Edwardian
In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...
in
Holborn
Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...
, located in the
London Borough of Camden
The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...
. It is bounded by
Clerkenwell Road
Clerkenwell Road is a street in London.
It runs west–east from Gray's Inn Road in the west, to Goswell Road in the east. Its continuation at either end is Theobald's Road and Old Street respectively.
Clerkenwell Road and Theobalds Road wer ...
to the north,
Gray's Inn Road
Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in Central London, located in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at its junction with Holborn at the City of London boundary, passes north through the Holborn and King's Cross ...
to the west,
Leather Lane
Leather Lane is a street west of Hatton Garden, in the Holborn area of London. It is home to a well-used weekday market which specialises in clothing, footwear and fruit and vegetables. There are now many food retailers capitalising off the l ...
to the east and
Baldwins Gardens
Baldwin Gardens is an east–west road running between Gray's Inn Road and Leather Lane, in London Borough of Camden, Camden, London, England.
The surrounding streets were laid out in the 17th century on an intersecting grid pattern from north ...
to the south. It is also intersected by Portpool Lane, which forms part of the estate itself.
The estate is built in a free Classical style, with
Arts and Crafts
The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...
touches, developing the idiom established by the
London County Council
The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
with the
Boundary Estate
The Boundary Estate is a housing development in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London.
The estate, constructed from 1890, was one of the earliest social housing schemes built by a local government authority. It was b ...
and Millbank Estate in a formal direction.
The estate consists of a number of residential blocks which enclose a number of quiet shady courtyards containing mature trees, mostly London Planes. The buildings are constructed in dusky red and yellow bricks and the design incorporates classical
pediments
Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In ancient ...
and stucco
pilasters
In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
as well as arts and crafts details such as gabled walls, and
casement windows
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a case ...
on the inner courtyards and decorative mouldings to the large arches on the access ways.
In 2013 planning permission was granted for a £14 million regeneration of the Bourne Estate. Matthew Lloyd Architects’ scheme, developed with Camden Council and Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, provides 75 new homes across two mixed tenure blocks. Landscaping is to be improved across the southern half of the estate with re-ordered public realm, sports and playspaces by Dally Henderson Landscape Architects.
History
Constructed from 1905–1909, it is regarded as one of London's best examples of
tenement housing
A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...
and the majority of the housing blocks within the Estate have been
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
. The Estate was designed by the
London County Council
The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
Architect's Department, by E. H. Parkes under W. E. Riley.
The Bourne Estate is the third of the three key estates built by the London County Council in the years of its greatest innovation. In Britain the Bourne Estate is the least known, but it has an international significance as the model for the much admired and highly influential public housing erected in Vienna immediately after the First World War. The Viennese model was subsequently brought back to England, as can be seen in the Ossulton Estate, Camden, listed some years ago, and in some private mansion blocks in central London of the 1930s.
The surrounding streets were laid out in the 17th century on an intersecting grid pattern from north to south, east to west. Portpool Lane is part of the estate itself and derives its name from the old manor of
Portpool
Portpool was a manor or soke in the district of Holborn, London. It is not recorded in the Domesday Book but references to it occur from the 12th century onwards. For many years it was owned by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral, wh ...
which was held by Grays of Wilton, also for
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
.
The estate was originally bounded at its southern edge by factories and industrial buildings that were damaged during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and demolished. To the southwest of the estate was Thanksgiving Model Buildings, built in 1850 for the 'Society for Improving the Conditions of the Labouring Classes', this block consisted of two four-storey buildings providing accommodation for 20 families and 128 single women. Also badly bomb-damaged in 1943 during the Blitz, the buildings were subsequently demolished.
Two
post-war
A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...
residential blocks and sports and play facilities were added to this land, with Mawson Building to the South and Gooch Building to the southwest on the former site of Thanksgiving Model Building. A major redevelopment of this part of the estate is planned by Camden Council to take place 2013–16, including the demolition of the unlisted Mawson Building and addition of new blocks in-keeping with the original
Edwardian
In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
architecture. These new blocks will be mixed private and social housing. Higgins Construction have been appointed to carry out this scheme. The works started in May 2014 and they are scheduled to be completed in August 2016.
A number of the buildings in the Bourne Estate appear to have been named after former
Bishops of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of north- ...
, perhaps a reference to nearby
Ely Place
Ely Place is a gated road of multi-storey terraces at the southern tip of the London Borough of Camden in London, England. It hosts a 1773-rebuilt public house, Ye Olde Mitre, of Tudor origin and is adjacent to Hatton Garden.
It is privat ...
, as follows:
Shene, Ledham, Skipwith, Denys, Frewell,
Scrope Scrope (pronounced "scroop") is the name of an old English family of Norman origin that first came into prominence in the 14th century. The family has held the noble titles of Baron Scrope of Masham, Baron Scrope of Bolton, and for a brief time, t ...
Nigel
Nigel ( ) is an English masculine given name.
The English ''Nigel'' is found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walter Scott published '' The F ...
Kirkby
Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, Historic counties of England, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 wa ...
,
Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was a British-born Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during ...
and
Gooch
Gooch is a surname. Gooch or the Gooch is also a nickname. It may refer to:
Surname People
* See Gooch baronets for a list of baronets with the surname (some are listed below)
* Alexander Gooch (died 1558), English Protestant martyr
* Arthur Go ...
Transport
The nearest London underground stations are
Chancery Lane
Chancery Lane is a one-way street that forms part of the City of London#Boundary, western boundary of the City of London. The east side of the street is entirely within the City,Farringdon, with overground trains running from Farringdon.