Segal in Suburbia

A Segal Self Build House on Elstree Hill, Bromley. Image frm RIBApix.

Our new Modernism Beyond Metroland guidebook features many architects, working in a variety of styles and materials. Walter Segal’s work is unique among them for its focus on self building and use of timber. The borough of Lewisham was the first place to embrace his ideas, which have subsequently spread around the suburbs and beyond. 

A cross section of Segal's self built annexe at Highgate

After a number of years designing small projects such as houses, flats and offices, largely in brick, Segal began to explore timber construction with a temporary annexe whilst his house in Highgate was being rebuilt, devising a self build system using widely available and low cost materials, in standard units. He saw how anybody could use the system to construct their own homes, and via the anarchist writer and architect Colin Ward, found a sympathetic reception at Lewisham Borough Council. They eventually allowed him some land to start building in Forest Hill, constructing 7 homes in what would be named Segal Close.

Other houses were built in Ormanton Road and Longton Avenue, Sydenham and Elstree Hill, Ravensbourne, all using the Segal method and producing houses built with timber frames and infill panels. Another plot of land was given over for self building in Honor Oak Park, where 13 two-storey timber houses were completed in 1986, and the street named Walter’s Way. 

One of the houses built at Segal Close. Image from RIBApix.

The borough’s own architects department also took inspiration from Segal's ideas, with the scheme at Brockley Park, next to Segal Close, designed by Geoffrey Wigfall, using mono pitched homes built in brick and finished with timber cladding and grass roofs. Some of the houses feature “pods” at the front, to be used for extra living or storage space, and the estate is grouped around a large green space. ​

A terrace of houses at Brockley Park, designed by Lewisham Borough Architects Department.

Segal passed away in 1985 but his ideas persisted with self build projects appearing all around the capital's suburbs, with collaborator Jon Broome continuing the philosophy with his own practice Architype. Self-built projects can be found at Headway Gardens in Walthamstow, Parish Gardens in Greenwich, Eridge Green Close in Bromley and opposite Segal Close in Brockley Park, as well as at many other sites around the suburbs. ​

Walter Segal’s self-build houses will have an extended section in our Modernism Beyond Metroland guidebook, now at 94% of its crowdfunding total. Get your copy HERE