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

This reinterpreted feature is a key part of the Italian influence at HNT, drawing inspiration from the
discrete informal routes of hill-towns and potentially the divisions of the Etruscan hill-town (see 4.8).
It previously provided informal short-cuts between residences, the greens and other recreation
spaces, but is currently closed by locked gates at two of the intersections. The other north-south
route is the former bridle-path bordering Highgate Cemetery (Swenarton 2017: 112).
4.7.4 Tábori’s approach to ‘the street’ takes an essentially two-fold interpretation of public and private
relating to Chermayeff and Alexander’s Community and Privacy (Chermayeff & Alexander 1963
& Swenarton 2017: 112). In this, space is defined as public (beyond the front door) or private
(behind it) removing the need for any semi-private areas and in externalising stairs and accesses,
avoiding any no-man’s land of internal circulation such as stairwells and lifts. It might be argued
that the shared landings and entrances and the foot and head of stairs represent a semi-public
space given that whilst they belong to the public their proprietorship is really held by adjoining
neighbours. At the same time, they remain public by virtue of their visual connection and interplay
with street. This achieves both Jane Jacob’s notion of eyes-on-the-street and Tábori’s wish to avoid
interim circulation space whilst presenting something of Chermayeff and Alexander’s locks through
proprietorship (Jacobs 2011: 44-45 & Swenarton 2017: 127).
4.7.5 Tábori describes this approach in a note to head architect Sydney Cook,
“-Low rise, very high density low cost project. Pedestrian level continuous at level 2 (street). Direct
entry from street. Sense of identity: each front door having its own street number…. – Pedestrian
access by [sic] self-policing: helps community spirit [and] neighbourliness. Other measures to
reinforce social interdependence, e.g. handed front doors, terraces double as deep front courts,
kitchens look out onto approach/toddlers play (and neighbours’) and mutual awareness vis-à-vis
person on a street and from kitchens” (Swenarton 2017: 113).
Fig. 22: Informal Square, Seggiano, Tuscany (TD)
Next-
Fig. 23: External Stairs at Lulot Gardens (TD)
Fig. 24: External Stairs, Arcidosso, Tuscany (TD)
Fig. 25: Egg and Spoon Race, Stoneleigh Terrace (Jo McCafferty)
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