12 years ago Janet Street-Porter curated an incredible collection of BBC Archive films for BBC Four on post-war architecture. They're all still available and it's difficult for me to think of a better illustration of the value of public service broadcasting. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/a...

The Walks, Goldington, Bedford: designed by Max Lock for Bedford Borough Council - part of the innovative reimagining of the town in his town planning report 'Bedford by the River' (1952). Read more below ... municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/06/23/b...

🚨 New on Substack, my follow-up post on the post-war history of Leicester's Saffron Lane Estate ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-saffro...

Ashburnham Court, Bedford (1955), architect Max Lock - as imagined, built and recently renovated. A ‘well-conceived local authority high-density housing scheme [with a] pleasantly human scale’ according to JM Richards in the Architects' Journal. municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/06/23/b...

🚨 Brand new post: The Borough of Bedford with architect/planner Max Lock built some of the most innovative and attractive post-war housing in the country ... municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/06/23/b...

Sad news from Bedford. Coincidentally, the town is the subject of this week's blogpost which examines its interwar council housing history - a clash with Minister of Health and Housing Christopher Addison and a record of slow progress thereafer: municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/06/16/b...

Sad news from Bedford. Coincidentally, the town is the subject of this week's blogpost which examines its interwar council housing history - a clash with Minister of Health and Housing Christopher Addison and a record of slow progress thereafer: municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/06/16/b...

A work by Peter Lazlo Peri, one of a number by him commissioned by Stuart Mason, Director of Education for Leicestershire, including Two Children Calling A Dog Atom Boy, and Birstall, 1960.

🚨 New on Substack, my post on Leicester's Saffron Lane Estate - 'like moving into paradise' ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-saffro...

🚨 New on Substack, my post on Leicester's Saffron Lane Estate - 'like moving into paradise' ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-saffro...

🚨 Brand new post: Bedford, Part I to 1945: Controversy and Construction - Bedford was the only town found in default of the 1919 Housing Act's mandate to build 'homes for heroes'. But it went on to build over 1100 council homes by 1939. municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/06/16/b...

Bloomfield Green, Sefton Park, Liverpool - flats for old people designed by City Architect Ronald Bradbury; winner of a Class I Civic Trust award in 1960 . Named after Edward Bloomfield, architect and former Deputy Director of Housing.

🚨 Brand new post: Bedford, Part I to 1945: Controversy and Construction - Bedford was the only town found in default of the 1919 Housing Act's mandate to build 'homes for heroes'. But it went on to build over 1100 council homes by 1939. municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2026/06/16/b...

From the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, another reminder of the extraordinary reach of the 1951 Festival of Britain: 'Interior at Paddington' by Lucian Freud, commissioned as part of the Arts Council's '60 Paintings for '51' exhibition - Freud’s first large-scale painting.

1/ In Norwich, City Architect David Percival aimed 'not only to reflect the regional architectural tradition in housing schemes but to give individual character to each site' - a fine tradition upheld in the award-winning Goldsmith Street Scheme in 2019. municipaldreams.substack.com/p/norwich-co...

I'm staying just opposite here - Grade I-listed now.

🚨 New on Substack, my updated post on Norwich's council housing from 1955 to 2019 - a range and quality of council housing unequalled in the country: municipaldreams.substack.com/p/norwich-co...

A big endorsement to this. EThOS was invaluable to my research and needs to be restored to full capacity.

🚨 New on Substack, my updated post on Norwich's council housing from 1955 to 2019 - a range and quality of council housing unequalled in the country: municipaldreams.substack.com/p/norwich-co...

Ward Royal: a Royal Borough of Windsor estate opened by the Queen in 1969; designed by Mathews, Ryan & Simpson. A controversial scheme due to its visual presence, deck-access form, concrete, brick-clad construction and high rents.

1/ Almeria Town Hall and La Plaza de la Constitución, The town hall was designed by municipal architect Trinidad Cuartara Cassinello in 1902. The square and town hall were badly damaged during the bombardment of Almería in May 1937 when Nazi warships shelled the city.

This is a very interesting and beautifully illustrated account of the development and evolution of the Casa Barates low-cost housing scheme in Barcelona (HT @glosbio.bsky.social).

1/ Almeria, Spain; the former railway station, designed by French engineer Laurent Farge and completed in 1903. The stone, iron and glass neo-Mudejar design - a blend of Islamic and Christian forms - is similar to stations in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.

Almeria, Spain: el Cable Inglés (English Pier) enabled direct transshipment of minerals from train to ship. Designed in 1904 by Scottish engineers for the Glasgow-based Alquife Mines and Railway Company, it operated till 1973. Declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1998.

My latest Substack post looks at the over 7600 council homes built by Norwich City Council between the wars and the ideals of its early postwar planning. Part II on Thursday will describe the city's Golden Age of council housing ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/council-ho...

🚨 New on Substack, my post on Norwich's interwar and early postwar council housing ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/council-ho...

Lenton Abbey housing estate from the air as seen in the ca.1937 Official Handbook of the City of Nottingham. The site was one of the major post-WW1 schemes built by the city that had between 1919 & 1937 constructed 14,111 homes. #housing #nottingham @municipaldreams.bsky.social ↘️ flic.kr/p/2sgSRxQ

🚨 New on Substack, my post on Norwich's interwar and early postwar council housing ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/council-ho...

Buenas noches desde Mojácar en España

Your architectural guide to Wigan from Modern Mooch ... modernmooch.com/2026/06/02/w...

This is a pretty good account of the Lansbury Estate from @inspiringcity.bsky.social: 'Chrisp Street Market and the Festival of Britain: A 75-Year Legacy in Poplar' ... inspiringcity.com/2026/05/31/c...

Town Hall extension, Murcia, designed by Rafael Moneo, completed 1998. rafaelmoneo.com/en/projects/mu…

The Casa Consistorial or Town Hall of Murcia, built from 1848 to the designs of Juan José Belmonte.

1/ Children's experience of the Spanish Civil War - images from the Civil War Museum in Cartagena. The city and naval base was a Republican stronghold and the last city, in 1939, to fall to Franco.

New on Substack, my post on municipal Saltash - a borough church, Corbusian library, and a council house doorway dating to 1584: municipaldreams.substack.com/p/municipal-...

Cartagena City Hall, Region of Murcia, Spain, built 1900-1907, designed by Tomás Rico Valarino.

New on Substack, my post on municipal Saltash - a borough church, Corbusian library, and a council house doorway dating to 1584: municipaldreams.substack.com/p/municipal-...

🚨 New on Substack, my post on municipal Saltash featuring a Corbusian library and a council house doorway dating to 1584: municipaldreams.substack.com/p/municipal-...

🚨 New on Substack, my post on municipal Saltash featuring a Corbusian library and a council house doorway dating to 1584: municipaldreams.substack.com/p/municipal-...

1/ 🧵 Municipal Huddersfield! Beginning with the Town Hall, built in two phases between 1875-1881 – town hall then concert hall (architect JH Abbey) to rear. (Photographed 2018 and 2026 in case you're wondering about the weather.)

1/ Ceramic sculptures created by Fritz Steller in 1969 as part of the hugely innovative Queensgate Market in Huddersfield. Hard to photograph due to current redevelopment but shown in the next tweet ...

Born on this day in York in 1836, Joseph Rowntree. The Quaker chocolate maker built New Earswick, designed by Raymond Parker and Barry Unwin from 1901, in 12-to-the-acre, arts and crafts style as a model village to house his workers.

My new Substack post looks at the controversial regeneration of Lewisham's Pepys Estate: 'a monolithic concentration of public housing', they claimed 'it makes sense to break that up and bring in a different mix of incomes and people with spending power': municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-pepys-...

My new Substack post looks at the controversial regeneration of Lewisham's Pepys Estate: 'a monolithic concentration of public housing', they claimed 'it makes sense to break that up and bring in a different mix of incomes and people with spending power': municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-pepys-...

🚨 New on Substack, my post on the controversial regeneration of Lewisham's Pepys Estate - ‘a Tale of Two Cities’ ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-pepys-...

John Kampfner's new book, 'Braver New World: The Countries Daring to Do Things Others Won't' ( I contributed to the housing chapter) is available for 99p today on Kindle and Kobo.

Carey Gardens, Wandsworth: designed by Nicholas Wood of the GLC Department of Architecture and Civic Design; completed 1972. Woods aimed to create ‘council estates that didn't look like council estates' and was inspired by Sir Leslie Martin's theories of low-rise, high-density perimeter planning.

🚨 New on Substack, my post on the controversial regeneration of Lewisham's Pepys Estate - ‘a Tale of Two Cities’ ... municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-pepys-...

'Defence not Defiance': the banner of the Northwich & District Amalgamated Society of Salt Workers created in 1893 with a rare early depiction of a female worker bottom right. Now on show in the Weaver Hall Museum, Northwich.

Northwich, Cheshire: the former Brunner Public Library and Salt Museum financed by Sir John Brunner and designed by local architect AE Powles; built in three sections to be lifted in case of further subsidence due to local salt workings. Grade II-listed; due to re-open in 2027.