Oliver Close

Last updated

Oliver Close Estate is a housing estate in Leyton, London Borough of Waltham Forest in East London, England. From 1967 to 1996 the estate contained 500 flats in five high-rise buildings. It is currently owned and administered by the Community-based Housing Association.

Contents

History

Archaeological investigations beginning in 1996 showed that a palisaded Late Bronze Age settlement had stood on the Oliver Close site in the 9th and 10th centuries. [1] [2] Afterward, however, the site was only in marginal use until the expansion of London reached the Lower Lea Valley in the late 1800s. During World War II, prefabricated Anderson shelters were set up on the Oliver Close site for protection against air raids. After the war, the first public housing development on the site also used prefabricated buildings.

High-rise development


The history of the modern housing estate began in 1963 with approval of construction of a high-rise estate in the Municipal Borough of Leyton. With the reorganization of London government, the estate came under the jurisdiction of the London Borough of Waltham Forest in 1965.

The estate was built in two stages. The stage approved in 1963 consisted of three 20-storey buildings, each containing 100 flats. The buildings were named Arthur Punshion Tower, Clifford Hicks Tower, and James Collins Tower.

The second stage, at Oliver Close and Auckland Road, was approved in 1967 and consisted of two 20-storey towers with 200 flats. The buildings were named Terence Messenger Tower and Stanley Horstead Tower.

Regeneration

As high-rise estates became associated with overcrowded conditions, poverty, and crime, governments gradually changed their approach to public housing. In 1996 ownership of Oliver Close and other housing estates was assigned to the Waltham Forest Housing Action Trust. By 2002 all five towers at Oliver Close had been demolished, and in April 2002 the Housing Action Trust was disbanded. Oliver Close came under the control of the Community-based Housing Association. As of 2007, 330 new homes had been built.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leyton</span> Human settlement in England

Leyton is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River Lea, to the west. The area includes New Spitalfields Market, Leyton Orient Football Club, as well as part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The town consists largely of terraced houses built between 1870 and 1910, interspersed with some modern housing estates. It is 6.2 miles (10 km) north-east of Charing Cross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walthamstow</span> Town in East London

Walthamstow is a large town in east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London and the ancient county of Essex. Situated 7+12 miles northeast of Charing Cross, the town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of approximately 109,424.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Borough of Waltham Forest</span> London borough in United Kingdom

The London Borough of Waltham Forest is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to the south-west, Newham to the south-east and Redbridge to the east, as well as the non-metropolitan county of Essex to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leytonstone</span> Area of East London

Leytonstone is an area in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Situated 7 miles (11 km) north-east of Charing Cross, it adjoins Wanstead to the east, Forest Gate to the south-east, Stratford to the south-west, Leyton to the west, and Walthamstow to the north-west.

Leyton Grange, in Leyton, east London, is the second most deprived area of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It include an estate that consists of a 10-storey tower and ten 4-storey courts owned by Forest Homes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Municipal Borough of Leyton</span>

Leyton was a local government district in southwest Essex, England, from 1873 to 1965. It included the neighbourhoods of Leyton, Leytonstone and Cann Hall. It was suburban to London, forming part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District. It now forms the southernmost part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest in Greater London.

Beaumont Road is a housing estate located in Leyton in East London. It is the largest housing estate in the borough of Waltham Forest, and is now the last high rise estate in Leyton. All neighbouring high rise estates have been demolished. It is situated just south of the Bakers Arms, on Leyton High Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathall</span> Housing estate in Leytonstone, London

Cathall is a housing estate in the Cathall ward, Leytonstone, East London. It is currently managed by Community-based Housing Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cann Hall</span> Human settlement in England

Cann Hall is a ward, and former civil parish, in the south of Leytonstone in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is north of Stratford and Forest Gate, east of Leyton, and west of Wanstead Flats, the southernmost tip of Epping Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanstead Flats</span> Southernmost part of Epping Forest, England

Wanstead Flats is the southernmost portion of Epping Forest, in Leytonstone and Wanstead, London. The flats and by extension the forest ends at Forest Gate directly to the south. It now falls wholly within the boundaries of the London Boroughs of Redbridge and Waltham Forest, though until 1994 two parts of it were in the London Borough of Newham: one of these was the section between Aldersbrook Road and Capel Road east of the junction between Aldersbrook Road and St Margaret's Road, whilst the other was the strip running along Capel Road between its junctions with Centre Road and Ridley Road. As part of Epping Forest, the Flats is managed by the City of London Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enfield Island Village</span> Human settlement in England

Enfield Island Village is a modern housing estate in Enfield Lock, in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. Before April 1994, Enfield Island Village formed part of the Epping Forest district of Essex, but it was transferred to the borough of Enfield in Greater London when the housing development was created.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whipps Cross</span> Human settlement in England

Whipps Cross is an area of the districts of Leytonstone and Walthamstow in the London Borough of Waltham Forest in London, England. It is most famous for Whipps Cross University Hospital.

Housing action trusts (HAT) were non-departmental public bodies, set up to redevelop some of the poorest council housing estates in England's inner-city suburbs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giurgiului</span> Neighborhood of Bucharest

Giurgiului is a neighborhood in the southern part of the Romanian capital Bucharest, in Sector 5, near Berceni and Ferentari. Like Berceni, Giurgiului has plenty of 10-storey blocks of flats that were built under Communist rule, starting with 1959–1964. The estimated population is between 30,000 and 40,000. Before the Communists started their massive building programme, Giurgiului was a farming village. After 1948 the village was added to the city area. A few years later in the south of the neighborhood a pipe factory was built along with a power plant, CET Berceni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cranbrook Estate</span> Housing estate in Bethnal Green, London

The Cranbrook Estate is a housing estate in Bethnal Green, London, England. It is located next to Roman Road and is based around a figure of eight street called Mace Street. The estate was designed by Francis Skinner, Douglas Bailey and an elder mentor, the Soviet émigré Berthold Lubetkin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public housing in the United Kingdom</span> British government and local authority housing programmes

Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. Houses and flats built for public or social housing use are built by or for local authorities and known as council houses, though since the 1980s the role of non-profit housing associations became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became more widely used, as technically council housing only refers to housing owned by a local authority, though the terms are largely used interchangeably. Before 1865, housing for the poor was provided solely by the private sector. Council houses were built on council estates, known as schemes in Scotland, where other amenities, like schools and shops, were often also provided. From the 1950s, blocks of flats and three-or-four-storey blocks of maisonettes were widely built, alongside large developments of terraced housing, while the 1960s and to some degree the 1970s saw construction of many high-rise tower blocks. Flats and houses were also built in mixed estates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highpoint (building)</span> Residential tower in London

Highpoint is a 142-metre, 46-storey, 458-apartment residential tower in Elephant and Castle in the London Borough of Southwark in London on the site of the London Park Hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grenfell Tower</span> Residential building in London ravaged by fire in 2017

Grenfell Tower is a derelict 24-storey residential tower block in North Kensington in London, England. The tower was completed in 1974 as part of the first phase of the Lancaster West Estate. The tower was named after Grenfell Road, which ran to the south of the building; the road itself was named after Field Marshal Lord Grenfell, a senior British Army officer. Most of the tower was destroyed in a severe fire on 14 June 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancaster West Estate</span> Housing estate in North Kensington, London

Lancaster Road (West) Estate is a housing estate in North Kensington, west London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chalcots Estate</span> Housing estate in the London Borough of Camden

Chalcots Estate is a council housing estate on Adelaide Road and Fellows Road in Swiss Cottage in the London Borough of Camden. It was designed by Dennis Lennon and Partners. The Chalcots Estate was built on land owned by Eton College, which is reflected in the names of the individual buildings.

References

  1. Lawrence, Dave (1996). "ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT OLIVER CLOSE, LEYTON" (PDF). Newham Museum Service. Retrieved 26 September 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. Bishop, B (2006). "An Assessment of the Archaeological Excavations (Phase IV) at the Oliver Close Estate, Leyton, London Borough of Waltham Forest. London" (PDF). Archaeology Data Service. Retrieved 26 September 2013.[ permanent dead link ]

Coordinates: 51°33′40″N0°00′58″W / 51.561°N 0.016°W / 51.561; -0.016