Before you stand the Boundary Estate. A place that tells of a time when London’s East End was choked with poverty and squalor. The Boundary Estate, built in the late 19th century, was the first council estate in London. It was built on the site of the notorious Old Nichol rookery, one of the worst slums in the city. The Old Nichol was said to be a haven for crime, and where one in four children died before their first birthday. The estate offered a stark contrast to the grim slums it replaced. Buildings of red brick, each one unique with its own character, stood on tree-lined streets. Owen Fleming, the architect, designed the Boundary Estate to be a place that offered its residents a sense of community and well-being. The residents were mostly working-class families, many of them displaced from the demolished slums. In the Boundary Estate, new tenants were clerks, policemen, cigarmakers and nurses. They were the ‘deserving’ poor, different from the ‘undeserving’ poor who were left with no new homes. While the Boundary Estate was a great improvement over the Old Nichol, the displacement of so many residents was a massive social change. The estate was not a utopia, but it was a start. Today, the Boundary Estate is considered a historic landmark, a testament to the vision of the London County Council. It’s a place where people still live and work, and where a sense of community still thrives.
Центральный дом работников искусств
Step through the grand wooden doors of the Central House of the Workers of Art, and you’ll be transported to