HIGHGATE NEW TOWN PHASE 1, CAMDEN Community-led Conservation Guidance for inclusion in the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area and Application for Grade II* Listing

1.2.2 HNT represents Phase 1 of the original scheme for Highgate New Town developed in from late
‘60s, which is described as a “Funnel shaped site of 15. Acres (6.1. Hectares) on Camden/Islington
boundary. Flanked to north by Whittington Hospital, Highgate Cemetery to west and terraced streets
at Chester Road, Bertram Street, Winscombe Street and Bramshill Gardens (Swenarton 2017:
110-111). An account of this larger scheme, which was eventually developed in two parts, follows in
Section 4.
1.3 Summary Statement of Significance
1.3.1 HNT (1967/72-78) makes an outstanding contribution, to the Low Rise High Density (LRHD)
housing built under Camden’s head architect Sydney Cook, between 1965-73, as well as to London,
the UK and beyond. Its design embodies an urban renewal approach achieved through continuity,
connectivity and permeability with the surrounding streets, which capitalises on its former layout as
part of Victorian Highgate. The then revolutionary concept of ‘urban renewal’ was expounded in a
special issue of the Architectural Review in 1967 compiled by Nicholas Taylor (later re-printed as his
book The Village in the City, 1973), which counterposed the modernist concept of ‘the estate’ with
the way in which cities had normally developed – and which, he said, needed to be re-adopted. This
is captured in the following quote from Taylor;
“The British used to know how to build houses as an integral part of their towns; now they build
separate estates, with disastrous results socially and visually” (Swenarton 2017: 112)
1.3.2 Tábori took this thinking on-board, drawing on the character of the Victorian streets and overlaying
it with exotic elements drawn variously on Italian hill-towns together with influences from his
Hungarian background, studies and earlier work. In addition to drawing together Victorian Camden
and the hill-town, the buildings and streets are executed with attention to detail and the exacting
standards of job architect Kenneth Adie resulting in a high-standard throughout. The scheme is
characterised by clearly articulated relationships between public and private-space, as espoused by
key contemporary figures such as Jane Jacobs, Serge Chermayeff and Jaap Bakema, which makes
intensive use of a rich variety of devices from Italian hill-towns. The influences from Hungary and
Tábori’s former mentor, fellow Hungarian Ernö Goldfinger are embodied in the bold interiors of the
dwellings and the detailing of external features, such as grills and railings, whilst the later influence
of Richard and Su Rogers is present in several aspects (see under). Combined with the Brutalist ‘as
found’ approach, this continuity is achieved through integrating the scheme with the street layout
and character of earlier Highgate. Together with discrete squares, greens and recreation-spaces,
with a richly varied circulation of routes and views, Tábori’s design successfully lays out in built-form
the pre-conditions for community life (Pers. Comm: Swenarton: 2019).
1.3.3 The design of HNT draws heavily on the influence of contemporary sources which according to
Tábori “every student read” at that time (Swenarton 2017: 113). Key in this is the work of American
journalist and community activist, Jane Jacobs’, particularly her notion of eyes-on-the-street, as
set out in her The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jacobs 1961). This formed standard
reading at the time, was a major influence for Tábori, and is today widely considered to be a seminal
work on urban planning. Jacobs’ views concerning how traditional streets largely police themselves
and how good built environment is to a degree self-regulating are manifest throughout HNT in the
interrelation of dwellings, blocks and streets and the overlooking of external areas from kitchens
and terraces. As such HNT was one of the first projects in the UK to apply this transatlantic thinking.
Swenarton tells us that;
“For Tábori, as for Jane Jacobs, this strong visual link between public and private was a key feature
of the traditional street, providing self-policing and thereby contributing to a successful community”
(Swenarton 2017: 127).
1.3.4 The focus on both distinct elements and their assemblage here, stems from the influence of
the Post-war architecture and planning pioneers Team 10 and the ‘Notions of inclusiveness,
contestation and personal engagement’ as described by one of its key members Jaap Bakema
(Van den Heuvel 2018: 240). The term ‘habitat’, used to describe a more holistic approach to living,
became common currency in the ‘60s and can be traced back to Team 10’s Statement on Habitat
(The Doorn Manifesto) presented at their inaugural conference at Doorn in the Netherlands in 1954.
Providing an idea of its intent the manifesto opens with “It is useless to consider the house except
as a part of a community owing to the inter-action of these on each other” (evolutionaryurbanism.
com). Jaap Bakema, Team 10’s secretary after Doorn, established a Post-box service in the early
‘60s which sought to “develop architecture and town planning towards a language which can
communicate about human behaviour” (Van den Heuvel 2018: 66). This reached architects from
Previous- Fig. 7: Sandstone Place (TC/MS)
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