Modernist Housing in the United Kingdom emerged as a radical legacy, something that was so curveball, it challenged centuries of architectural tradition. Functionality, new materials and radical social progress all contributed to these huge changes afoot.
The journey from pre-war experimental housing to ambitious post war housing trends, reflected broader societal shifts and technological innovations, with a huge focus on natural light, open-plan design and radical building techniques.
Roots Are Sewn
Owing to 1930s European avant-garde ideas, the way that we lived for two centuries of industrialised living was challenged to its core –Â cramped quarters, poor natural light and damp foundations.
The first modernist design to be built was High & Over in Amersham, built by Amyas Connell, a New Zealander, who boarded a ship for Europe in the 20s, to study and follow the roots of modernism. Inspiration from Le Corbusier and fellow European émigrés fleeing fascism in the political storm brewing across Europe at the time.
The Third Sun House, currently on the market for £1,250,000, is the last remaining sun house that is almost untouched from the original design and has big Crittall windows have been painstakingly restored by the current vendor
As well as his subsequent ‘Sun Houses’, built in the High & Over estate, he was a radical thinker of his time and fuelled by his obsession with concrete & white, stark geometric form, creating a master template for all modernist thinkers to follow.
Marcel Breuer, the genius behind the 30s expansion of Bauhaus (a similar architectural thread of modernist thinking started by Walter Gropius), has produced some of the starkest examples in the UK, such as Sea Lane House in East Sussex and The Isokon Flats in Hampstead.
In the latter, both Gropius and Breuer both resided in studio apartments and was all of part of the experimental phase, running through British architecture at the time.
The Isokon Flats – an isolated example of brilliant minimalist architectural thinking.
These early phases of modernist building in the UK, were individual examples of commitment to the new and improved trends in technology, utilising light and a ‘less is more’ attitude of minimalism.
Leading up to the outbreak of WW2, materials to build these fine examples were not readily available, and very expensive to the average house builder, really only viable for well funded, one-off designs.
Post-War Modernist Solutions
War often creates opportunity and with the devastation of WW2 generated by the bombing raids, material shortages used up by the effort to create supply to the forces and a lack of returning men able to fill the workforce demand, Britain urgently needed comprehensive solutions.
Utilising the thinking of radical modernist approaches, ‘prefabricated’ properties were seen as the immediate solution, as they could be quickly assembled onsite from concrete panels and metal tubing slotting everything together in one go. You could even supply rural locations unheard of before the war, as the materials required were so transportable, and recyclable from disused wartime equipment and vehicles.
Airey housing – a type of prefab, designed 1944 – 1948 for the Wartime programme, were seen as a temporary solution, but many still remain today.Â
As materials became more available as industry recovered and opened up a whole new revenue stream, modernist building methods provided the blueprint and backbone for permanent and affordable mass housing, utilising the principles of natural light, minimal decorative requirements and open-plan interiors, a huge space saving ideology.
The Parkleys estate (pictured below), a design by a now famous architect, Eric Lyons, who embraced the modernist notion of weaving green space into housing with gardens and green space a central element of the home. The philosophy ‘built around spaces, not around streets’ is a founding and key element of modernist thinking. Lyons also made strong use of innovative materials such as reinforced concrete, steel frames and large panels of glazing.
This set the precedent for the future of public and private house building in post-war UK.
Parkleys Estate, Richmond – a major turning point for the evolution of low rise estate housing
Optimism, Experimentation and enduring influence
In 1951 the ‘Festival of Britain’ opened its doors to the world and was a perfect opportunity for modernist buildings to spread. Excellent examples include the Royal Festival Hall (still in use today) and the Skylon Tower, and are a huge part of the embodiment of progressive, technology driven design.
This advance in modernist thinking invariably connected to mass housing, and led to some of the best features of modernist design seeping through to suburban housing estates, highlighted by flat roofs, wide windows, integral garages and open-plan living-dining areas.
White Fox Lodge, West Sussex – defined the low-rise evolution of modernist housing with some Americana influences (Source: Tim McGrath, Historic England)
By the 1970s, the high hopes of post-war modernism sadly faded, with criticism aimed at some of the key brutalist buildings in key city centres which were made solely of exposed reinforced concrete. These buildings started suffering from poor construction and social problems, and appeared cold to the public, with a negative perception that they were not built for the masses.
Rejecting the principles of modernism, postmodernist styles reintroduced colour, ornament and historical references (neo-Georgian is a striking example of this!) and mass housing estates shifted towards traditional forms and styles.
Yet modernism’s legacy has proved resilient, with low-rise estates around the country having now achieved conservation and listed status, setting precedents that we take for granted today – open-plan living, integration with light, functional design and off-site building techniques. These core principles remain deeply embedded in contemporary housing projects, particularly seen in sustainable housing projects all over the country.
The modernist house movement remains one of the most significant architectural moments of the last century in Britain, and has paved the way to how we should live our lives today.
