Southwyck House
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[[File:Southwyck House, Brixton - geograph.org.uk - 220874.jpg|thumb|Southwyck House]] |
[[File:Southwyck House, Brixton - geograph.org.uk - 220874.jpg|thumb|Southwyck House]] |
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'''Southwyck House''', also known locally as the '''Barrier Block''',{{cite news |title=Brixton’s Barrier Block: ‘When it went up everyone hated it’ |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/05/brixtons-barrier-block-when-it-went-up-everyone-hated-it |access-date=5 October 2021 |work=the Guardian |date=5 October 2021 |language=en}} is a large housing building on the Somerleyton Estate in [[Brixton]], south [[London]].Southwyck House Tenants' & Residents' Association https://southwyckhouse.wordpress.com It was commissioned by [[Lambeth Council]] and approved by a [[planning committee]] which included future prime minister [[John Major]].The Guardian, http://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/images/barrier3.jpg |
'''Southwyck House''', also known locally as the '''Barrier Block''',{{cite news |title=Brixton’s Barrier Block: ‘When it went up everyone hated it’ |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/05/brixtons-barrier-block-when-it-went-up-everyone-hated-it |access-date=5 October 2021 |work=the Guardian |date=5 October 2021 |language=en}} is a large housing building on the Somerleyton Estate in [[Brixton]], south [[London]].Southwyck House Tenants' & Residents' Association https://southwyckhouse.wordpress.com It was commissioned by [[Lambeth Council]] and approved by a [[planning committee]], which included future prime minister [[John Major]].The Guardian, http://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/images/barrier3.jpg |
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==Design== |
==Design== |
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[[File:The Barrier Block, Coldharbour Lane (4508753920).jpg|thumb|The wall facing what would have been the South Cross Route flyover was designed to have small windows]] |
[[File:The Barrier Block, Coldharbour Lane (4508753920).jpg|thumb|The wall facing what would have been the South Cross Route flyover was designed to have small windows]] |
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The block is in the [[Brutalist]] style and has similarities to [[Park Hill, Sheffield|Park Hill]], Sheffield and [[Byker Wall]], Tyneside. The block has 176 properties |
The block is in the [[Brutalist]] style and has similarities to [[Park Hill, Sheffield|Park Hill]], Sheffield and [[Byker Wall]], Tyneside. The block has 176 properties, consisting of 3 low rise flats and 173 high rise flats.{{cite web |title=Brixton Barrier Block |url=http://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/barrier.html |website=Urban75 |access-date=13 December 2022}} |
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It was designed in 1968-70 by a team of architects including Magda Borowiecka, and built between 1972-1981.{{NHLE|num=1413564|desc=|accessdate=5 October 2015}}{{dead link|date=September 2016}} The building was designed to account for the [[South Cross Route]] motorway passing adjacent to the building |
It was designed in 1968-70 by a team of architects including Magda Borowiecka, and built between 1972-1981.{{NHLE|num=1413564|desc=|accessdate=5 October 2015}}{{dead link|date=September 2016}} The building was designed to account for the [[South Cross Route]] motorway passing adjacent to the building. Although the motorway plan was scrapped in 1973, the design was kept, including small windows on the wall that would have faced this [[Overpass|flyover]]. |
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==History== |
==History== |
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During construction the block had no name, simply being called the Loughborough Park redevelopment and locally known as 'Brixton Nick' for its resemblance to a prison |
During construction the block had no name, simply being called the Loughborough Park redevelopment and locally known as 'Brixton Nick' for its resemblance to a prison. Proposed names included 'Hillmead' and 'Northcliff'.{{cite news |author1=Polly Toynbee |author1-link=Polly Toynbee |title='We should be subsidising people, not houses. Give them the money and let them go out and buy their own houses' |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/186273829 |access-date=13 December 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=13 November 1981 |page=9 |url-access=subscription}}{{cite journal |title=Loughborough Park redevelopment: For London Borough of Lambeth by Borough Directorate of Development Services |journal=[[Architects' Journal]] |date=9 May 1973 |volume=157 |issue=19 |pages=1129-1130 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1459658389 |access-date=13 December 2022|url-access=subscription}} |
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Residents of the building suffered from crime including burglary and the use of heroin and crack cocaine, and so alterations were made to the building in the 1990s to improve security. Several of the building's flats were [[Squatting in England and Wales|squatted]] for several years from its completion.{{cite thesis |last=Bettocchi |first=Milo |date=January 2021 |title=Fairies, Feminists & Queer Anarchists: Geographies of squatting in Brixton, south London|url=https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64265/1/M.%20Bettocchi%20-%20Fairies%2C%20Feminists%20%26%20Queer%20Anarchists%20-%20Geographies%20of%20squatting%20in%20Brixton%2C%20south%20London.pdf |type=PhD |chapter=Aside: Southwyck House |publisher=[[University of Nottingham]] |docket= |oclc= |access-date=13 December 2022 |page=172}} |
Residents of the building suffered from crime including burglary and the use of heroin and crack cocaine, and so alterations were made to the building in the 1990s to improve security. Several of the building's flats were [[Squatting in England and Wales|squatted]] for several years from its completion.{{cite thesis |last=Bettocchi |first=Milo |date=January 2021 |title=Fairies, Feminists & Queer Anarchists: Geographies of squatting in Brixton, south London|url=https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64265/1/M.%20Bettocchi%20-%20Fairies%2C%20Feminists%20%26%20Queer%20Anarchists%20-%20Geographies%20of%20squatting%20in%20Brixton%2C%20south%20London.pdf |type=PhD |chapter=Aside: Southwyck House |publisher=[[University of Nottingham]] |docket= |oclc= |access-date=13 December 2022 |page=172}} |
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