Robin
Hood Gardens Estate, Poplar,
London
Architect
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Alison and Peter Smithson
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Date Built
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1972
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Location
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Cotton Street and
Poplar High Street
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Description
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The Robin Hood
Gardens Estate occupies a site beside Poplar
High Street, not far from the northern entrance
to the Blackwall Tunnel. Completed in 1972
but now scheduled for demolition, the twin
concrete blocks face each other across an inner
"garden".
Despite the efforts of some significant people,
including apparently Richard Rogers and Zahad
Hadid, English Heritage resisted all efforts to
list the buildings and the process of demolition
was expected to begin in 2013. However, as
you can see from these photographs taken in June
of 2014, they are still standing, for now.
Lovers of brutalist architecture and the
"streets in the sky" style of residential
development continue to regard Robin Hood
Gardens with affection. It isn't clear
that those who lived there shared that view.
The block on the Robin Hood Lane side is/was the
higher of the two standing 10 storeys
high. The Cotton Street block is/was seven
storeys. Within are/were 213 flats, some
single storey and others maisonettes. Wide
balconies create the "streets" every 3 floors.
The inner space has/had a hard-surfaced
basketball court, a children's playground and a
small man-made hill dotted with trees.
Rows of garages are arranged along the outer
edges of the estate, as you can see below.
The whole area is part of a master-plan for
redevelopment which intends to
to provide 1,600 new homes, improve the primary
school, and add a new park and other community
facilities.
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