James Gowan’s Trafalgar Road & East Hanningfield

‘PROJECT SCRAPBOOK’

– Vera Okodugha and Ana Francisco Sutherland

To mark the publication of Ana Francisco Sutherland’s remarkable compendium of the modern buildings of Greenwich and Blackheath, this post is presented as a ‘project scrapbook’ that traces two of James Gowan’s social housing projects, Trafalgar Road, London, built between 1964 and 1968, and East Hanningfield, Essex, finished in 1978. The material also touches upon the working relationship between Gowan and Stirling, which ended in 1963 as Trafalgar Road was beginning.

TRAFALGAR ROAD HOUSING, LONDON, 1964–68
Extract from Ana Francisco Sutherland’s Modern Buildings: Greenwich and Blackheath, London, 1950–2000, (Zurich: Park Books, 2025), 162–163.

Designed by James Gowan after his acrimonious split with James Stirling, this housing scheme, ‘within cannonball range of Wren’s hospital’ and the Queen’s House, is now disfigured by oversailing pitched roofs, which were installed by Greenwich Council in the 1990s.[1] When first built, its bold and abstract sculptural form and layout were highly influential among contemporary architects.

Elevation of James Gowan’s Trafalgar Road Housing, drawn by Ian Sutherland.

The estate consists of four linked blocks, which create a quiet quadrangle, Corvette Square at the centre. The severe massing of dark red brickwork, recessed balconies and corner windows, were in strong contrast to the more utilitarian municipal housing of the time. The sculptural massing and composition have a conceptual connection with the work of the Dutch early modernist masters, J. J. P. Oud and Dudok.[2] The sparse windows and doors on the main elevations were employed to avoid the endless repetitive ‘front door and toilet’ windows common in deck-access social housing of the time.

The 38-unit scheme is divided into studios and one-bed flats for older people on the ground floor, with larger maisonettes above. Access walkways thread through to staircases at the corners. Gowan resisted the brief to build standalone blocks of flats, preferring the model of an enclosed central square. He regretted Greenwich Council’s unwillingness to add more soft landscaping to the communal space.

Gowan explained that ‘The idea is of stacking smaller blocks on larger ones… The configuration of the flats has been contrived to give a very large scale, almost like a giant order. This is not characteristic of British terrace housing which tends to be based on the precedent of the flat Georgian façade. However, there are one or two serrated terraces with a giant scale, Leinster Square, W11, the north of Gloucester Terrace and Powis Square, W2 and these were all models for this project.‘[3]

A similar scheme, by Gowan on nearby Creek Road, which used the same typology, was completed in 1967. It also suffered later from the same unsightly roof additions.

Following construction of Trafalgar Road, the Architectural Review included a snazzy drawing by Gowan of the façade illustrating a speculative kit-of-parts for personalisation that was to be sponsored by a residents’ cooperative – the idea being that each tenant could choose a series of clip-on elements. These included balcony covers, porches, screens, trellises and lean-to stairs, all in strong colours. This idea was never put into practice.

Notes

The Architectural Review, MANPLAN 8, Vol 148 No. 883, September 1970.
Charles McKean and Tom Jestico, Guide to Modern Buildings in London 1965-75 (Warehouse Publishing, 1976), 69.
Ellis Woodman, Modernity and Reinvention, The architecture of James Gowan (London: Black Dog Publishing, 2008), 97–113, 209–211

Ana Francisco Sutherland is an architect and author based in South East London. She founded Francisco Sutherland Architects in 2015, and her work focuses on the refurbishment of modernist and listed buildings, as well as new-build and community projects. Ana is the chair of the Blackheath Society, where she leads the Architecture Group and regularly delivers lectures and architectural tours in the area.