Housing tour of Islington and beyond
Housing tour of Islington and beyond - Sunday 9th September 2018
Led by: John Melvin/Alec Forshaw
Led by/with architect and urban planner John Melvin, this tour focused on social housing will start with a walking tour in Islington and then continue north by coach through several significant developments from the 60s onwards. The itinerary will also feature visits to housing estates by the Tecton Architecture Practice and Ken Pring. It is hoped that architect James Dunnett, and Kenneth Pring's son, Chris, will be be joinng the tour.
John Melvin has worked for the London Borough of Islington as the senior architect-planner at a time when Islington had one of the largest housing programmes in the country and one of the largest concentrations of listed buildings in London.
In 1970, he went into private practice, setting up John Melvin & Partners , Architects and Town Planners. His most significant work has been in the field of social housing. Amongst others, we will visit his 1977 housing development in Penton Street that can be seen as a seminal work, which won commendations from the Civic Trust and the DoE. The design of the Penton Street flats attempted to link modern functionalism with the 19th century terraced houses of the two adjoining Conservation Areas.
The morning will be on foot, and after a break for a ‘find your own’ lunch near Upper Street, we will be met by a coach for the afternoon tour.
Meet time/place: 10.45am at Angel tube station for an 11.00am start
Finish time/place: Approx 4pm at Finsbury Park station (Victoria, Piccadilly and mainline trains)
Members’ price: £35.00 Non members: £45.00