Modernist Bethnal Green Walk
Modernist Bethnal Green Walk
Saturday 5 September 2026
Start time: 10:30 am Finish time: 12:15 pm
Place: Bethnal Green tube station, in front of St John on Bethnal Green, E2 9PA
Back by popular demand! Explore post-war 1950s modernist architecture in Bethnal Green featuring great buildings by Berthold Lubetkin and Denys Lasdun. Thaddeus Zupančič, author of London Estates, will lead the walk.
Walk of post-war 1950s modernist architecture in Bethnal Green commissioned by one of the most progressive borough councils in London.
We will look at The Greenways Estate, which includes flats by both Yorke Rosenberg & Mardall (1956-9) and Denys Lasdun - his two cluster blocks, Sulkin House, and Trevelyan House (1955-8) listed at Grade II. They were significant for new ideas of urban form as well as their sculptural qualities. Those modernist blocks couldn’t be more different from the flats by Donald Hamilton, Wakeford & Partners (1949-51) for the oldest part of the estate.
Across the road is the Cranbrook Estate (1955-65) by Skinner & Bailey (and Lubetkin), which features one of Elisabeth Frink’s first public sculptures - the Blind Beggar and His Dog (1958) listed Grade II*.
We will also visit: the LCC’s Parkview Estate by De Metz & Birks (1950-3); and various other schemes by Donald Hamilton, Wakeford and Partners: Digby Estate (1968); Approach Road Estate (1951); Approach Estate (1962); Mayfield House (1962), and Patriot Square (1974-5) by John D. Hume, the borough architect of Tower Hamlets and his department. The last one is situated behind the former Bethnal Green Town Hall, by Percy Robinson & W. Alban Jones (1909-10, extended by E.C.P Monson (1937-39), and now a hotel.
Thaddeus Zupančič is a writer, translator and photographer. His book London Estates: Modernist Council Housing 1946–1981 received rave reviews and is available in all good bookshops. He documents modernist council estates on his Instagram account @notreallyobsessive.
Non-members: £25
C20 Members: £20
Young C20 Members: £10*
Students: £15**
*For Young C20 members, please email lukas@c20society.org.uk to secure a place.
**For student pricing please select from the dropdown option next to ‘membership number’ on the booking form below.
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The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider and is a registered charity, no 1110244.
Above: Sulkin House (Denys Lasdun, 1959) Grade II listed, Windsor House (Yorke, Rosenberg & Mardall, 1959). Photo copyright Thaddeus Zupančič.