Model Estate (Routledge Revivals): Planned Housing at Quarry Hill LeedsQuarry Hill Flats, once both the pride and shame of its city of Leeds, was an iconic Modernist symbol of the 1930s. It marked the first use of a prefabricated building system for a large-scale council estate, replacing a notorious slum. But it lasted barely a generation – its complete demolition was announced as Alison Ravetz was finishing this study. First published in 1974, this book is unique in its use of all estate records from conception to destruction, as well as in its comprehensive approach, including aspects usually missing in council housing studies – notably the intimate experience of residents, and a fraught, long-drawn-out building period. Ravetz argues that the Flats’ ‘failure’ was due not to social breakdown, as repeatedly alleged, but rather to a rigidity of design and management unable to accommodate gradual, incremental change. This has continuing implications for the operation of bureaucratically designed and controlled ‘social housing’ today. |
Contents
1 | |
Chapter 2 Workingclass housing and town planning in Leeds up to 1940 | 15 |
Chapter 3 The genesis of Quarry Hill Flats | 46 |
the Mopin system in practice | 70 |
the estate populations | 89 |
forms of social life on the model estate | 121 |
the devolution of the model estate | 141 |
Chapter 8 Private lives and the model estate | 166 |
methods assessments and futures of model environments | 202 |
Postscript January 1974 | 223 |
Appendix I Quarry Hill Flats Tenants Association proposals 1949 | 226 |
Appendix II The 1969 survey of Quarry Hill Flats | 230 |
References | 237 |
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Other editions - View all
Model Estate (Routledge Revivals): Planned Housing at Quarry Hill, Leeds Alison Ravetz Limited preview - 2013 |
Model Estate (Routledge Revivals): Planned Housing at Quarry Hill, Leeds Alison Ravetz No preview available - 2013 |