In 1890, Parliament passed the Housing of the Working Classes Act, which paved the way for a government programme of slum clearance and replacement housing.
After the First World War, the government promised “Homes for Heroes” to returning soldiers in need of housing and employment. This led to an expansion of the house-building programme, with the provision of working-class housing becoming a statutory duty of local authorities in 1919.
The design manual accompanying the bill emphasized the need for “good houses” for the working man’s family, with designs influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and early Garden City planning. The London County Council built several large housing estates based on these ideas, including the Watling Estate, designed by architect George Forrest.
The first residents moved into the estate by April 1927, and within a year, 2100 families were iving there. By 1930, all 4000 dwellings were completed. Despite careful planning of the houses and street layouts, the estate was not intended to be a self-contained community, and tenants moved in before any schools, roads, churches, shops or community facilities were provided. Children had to travel by train to schools in Golders Green and Hendon, while many people commuted to their previous jobs on the Underground. The estate was designed as a garden suburb and was not meant to be isolated from the rest of London. Although many local facilities were eventually provided, the estate was not self-sufficient.
Although the houses were larger and better equipped than the tenements they replaced, early residents found the estate isolating and complained about the lack of facilities and the high cost of living. The allocation policy also prevented local people and estate residents from getting their own homes, leading to overcrowding in some households.
One 1928 reminiscence of the early years explains: “there was nothing but bricks and mortar and acres of mud. The main thoroughfares …were narrow lanes – little more than footpaths and cart tracks in part. The first doctor had to live in a caravan until his house was ready.”
The estate eventually became the responsibility of the London Borough of Barnet in 1980, and tenants were able to buy their council houses through “Right to Buy” policies in the 1980s.
