Plaque Wording:
Festival of Britain 1951
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair held throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951.The Government invited to a new Britain a feeling of recovery after the aftermath of war and to promote and inspire contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts.
There were events on South Bank (architecture), Battersea (Festival Pleasure Gardens), South Kensington (science) and Glasgow (industrial power). In Poplar, there were 30 acres of land that had been badly damaged by bombing during the Blitz in World War II. The devastated estate that was to be built on that land can be traced to the Council of London Plan in 1943, but it was the architect Frederick Gibberd who brought the Lansbury Estate to the Festival of Britain.
In the years of rebuilding following the war, there was considerable interest in town planning and those organising the Festival of Britain wanted to present an exhibition about planning. Frederick Gibberd proposed that the only way to get the public interested in planning and architecture was to provide "real buildings that they could walk around in, to enjoy street material rather than an unpopular live chapel and the housing around them."
So began the 1951 "Live Architecture Exhibition" that represented a vision of the future liked and loved by planners and architects.The exhibition included a "Gremlin Grange" to show how things shouldn't be built. It had cracks, plaster falling off, rising damp and a chimney stack that leant dangerously.As an exhibition, the Lansbury Estate was a great success. It attracted 86,446 paid visitors, a day compared with the 8,000 to 25,000 that was predicted in 1950. However, the work that was done here had a considerable influence on the New Town movement and Frederick Gibberd was to become the master planner for Harlow.
The very first tenants at Lansbury Court, Mr and Mrs Albert Shout, their two children and pet terrier, moved from a patio in street, Poplar, into a three-bedroom flats in Gladstone House on 14 February 1951. The rent was 31s 1d (£1.55p) per week including rates. Many others were to follow in their footsteps as the Lansbury Estate changed from a living exhibition to the vibrant community that it now is.
This plaque has been erected by Poplar HARCA to commemorate the Festival of Britain 1951.
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair held throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951.The Government invited to a new Britain a feeling of recovery after the aftermath of war and to promote and inspire contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts.
There were events on South Bank (architecture), Battersea (Festival Pleasure Gardens), South Kensington (science) and Glasgow (industrial power). In Poplar, there were 30 acres of land that had been badly damaged by bombing during the Blitz in World War II. The devastated estate that was to be built on that land can be traced to the Council of London Plan in 1943, but it was the architect Frederick Gibberd who brought the Lansbury Estate to the Festival of Britain.
In the years of rebuilding following the war, there was considerable interest in town planning and those organising the Festival of Britain wanted to present an exhibition about planning. Frederick Gibberd proposed that the only way to get the public interested in planning and architecture was to provide "real buildings that they could walk around in, to enjoy street material rather than an unpopular live chapel and the housing around them."
So began the 1951 "Live Architecture Exhibition" that represented a vision of the future liked and loved by planners and architects.The exhibition included a "Gremlin Grange" to show how things shouldn't be built. It had cracks, plaster falling off, rising damp and a chimney stack that leant dangerously.As an exhibition, the Lansbury Estate was a great success. It attracted 86,446 paid visitors, a day compared with the 8,000 to 25,000 that was predicted in 1950. However, the work that was done here had a considerable influence on the New Town movement and Frederick Gibberd was to become the master planner for Harlow.
The very first tenants at Lansbury Court, Mr and Mrs Albert Shout, their two children and pet terrier, moved from a patio in street, Poplar, into a three-bedroom flats in Gladstone House on 14 February 1951. The rent was 31s 1d (£1.55p) per week including rates. Many others were to follow in their footsteps as the Lansbury Estate changed from a living exhibition to the vibrant community that it now is.
This plaque has been erected by Poplar HARCA to commemorate the Festival of Britain 1951.