Road, Ledbury Road and Talbot Road).
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this -- I live just down the road from here, and have always meant to look into why it was designed like so.
ReplyDeleteI knew that! Although I've never been quite sure whether it was completely true. I'm still not...
ReplyDeleteI understand that the Lambeth Councillor who pushed the scheme through was none other than John Major!
ReplyDeleteHere's what brixton town centre was due to look like:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/barrier1.html
Always known it as the barrier blocks, just never knew why. Thanks for enlightening me.
ReplyDeleteRandom piece of trivia; Damien Hirst used to live there in the early nineties.
ReplyDeleteI lived here for 15 years...its a complete nightmare, no thought to how people live on top of each other
ReplyDeleteIt bred resentment anger and the residents turned on each other, no community. Sorry nothing good came
from this shambles. Rat runs that muggers and vermin relish. Parts of the Moreland Estate and the Barrier block were
no go area. Police wouldn't enter alone. The place was awash with ferrel youth who did what they pleased.
A great example of inner city building with little thought for the people that were to live there. It always amazed me that
this place was constructed without the care and consideration it deserved. A massive urban cockup, if my memory serves me correct
the barrier block was constructed a few years after the inners of the estate and I believe they knocked the first phase of the barrier block down and rebuilt it?
Can someone confirm,?
It may look interesting to the middle class architects 30 years on who debate it over coffee but those people never experienced living in such dwellings.
It was an insult to put people in them and expect a civil outcome. Rumours were that the Original Architect killed himself...can't say i'm surprised!
Hi Adamski,
DeleteMy name is Ruth I'm writing a feature about the barrier block for the next edition of the Brixton Bugle and wondered if you'd like to comment about the building from a residents perspective? Be great to make sure we get different perspectives on the building, whether it's beautiful, brutal, interesting, impractical etc.
My email address is arts@brixtonblog.com
To be honest to blame the living conditions for social ills is just lazy.
DeleteIf it were full of middle class kids from Guardian-reading families, all employed, etc, there would be ten times less crime (but you'd have to put up with a lot more community workshops where you could learn to knit your own yoghurt).
Case in point. The Barbican estate in central London. Possibly one of the most ugly estates I've ever seen (and I grew up in Runcorn, if you want my credentials, google "Southgate estate Runcorn") What's the crime rate in the Barbican? Why don't they chuck their mattresses out onto the walkways and leave them there? Why don't they piss in the stairwell? Are they immune to the effect of architecture?
Just hogwash. Crime is high because the people who live in these estates are underemployed and from a lower class. Don't blame the walls.
i am looking for info on either a counsil or private houseing estate that has an electric barrier to stop nonresidents from useing there carpark.
ReplyDeletemadge