South London Dwellings Company

Last updated

The South London Dwellings Company (SLDC) was a philanthropic model dwellings company, founded in London in 1879 during the Victorian era by the prominent social reformer Emma Cons.

Cons was an active philanthropist in the late nineteenth century, having also founded Morley College, the Working Girls Home (a hostel in Drury Lane) and the Home for Feeble-Minded girls in Bodmin, Cornwall, re-opening the Old Vic theatre (assisted by her niece, Lilian Baylis), and being actively engaged with the cause of women's suffrage. The SLDC was born out of Cons' work with the housing manager and philanthropist Octavia Hill  – Cons worked as a rent-collector in Hill's housing schemes at Barrett Court, Oxford Street, from 1864.

Buildings

The SLDC's main building was the quadrangle-form Surrey Lodge, built in 1884 near Waterloo station on the site of Sir James Wyatt's former home. [1] Cons ran the building personally and in addition to housing, the building included a sanatorium, library, evening classes and day nurseries. [2] "On one side of a quadrangle is a high row of buildings and on the opposite side is a row of cottages, which allows plenty of light and air to gain access to the higher edifices." [3]

The building was managed on terms similar to Hill's and the East End Dwellings Company's, in which female rent-collectors befriended and maintained the welfare of residents. [3] Surrey Lodge was destroyed during the Second World War. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Effingham, Surrey</span> Village in England

Effingham is a village in the Borough of Guildford in Surrey, reaching from the gently sloping northern plain to the crest of the North Downs and with a medieval parish church. The village was the home of notable figures, such as Barnes Wallis who is buried here and Toni Mascolo. The M25 motorway is 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of the middle of the village, which consists of new build homes and green space in the Metropolitan Green Belt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Park Hill, Sheffield</span> Housing estate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

Park Hill is a housing estate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It was built between 1957 and 1961, and in 1998 was given Grade II* listed building status. Following a period of decline, the estate is being renovated by developers Urban Splash into a mostly private mixed-tenure estate made up of homes for market rent, private sale, shared ownership, and student housing while around a quarter of the units in the development will be social housing. The renovation was shortlisted for both the 2013 and 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize, for the first and second phases of the redevelopment respectively. The Estate falls within the Manor Castle ward of the City. Park Hill is also the name of the area in which the flats are sited. The name relates to the deer park attached to Sheffield Manor Lodge, the remnant of which is now known as Norfolk Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Townhouse</span> Individual urban house in a terrace or row

A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence of someone whose main or largest residence was a country house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shackleford</span> Village and civil parish in England

Shackleford is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Guildford, Surrey, England centred to the west of the A3 between Guildford and Petersfield 32 miles (51 km) southwest of London and 5.2 miles (8.4 km) southwest of Guildford. Shackleford includes the localities of Eashing, Hurtmore, Norney and Gatwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Octavia Hill</span> English social reformer (1838–1912)

Octavia Hill was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family of radical thinkers and reformers with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing to the financial failure of her father's businesses. Home educated by her mother, she worked from the age of 14 for the welfare of working people.

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

Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately north-west of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Surrey and Sussex ran to the south of Gatwick Airport. Boundaries were reformed in 1974 so that the county boundary between Surrey and West Sussex, delineated by the Sussex Border Path, now runs along the northern perimeter of the airport, and the southern extent of Charlwood.

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

Addlestone is a town in Surrey, England. It is located approximately 18+12 miles southwest of London. The town is the administrative centre of the Borough of Runnymede, of which it is the largest settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godstone</span> Village in England

Godstone is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Reigate, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Oxted, 22 miles (35 km) east of Guildford and 18 miles (29 km) south of London. Close to the North Downs, both the North Downs Way and the Greensand Way pass through Godstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woldingham</span> Village in Surrey, England

Woldingham is a village and civil parish high on the North Downs between Oxted and Warlingham in Surrey, England, within the M25, 17.5 miles (28.2 km) southeast of London. The village has 2,141 inhabitants, many of whom commute to London, making Woldingham part of the London commuter belt. The village is served by the Oxted line and central London can be reached in 33 minutes by train.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westhumble</span> Village in Surrey, England

Westhumble is a village in south east England, approximately 2 km (1.2 mi) north of Dorking, Surrey. The village is not part of a civil parish, however the majority of the settlement is in the ecclesiastical Parish of Mickleham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Cons</span> British social reformer, educationalist, and theatre manager (1838-1912)

Emma Cons was a British social reformer, strongly committed to women's suffrage. She also campaigned for educational opportunities for the working class, including cheap tickets to Shakespearean drama at the Old Vic Theatre, which she opened in 1880, later managed by her niece, Lilian Baylis.

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

Headley is a village and civil parish in the North Downs in Surrey, England. The nearest settlements are, to the west, Mickleham and Leatherhead; to the north, Ashtead and Langley Vale; to the east, Walton-on-the-Hill; and to the south, Box Hill. It is just outside the M25 motorway encircling London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dormansland, Surrey</span> Village in Surrey, England

Dormansland is a large village and civil parish with a low population approximately one mile south of Lingfield in Surrey, England. It was founded in the 19th century and is bordered on the east by the county of Kent and on the south by West Sussex and East Sussex, the only area of the county which borders East Sussex. The nearest town is the small town of East Grinstead, immediately across the West Sussex border.

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

Felbridge is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey with a playing field within its focal area, narrowly in West Sussex. Felbridge village forms a contiguous settlement with East Grinstead and had 829 homes and households at the time of the 2011 census. Domewood is part of Felbridge civil parish, which was created in 1953.

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

Lyne is a village in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately 32 km (20 mi) southwest of central London. In the early 13th century, the area was known as la Linde meaning the lime tree.

Model dwellings companies (MDCs) were a group of private companies in Victorian Britain that sought to improve the housing conditions of the working classes by building new homes for them, at the same time receiving a competitive rate of return on any investment. The principle of philanthropic intention with capitalist return was given the label "five per cent philanthropy".

The East End Dwellings Company was a Victorian philanthropic model dwellings company, operating in the East End of London in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The company was founded in principle in 1882 by, among others, Samuel Augustus Barnett, vicar of St Jude's Church, Whitechapel; it was finally incorporated in 1884.

Katharine Buildings were model dwellings in Cartwright Street, Aldgate, London, the first project of the philanthropically-motivated East End Dwellings Company. The block was built during 1884, and opened in 1885 as model apartments for the working class. There were 628 single rooms with shared cooking and sanitary facilities, plus a top floor for the very poorest families. The buildings were named after the philanthropist Catherine Courtney.

<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 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. Dwellings built for public or social housing use are built by or for local authorities and known as council houses. Since the 1980s non-profit housing associations became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became widely used, as technically council housing only refers to housing owned by a local authority, though the terms are largely used interchangeably.

Elijah Hoole was an English architect of Methodist churches, settlement halls and social housing. In relation to the social housing, he worked closely with the social reformer Octavia Hill for over 40 years.

References