Blossom Bonanza, the usual suspects

This year's gloomy spring has been slow to get going, but the last week the buds of many trees and shrubs have burst. Most of the species flowering right now are well-known spring favourites e.g. (Japanese) Cherries, Crabapples, Flowering Plums and ornamental Pears. All these species of trees and shrubs are in the rose family (Rosaceae). For some reason the blooms of the blossom trees now in flower are mostly shades of pink.

The Japanese cherries are renowned for their attractive blossoms that dangle in clusters from the branches. On the left the blush-pink blooms of Prunus serrulate 'Hanagasa'. It is marketed as Pink Parasol - merely a fanciful name. In the middle the blossoms of Prunus serrulata 'Pink Perfection' mixed with Malus 'Profusion' to produce a short but splendid display on an ordinary suburban street. To complete the trio on the right the Flowering Current (Ribes sanguineum 'Claremont') a large shrub, with bundles of blooms hanging down from the upright branches. 

Leigham Court Estate: where eclectic gothic revival and vernacular meet

Again the streets are laid out on a grid pattern of long parallel streets flanked by long terraces. On the Leigham Court Estate the buildings are mostly 3 storeys high with an attic or attic rooms with dormers, making the buildings effectively 3 floors. The streetscape is very similar at first glance as few materials are used.

The central church of St Margaret the Queen, within the Diocese of Southwark, was built between 1889 and 1907 after designs by Plumbe and Harvey This red brick and red stone building in a mixed style closer to Arts and Crafts than true Gothic Revival was consecrated in 1906.The housing (on the right) is constructed of the same materials and has many terracotta mouldings used as structural ornaments.

Although mostly classified as Gothic Revival architecture, the style of Leigham Court Estate is more eclectic with a wide mix of stylistic details making up the architecture. These high-class terraces for clerks and office workers are inspired by Dutch Gables of the Baroque, although the banding is more typical of Rhineland Renaissance Architecture. The festoons above the doors are also quite baroque. The high bays are evidence of Arts and Crafts influences.

These triangular pediments above the entrance porches (left) are inspired by Greco-Roman architecture. This robust covered entrance on a corner is more neo-byzantine mixed with Arts and Crafts.

The vary varied facades counter the length of the blocks. Especially high gable ends with decorative gable tops and protruding sections and bays are used to create a variable building line and give the impression of many separate buildings along the long straight streets.

On the left, another example of mixed idiom with a Gothic Revival style facade in yellow brick with red dressing combined with Classicist triangular pediments and Romanesque round arches. The gable tops are treated in English vernacular. These buildings have one-down-one-up flats with two doors behind every arch. On the edge of the estate these Arts and Crafts inspired apartment buildings were built with details taken from classical architecture.

This mixed idiom is also expressed in the design of this terrace with a rendered upper storey with asymmetrical twin gable ends with a round window in the gable top. Heavy chimney stacks and fire wall create a picturesque effect from the ground floor up. At street level the building is similar to the brick and stone buildings in other parts of the estate.

After 1907 the style changes from a mixed eclectic idiom to standard English vernacular as advocated by the Garden City Movement and popular with developers at the time. The buildings built between 1907 and 1928 are mostly semidetached houses for the lower middle-class. After WW1 there was also a tendency towards specialised housing. The pensioner cottages -shown on the right- that were built along Hillside Gardens are a good example.

The long streets with long terraces and linked semidetached houses create a semi-urban rather than suburban feel. This is exacerbated by the paving over of the original front gardens for parking. The houses are much lighter than the older section of the estate which creates a strong contrast between these subsequent styles of architecture.

Leigham Court Estate: a self-sufficient planned community

Streatham -the village along the road- remained a small village on the through road from London to Brighton until the arrival of the railways in the 19th century. The railway station at Streatham Hill opened in 1856. Local landowners seized on this by first developing the sections of their estates near the station and along main roads. Some of these new buildings were impressive piles, built as small mansions for the London elite. The Leigham Court Mansion and adjoining land was sold to the Artizans,Labourers & General Dwellings Company in 1888. On 66 acres of land, some 27 hectares, were purchased for the development of a mixed housing estate aimed at small business workers, office workers, artisans and other working people. As such it occupies a pioneering place in the history of housing provision on social grounds.

The ideal of the Artizans Company was to create a self-sufficient community for about 2500 people to be housed in nearly 1000 homes. The workmen and artisans housed here would become owners of these sanitary and economic homes in the course of 15 years by the payment of a small additional rent. These ideas are now proposed -rebranded as shared ownership housing- as a novel way of providing affordable housing in London, but hark back to much older notions. A church, a school and several shops were included in the design. The layout was again very formal with long parallel streets in a grid pattern. Here the streets were named following the alphabet,  A through N, and were developed north to south. The first streets built are very reminiscent of the Noel Park Estate.

The earliest streets (Amesbury, Barcombe, Cricklade and Downton Street) show long terraces with embellishments on the corners and the use of gable ends to break the perceived length of the housing rows. The first designs were by Rowland Plumbe, who was also responsible for Noel Park with H. B. Measures. Later this role of estate architect was taken over by Martin T. E. Jackson. The architecture produced in the mixed Gothic Revival - Eclectic idiom shows an astonishing variety of forms with limited materials: red brick yellow brick, glazed brick, clay tiles in terracotta mouldings and cast iron fences and rainwater pipes. The houses are often repeated in alternating pairs of 8 or 6. Turrets are a feature on corner plots and on the ends of terraces. The flat facades are often bay fronted or alternatively have projecting single-pitched entrance porches.

The northern section differs with the absence of the parallel streets. This section was built after 1907 in a distinctive English vernacular idiom. Here bungalows, semidetached cottages, single-storey pensioners cottages and picturesque terraces dominate the streetscape. There is even a pensioners flat. This section has many buildings with part-rendered or partly wood-clad facades.

This estate is a typical model dwellings estate with streets on a grid layout. Along one side of  the high street of Streatham Hill the shops (sh) are positioned not far from the train station (ST). The first building phase makes up most of the estate. The second building phase (shown hatched) stretches along the northern part of the site. Rebuilding after WW2 damage is shown crosshatched. The streets were named alphabetically -excluding j and i. In the north there are two additional w-streets (Wyatt Park and Wavertree Road). At the heart of the estate the church of St Margaret the Queen (C1), community hall (H) and a bathhouse (B) were built. Along the edge, near Hillside Garden (HG), a series of low pensioners cottages (P) were built. The school (S) is just outside of the estate. The same is true of the church of St Simon and Jude (C2).

There are two, three and four storey buildings in the estate. Upper storeys are made useful as attic rooms with dormer windows set into sloping roofs in a Dutch style, or have been executed as Dutch gables of various designs. The types of housing of the first building phase were developed in classes and vary from terraced houses to maisonettes, bungalows and flats. The second phase is dominates by semidetached and short terraces of family housing with a few specific types, i.e. the pensioners cottages and flats. The whole estate is designated a Conservation Area.

Springtime, decisively daring

As other posts have made quite clear I love bright colours, especially in spring and summer when the light just seems to make them light up. This is because there is less blue light in the "white" sunlight at these times of the year.

Ranunculus asiaticus (on the left), the Persian Buttercup, comes in a fantastic array of brightly coloured blooms that are in flower already as a result of the lack of winter cold. The plants I turn to for an injection of vivid colours are tulips. They come in a wide range of hybrids, each characterised by their flower shape, flowering time and height The relatively warm winter followed by a cold spring has meant that the early flowering types (shown on the right) were slow to take off. The sturdy tulips in the Triumph section (middle) are reliable garden plants.

Noel Park Estate: more gothic revival model dwellings

A low turret marks the end of this long terrace on the corner of two streets, thus emphasising the corner. The streets are lined with small trees on both sides. The trees are planted in the pavements, not in a green verge.

Many of the terraced houses have these protruding ground floors under a single pitch roof (shown left). To break up the long terraces some sections protrude over a full two storeys and are topped with high gable ends. Here these are styled like Dutch Bell Gables.

With the long streets, functional elements are used to give the long terraces some distinction and rhythm. The rhythm is supported by the fire wall that section off the roof surface of every house.

Some of the entrances -in the higher class of housing- are side-by-side, but are angled away so they function as separate entrances. Also note the red brick dressings around the windows and the terracotta mouldings supporting low balustrades at the first floor windows. Some gable tops have decorative infills of red brick (shown on the right). Also note the dentil course along the top edge of the facade.

A typical street with gable ends breaking up the long length of the terraced housing. At the corners the gable end projects and is given a more decorative Dutch-inspired gable end.

Another device employed to create visual interest and distinction are turrets at the corners of the long terraces, especially street junctions. The turrets lift the horizontal architecture by adding a vertical element.

The section built between 1900 and 1903 have a different architecture referencing vernacular architecture. This terrace with half-rendered asymmetrical double gable ends owes much to Arts and Crafts architecture.

The Arts and Crafts influence is also visible in the decorative details of the Gothic Revival architecture. Chimneystacks are used as decorative statement as is visible on the left and on the right. The gable top on the left has decorative terracotta panels. On the right the buttressed chimney is part of the design of the facade. Also banding is used to give the facade more expression.

Turrets again, here used in an asymmetrical way to give the terraced housing more of an individual and picturesque quality. The chimneys in combination with the fire walls give the housing rhythm.