Hillingdon
The borough of Hillingdon has some of the best and most varied modernist architecture in the outer suburbs. From pioneering factories built in the early 20th century to equally innovative housing built by the borough architects department in the 1970’s, the full gamut of modernist design can be explored in the borough. As with many of the western London boroughs, the south of Hillingdon is the more industrial end, with the north being more suburban. Hayes boasts factories by Owen Williams and Wallis Gilbert & Partners, now redeveloped as housing. The northerly villages of Eastcote, Northwood and Ruislip became synonymous with suburbia and Metro-Land after speculative housing estates were built in the 1920’s and 30’s, and here we find some of the most interesting modernist design like Connell, Ward & Lucas’ houses in Ruislip and one of the Curtis & Burchett’s best schools for Middlesex, Lady Bankes.
After World War II, Hillingdon underwent much change. One catalyst for this was the expansion of Heathrow from the small aerodrome of 1929 to one of the busiest airports in the world. Hillingdon’s post 1965 architects department proved influential in its rejection of the high rise concrete municipal orthodoxy in favour of a neo-vernacular style that encouraged pitched roofs and brickwork. Its flagship building was the borough council's own Civic Centre in Uxbridge, opened in 1977 and designed by RMJM. The building was unlike any civic centre building in the post war period, replacing concrete uniformity with red brick, pitched roofs and an irregular frontage. The architects department themselves, under the leadership of Thurston Williams, produced a range of innovative housing to accommodate single people, the elderly and the disabled.
After World War II, Hillingdon underwent much change. One catalyst for this was the expansion of Heathrow from the small aerodrome of 1929 to one of the busiest airports in the world. Hillingdon’s post 1965 architects department proved influential in its rejection of the high rise concrete municipal orthodoxy in favour of a neo-vernacular style that encouraged pitched roofs and brickwork. Its flagship building was the borough council's own Civic Centre in Uxbridge, opened in 1977 and designed by RMJM. The building was unlike any civic centre building in the post war period, replacing concrete uniformity with red brick, pitched roofs and an irregular frontage. The architects department themselves, under the leadership of Thurston Williams, produced a range of innovative housing to accommodate single people, the elderly and the disabled.