Kingswood Estate, a post-war LCC housing development

The London County Council Estate of Kingswood in Dulwich takes its name from Kingswood House, formerly Kingswood Lodge located on the edge of Kings Coppice. The original Mansion House was built by William Vizard in 1811-12 in the middle of a 75 acre estate (almost 19 hectares) that was partly carved from the coppice. The first owner, a city lawyer,  can be best described as a "gentleman farmer", as was the fad in those days. The estate changes hands several time. In 1892 John L. Johnston, a nutritionist, acquired the lease and set about expanding the Georgian house into an over the top Scottish-baronial styled castellated mock-castle. He was incidentally from Scotland. This "Mr Bovril" also had the grounds landscaped, trees and shrubs planted and a fountain and garden folly were added.

The estate changed hands several times in the following decades. It even became a convalescence home for Canadian soldiers for a brief period until Sir Wiliam Vestey became the owner of Kingswood. He changed very little. After WW2 he proposed to turn his estate into a hospice for his employees, who had lost their homes in the Blitz. However, in 1946 the LCC issued a compulsory purchase order with the aim to developing the estate for housing.

The estate lay at the edge of what was then the Borough of Camberwell and was connected to central London via the neighbouring rail service from Sydenham Hill Station. Plans presented in 1947 included two schools and 748 dwellings to be built in 3-4 storey flats and 46 cottages. The planned development was part of a greater scheme to develop and built over the periphery of Dulwich to keep the heart open and green. The estates at Sydenham Hill, Lordship Lane and Dulwich Common are part of this LCC development policy.

The Kingswood Estate was one of the last housing schemes designed by the London County Council Housing and Valuation Department rather than the Architect’s department. This can also explain the distinct retro 1930s feel of the buildings, that clearly reference continental brick modernism. The whole development is a triumph of situational design. Careful consideration was given to preserving a large number of the existing trees and the generously spaced layout was planned around them. The placements of the blocks of flats within the green space of the former park also reveals continental influences. The often L-shaped blocks are placed along the lines of New Objectivity principles besides footpaths maximising long vistas between the buildings, thus creating the sense of space and enveloping greenery. The former mansion house was transformed into a library and community centre. It stands central in the new layout with many lines of sight focussing on this castellated pile. Especially the central part should be a textbook example of how to developed housing within an existing park.

The Kingswood Estate as it now exists with at its heart Kingswood House (1). Opposite the house near the planned centre with shops (3), some garden features remain such as a large lion head fountain (2).Sydenham Hill Station (4) is a short walk from the housing estate.

Kingswood, as council estates go, is something of a paradox. Especially the schemes designed and developed under the auspice of the London County Council Housing and Valuation Department were heavily criticised for their architecture and sparse layout. None of this is applicable to Kingswood however. The LCC should be credited for making huge efforts to provide as an attractive estate as the money available would allow. Especially the cottages are low quality. Most disappointing at present are the two neat rows of largely shuttered-up shops that stand at the site of the former garden folly and where planned as the focus of the estate. A sensitive intervention with change of use is urgently needed in an otherwise pleasant council estate.