Downham Estate

Downham Estate
Downham Estate
General information
Location	Downham Estate, Downham Way,Bromley,London
Coordinates	51.429784°N 0.005100°E/51.429784; 0.005100,
Area	522 acres
Construction
Architect	George Topham Forrest
Authority	London County Council

TheDownham Estateis aLondon County Council cottage estateinDownham,south eastLondon.It is mainly in theLondon Borough of Lewishamand partly in theLondon Borough of Bromley.

The Downham Estate provides an example of the programme of buildingcouncil housingoccurring inBritainbetween theFirstandSecondWorld Wars. The estate was constructed between 1924 and 1930 to plans by the LCC architect George Topham Forrest.One of the first houses to be completed was ceremonially opened in 1927 byKing George V.

Among other similar developments around London (for exampleBecontree), it was developed to help alleviate the chronic shortage of housing in London, partly brought about by the complete cessation of building during World War I. It was intended to show what could be achieved by public-sector house-building: particularly in order to provide better housing for those who had lived in the slums of the city. The building of the Estate attracted subsidies from central government and was constructed under the auspices of theLondon County Council.

The estate covered an area of 522 acres (2.1 km²), of which 461 acres (1.9 km²) were in theMetropolitan Borough of Lewisham,(from 1965 theLondon Borough of Lewisham) and 61 acres (0.2 km²) in theMunicipal Borough of Bromley(from 1965 theLondon Borough of Bromley); altogether it covered a distance of 1.25 miles (2 km). The land had previously been mainly rural although aroundGrove Park railway stationin the east of the area there had been some development; between Lewisham and Bromley was virtually the end of London at that time. 5659 houses were constructed of varying sizes; and there were also 408 flats (apartments) in blocks up to four storeys in height.

Downham Estate, under construction in 1926

Downham was named in honour ofLord Downham,who waschairman of the London County Councilduring 1919–20. The first tenants of the estate were mainly former residents of inner city areas, such asRotherhitheand the accommodation was spacious and luxurious compared with their former dwellings.

LCC Cottage estates 1918–1939

Estate name	Area	No of dwellings	Population 1938	Population density
Pre-1914
Norbury	11	218	867	19.8 per acre (49/ha)
Old Oak	32	736	3519	23 per acre (57/ha)
Totterdown Fields	39	1262	—	32.4 per acre (80/ha)
Tower Gardens White Hart Lane	98	783	5936	8 per acre (20/ha)
1919–1923
Becontree	2770	25769	115652	9.3 per acre (23/ha)
Bellingham	252	2673	12004	10.6 per acre (26/ha)
Castelnau	51	644	2851	12.6 per acre (31/ha)
Dover House Estate Roehampton Estate	147	1212	5383	8.2 per acre (20/ha)
1924–1933
Downham	600	7096	30032	11.8 per acre (29/ha)
Mottingham	202	2337	9009	11.6 per acre (29/ha)
St Helier	825	9068	39877	11 per acre (27/ha)
Watling	386	4034	19110	10.5 per acre (26/ha)
Wormholt	68	783	4078	11.5 per acre (28/ha)
1934–1939
Chingford	217	1540	—	7.1 per acre (18/ha)
Hanwell(Ealing)	140	1587	6732	11.3 per acre (28/ha)
Headstone Lane	142	n.a	5000
Kenmore Park	58	654	2078	11.3 per acre (28/ha)
Thornhill (Royal Borough of Greenwich)	21	380	1598	18.1 per acre (45/ha)
Whitefoot Lane(Downham)	49	n.a	n.a.
Source: Yelling, J. A. (1995)."Banishing London's slums: The interwar cottage estates"(PDF).Transactions.46.London and Middlesex Archeological Society: 167–173.Retrieved19 December2016.Quotes: Rubinstein, 1991,Just like the country.

References

• Downham Estate: Its Origins and Early Historyat theWayback Machine(archived 2020-11-30)