What do you see?

Today I went to The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. It’s an historic ‘peoples’ museum created by Frederick John Horniman, a Victorian tea trader and philanthropist, ‘…who wanted to bring the world to Forest Hill and educate and enrich the lives of the local community.’

I didn’t go to see the museum but to view the landscape from it’s lofty South London perch. From it’s commanding position you can see the Kent Weald, the London Basin (The Shard can be seen here) and the Surrey Hills.

The park was established so that the locals could enjoy the open space. Here you can see the bandstand and down by the trees the boating lake. Modern additions include a children's play area and mini zoo. A converted rail track nature walk, just the other side of the pond, once had trains taking visitors to the Crystal Palace.

When I first saw this view back in the early 80’s my first reaction was why on earth did they build those ugly flats? They totally spoilt the vista. It was a view I held for over 20 years, that was until I did a garden design degree in 2005-8. 

Horniman gardens was one of three venues we were asked to choose from to do a historic report on. I was the only one to pick Horniman’s, the rest of the class either picked The Red House (William Morris) or Leybourne Castle.

It was then I learnt more about the flats and what the architect had tried to achieve. The estate is called Dawson’s Heights and are in East Dulwich. They were designed by Kate Macintosh who was just 26 years old at the time, the estate was built between 1968-72.

She fought hard to make sure every flat had two views, a private balcony and maintained the traditional sense of community mix. A full report can be found on the Municipal Dreams website.

As for the design I have been told she wanted the buildings to look like two cruise-liners passing each other on the sea of suburbia. 


I no longer see them as a blot on the landscape.