Camden Borough Architects Department
The creation of the London boroughs in 1965 not only bought 32 boroughs into being, but also gave them the power to build. No borough took up this power more animatedly than Camden. Formed from the amalgamation of Holborn, St Pancras and Hampstead, the new architects department of the new borough was headed up by Sydney Cook, who had previously had the same position at Holborn.
Under the guidance of Cook, Camden built a huge amount of buildings, mainly housing, for the inhabitants of the borough. Estates such as Alexandra Road, Highgate New Town and Maiden Lane were created by in-house architects like Neave Brown, Gordon Benson & Alan Forsyth and Peter Tabori. The projects were also built by the borough's own construction department, which led to the delays and soaring budgets that would eventually end their golden age of social housing.
But Camden’s buildings were not all massive estates designed by their own architects department. Smaller dwellings like Colquhoun and Miller’s Caversham Road or Edward Cullinan's Leighton Crescent show the adaptability of the department to smaller sites and differing styles. The golden age did not even last 20 years before government cuts to budgets curtailed the building programme. However, much of the buildings created in this period are still in use, albeit often in the hands of private companies or individuals, and listed for their architectural qualities. They are the remnants of a time that may never come again.
Featured Buildings: Abbey Estate, Adelaide Road, Alexandra Road Branch Hill, Caversham Road, Chester Road Hostel, Dunboyne Road, Elsfield, Lamble Street, Leighton Crescent, Lismore Circus, Maiden Lane Estate, Oakshott Court, Stoneleigh Terrace, Winscombe St, Workshops Loudon Road.
See Also- In House Part 1 Camden, Peter Tabori
Under the guidance of Cook, Camden built a huge amount of buildings, mainly housing, for the inhabitants of the borough. Estates such as Alexandra Road, Highgate New Town and Maiden Lane were created by in-house architects like Neave Brown, Gordon Benson & Alan Forsyth and Peter Tabori. The projects were also built by the borough's own construction department, which led to the delays and soaring budgets that would eventually end their golden age of social housing.
But Camden’s buildings were not all massive estates designed by their own architects department. Smaller dwellings like Colquhoun and Miller’s Caversham Road or Edward Cullinan's Leighton Crescent show the adaptability of the department to smaller sites and differing styles. The golden age did not even last 20 years before government cuts to budgets curtailed the building programme. However, much of the buildings created in this period are still in use, albeit often in the hands of private companies or individuals, and listed for their architectural qualities. They are the remnants of a time that may never come again.
Featured Buildings: Abbey Estate, Adelaide Road, Alexandra Road Branch Hill, Caversham Road, Chester Road Hostel, Dunboyne Road, Elsfield, Lamble Street, Leighton Crescent, Lismore Circus, Maiden Lane Estate, Oakshott Court, Stoneleigh Terrace, Winscombe St, Workshops Loudon Road.
See Also- In House Part 1 Camden, Peter Tabori