{{Short description|Housing estate in Battersea, London}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox housing project|building name=Latchmere Estate|built=1903|image=Odger Street, Battersea - geograph.org.uk - 1703794.jpg|image_size=|alt=Odger Street in Latchmere Estate|caption=Odger Street in Latchmere Estate|image_caption=|location=|coordinates={{coord|51.471604|N|0.161623|W|region:GB|format=dms|display=inline,title}}|status=|construction architect=|category=|demolished=|area=|population date=|population=|blocknumber=|units=|density=|construction period=|governing body=|refurbishment method=|refurbishment style=|construction contractors=|construction style=|construction date=|construction authority=|construction influence=|refurbishment architect=|refurbishment contractors=|refurbishment image=|succession=|constructed=|refurbishment caption=|refurbishment proposal date=|refurbishment units=|refurbished=|refurbishment authority=|listing date=|listing type=|famous residents=}}
'''Latchmere Estate''' is a housing estate in Battersea, Greater London, which was constructed in 1903. It is the first example of a housing estate built with labour directly employed by a local council authority.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clarke |first1=Linda |title=Proceedings of the First Conference of the Construction History Society |date=2014 |publisher=Construction History Society |page=83 |isbn=9780992875107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_zTUDgAAQBAJ&q=latchmere+estate+first+estate+built+by+council%27s+own+workforce&pg=PA83}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Boughton |first1=John |title=Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing |date=2018 |publisher=Verso |page=29 |isbn=9781784787394 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KyJaDwAAQBAJ&q=latchmere+estate+first+estate+built+by+council%27s+own+workforce&pg=PA29}}</ref>
Between 1832 and the 1880s, Battersea's population increased from 5,500 to 107,000, meaning new housing needed to be constructed. The land used for the estate had previously been allotments for the poor, but with the new need for housing, this was no longer considered a productive use of space.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=English Heritage Survey of London, Battersea Park to Latchmere Road|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/architecture/sites/bartlett/files/50.06_battersea_park_road_to_latchmere_road.pdf|last=|first=|date=2013|website=www.ucl.ac.uk|access-date=}}</ref>
In the 1890s, John Burns, the MP for Battersea, secured acts of parliament allowing for the construction of the estate on the former Latchmere Common. A design competition was held which attracted 58 entries in 1901, and construction began soon after. For the time, the estate contained things like electric lighting and combined ranges which were considered luxuries. Opening the estate, the Mayor declared that, "The dwellings were novel of their kind, containing as they did what had once been regarded as luxuries, such as baths, combined ranges and electric light. Not many working men had such accommodation in which to bring up their families, but the Battersea Borough Council had come to the conclusion that such accommodation was an absolute necessity."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=A talk By Sean Creighton for the Latchmere Residents' Association|url=https://hawkley.ctie.org.uk/History/latchmere_estate.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401231842/https://hawkley.ctie.org.uk/History/latchmere_estate.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-04-01|date=2012-04-01|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref>
The estate was built with 315 dwellings, "28 five-room houses, one four-room house, 70 houses each with two three-room tenements with bath scullery and 73 houses each with two four-room tenements with bath scullery."<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Latchmere Estate, Battersea: 'happy healthy homes for sober and industrious workmen'|url=https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/the-latchmere-estate-battersea-happy-healthy-homes-for-sober-and-industrious-workmen/|last=Boughton|first=John|date=2013-01-01|website=Municipal Dreams|language=en|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref>
The English Heritage Survey of London (2013) calls the estate "the most vivid extant reminder of the efforts undertaken in Battersea’s heyday as a progressive municipality to better the life of its working classes".<ref name=":0" /> According to Sean Creighton, "The Estate's street names Freedom, Reform Sts, Odger, Joubert, Matthews and Burns all have a special meaning, reflecting the particular liberal, radical and socialist politics of its controlling Progressive Alliance."<ref name=":1" />
The estate is now part of Wandsworth Council's Latchmere Estate Conservation Area, which was designated in 1974.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Burns Conservation Area Property Guide {{!}} Winchester White|url=http://www.winchester-white.co.uk/about/property-guides/battersea/burns-conservation-area|website=www.winchester-white.co.uk|access-date=2020-04-30}}</ref> A planning strategy for the conservation area was published by the council in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Latchmere EstateConservation Area Appraisal & Management Strategy|url=https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/media/1604/latchmereplusappraisalplusms.pdf|last=Wandsworth Council|date=2007|website=|access-date=}}</ref>
== References ==
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Category:Housing estates in London Category:Housing estates in the London Borough of Wandsworth Category:Public housing in the United Kingdom Category:Battersea