The Lawn (Harlow)

The Lawn is a mid-twentieth-century low-rise building located on the outskirts of Old Harlow, to the east of the town of Harlow, England.

Not to be confused with The Lawn, a part of Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village. For other meanings, see Lawn.

The Lawn
The Lawn in Harlow, Essex.
General information
TypeResidential
Architectural styleBrutalist / Modernist
LocationHarlow, Essex
AddressThe Lawn, Harlow CM20 2JX
Coordinates51°46′49.7″N 0°07′31.0″E
Completed1951
Opening1951
Height
Top floor10
Technical details
Structural systemSteel frame
Floor count10
Design and construction
ArchitectFrederick Gibberd
DeveloperHarlow Development Corporation

The building is noted as being the first residential tower block in the UK,[1][2] as well as being the location of its first pedestrian precinct.[3] The structure was completed in 1951 to coincide with the Festival of Britain.[4]

Construction

Architect Sir Frederick Gibberd was appointed master planner for Harlow New Town in 1946,[4] tasked with constructing the estate largely using two-storey houses with a private garden.[5] Gibberd however was a keen proponent of mixed development styles, and insisted (to the Company's disapproval) that 20-30% of the site include flats.[5]

The building has an unconventional ‘butterfly’ shape, built so as to preserve a number of old oak trees within its vicinity,[4] as well as to give each flat a south-facing balcony.[2] Each floor has four flats, with a total of forty flats in the building.[4]

Upon completion, The Lawn was awarded a Ministry of Health Housing medal.[1]

Response

The building marked the beginning of a long period of construction of high rise residential buildings, which by 1975 had produced a total of "440,000 high-rise flats for public housing" in the UK. The government at the time offered a subsidy for every storey added to projects.[1]

Harlow was notably one of few towns to see council tower block construction into the late 1980s, despite changing Government policies, concluding with the construction of Netteswell Tower in 1986.[5]

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See also

References
  1. "Tower blocks: The ups and downs of high-rise living". BBC News. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  2. "The Lawn, Harlow, Essex | Educational Images | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  3. "The Lawn, Harlow, Essex: the tower | RIBA". RIBApix. 1951. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  4. "Radical ESSEX - The Lawn". www.radicalessex.uk. 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  5. Boughton, John (5 July 2016). "Harlow New Town: 'Too good to be true'?". Municipal Dreams.
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