This project, noted among several by Michael Gold in the book 'The Architecture of London', was the first 'low rise high density' scheme in London to challenge then prevailing high rise solutions for new housing in the city.

 

This design at Clipstone Street W1 for 800 persons incorporated a garden with a crèche set within it in a sunken courtyard, large car park, petrol filling station, pub, commercial workshops and shops, and 30 new trees, and was to be at the highest density permitted in London: 200 persons per acre. Commercial amenities and a public house were placed in a separate triangular two-storey building with its main frontage on Cleveland Street.

 

The concept behind the scheme was to produce a design of flats as workable and satisfactory as for people who live in houses, with the private garden at the level of the home, highly desirable and necessary for families with young children. 

 

 

Client: Council of the City of Westminster

Architects: Michael Gold, Frederick MacManus and Partners