How about a journey back to the late 1930s? The story of White City Estate begins here. The London County Council started building this estate then. However the construction was not finished until after the Second World War.
Did you know its name comes from the White City Exhibition of 1908? This exhibition was on this very site. The buildings of the White City Estate are mostly named after men. These men served the British Empire in colonial settings. Most of them were based in India.
Now I will tell you more about the White City Exhibition. It covered a huge area of 200 acres. Imagine palaces, halls, a stadium, and even canals. People said it looked like Venice.
The buildings were covered in white stucco. This decorative plaster made them gleam. But the name “White City” has an even more interesting origin. Imre Kiralfy, the exhibition’s mastermind, borrowed the name from Chicago.
The first exhibition opened in May 1908. It ran until October of that year. More than 8 million people visited. The White City Exhibition celebrated Britain’s friendship with France. This friendship followed the signing of the Entente Cordiale in 1904.
Many of the roads around White City Estate have interesting names too. They are named after African locations and countries. These locations had displays at the White City Exhibition. You will find South Africa Road and India Way close by. Bloemfontein Road and Loftus Road are also nearby. Do not forget Australia Road and New Zealand Way, all reminders of that grand event.
The design of the White City Estate was very deliberate. It follows Zeilenbau ideas. This means the blocks are aligned on a north-south axis. The design maximizes sunlight. There are green spaces in between. An east-west axis provides space for public buildings.
In the 1930s, the London County Council sent a team to Europe. They wanted to find the best examples of housing estates. The team looked for estates that included communal open spaces. They understood how important these spaces were. Private gardens were not possible in such densely populated areas. Edwin Paul Wheeler was the LCC’s chief architect. He included several grassed areas between blocks. A larger communal area was planned for the estate’s center.
German cities like Frankfurt and Berlin influenced the Zeilenbau pattern. They used bold new ideas about architecture and planning. This movement was called Neues Bauen or “New Building”. Frankfurt was even called “one of the most remarkable city planning experiments”.
The architecture of the 1930s used scientific methods. These methods shaped buildings in relation to sunlight. Walter Schwagenscheidt conducted studies. He wanted to find the “scientific optimum” orientation for housing blocks. He called them “Comparative Sunlight Studies”. He concluded that the best orientation was 22.5 degrees west of north.
Today the White City Estate stands as a testament to these ideas. It blends history, architecture, and community. It is a place where the past exhibitions live on in the street names.