Churchill Gardens

Churchill Gardens Estate
Accumulator Tower at Churchill Gardens
General information
Location	Pimlico, Westminster, London
Coordinates	51°29′13″N 0°08′27″W / 51.487°N 0.1407°W / 51.487; -0.1407
Construction started	1946
Completed	1962
Design and construction
Client	Westminster City Council
Landlord	CityWest Homes
Architect	Philip Powell Hidalgo Moya
Awards and prizes	RIBA London Architectural Bronze Medal (1950)

Churchill Gardens is a large housing estate in the Pimlico area of Westminster, London. The estate was developed between 1946 and 1962 to a design by the architects Powell and Moya, replacing Victorian terraced houses extensively damaged during the Blitz.

Comprising 1,600 homes in 32 blocks, the estate is notable as the only housing project completed under the ambitious Abercrombie Plan to redevelop the capital on more "efficient" lines. Tall slabs of between nine and eleven storeys are enclosed by seven storey blocks and interspersed with maisonettes and terraces. A pioneering example of mixed development, it acted as a model for many subsequent public housing projects, although few matched its size and even fewer achieved its architectural distinction or social diversity.

The estate is also notable for its early and rare example of district heating in the UK. A glass-faced accumulator tower was built to collect the CHP by-product heat in hot water from the now-disused Battersea Power Station on the opposite side of the Thames, providing heat and hot water throughout the estate. The system was upgraded in 2006 to allow it to supply an additional 1400 homes.^[1]

Churchill Gardens was designated a conservation area in 1990, and in 1998 six blocks and the Accumulator Tower were listed Grade II.

Footnotes

1. ^ City West Homes. Retrieved on June 11, 2011

References

• City of Westminster site for Churchill Gardens which includes a map and a Conservation Area Guide http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/environment/planning/conservationlistedbuildings/areaprofiles/churchillgardens/
• London from Above documentary http://www.bbc.co.uk/britainfromabove/stories/rewinds/churchillgardens.shtml

External Links

• Listing text for the Accumulator Tower and District Heating Workshop http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-472013-accumulator-tower-and-district-heating-w