|
The Excalibur Estate is a post-war 1940s prefabricated housing estate in Catford, South London. The estate contains the last sizeable collection of post-war prefabricated houses in the United Kingdom. Despite its historical significance, demolition has been proposed for sometime and is scheduled to begin in 2013. English Heritage has granted listed building status to six of the estate's prefabs. The proposed demolition has led to campaigns from residents, English Heritage and the Twentieth Century Society to save the properties, and a legal challenge to prevent redevelopment if they are demolished and return it to parkland.〔http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/8701977/Bulldozers-home-in-on-historic-prefab-estate.html paragraph 28〕 ==Background== Following the London Blitz of the Second World War, London was facing a severe housing shortage. To quickly alleviate this problem, London, like many other British cities set about building temporary prefabricated houses using labour from German and Italian prisoners of war from the Afrika Korps captured during Rommel's North African Campaign. Fifteen hundred homes in Lewisham were destroyed in the first year of the war alone. The level of destruction across many British cities brought about the passing of the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944, which led to the building of Excalibur and many estates like it.〔(paragraph 5 )〕 The Excalibur Estate was constructed as one of these projects on parkland in Catford between 1945 and 46 by German and Italian prisoners of war. The estate consists of single-story prefabricated bungalows designed by the Ministry of Works; each with two bedrooms, a private garden and an indoor lavatory. Despite only being intended to stand for ten years, many prefabricated estates survived much longer. Many corporations replaced such estates with conventional-build or permanent prefabricated council houses throughout the 1950s, 60s and early 1970s. Unusually Excalibur survived and is still standing in 2013.〔Taken March 2013.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Excalibur Estate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|
