Peabody Avenue, completed in 1885, is a monument to the birth of social housing.
The Peabody Trust estates were designed for the working poor with a high quality of build. This was reflected in the rents which were higher than the average. The buildings of the Trust spread out over late Victorian London.
Peabody Avenue was relatively cheap to build, mixing low-cost bricks and reconstituted stone. The flats were small and originally built without bathrooms and decent-sized kitchens.
In the new millennium, the Peabody Trust was active again in the street. It commissioned Haworth Tompkins’ architects to build a further 55 new homes for the Peabody Trust housing association, at a cost of £8 million. The firm had built pioneering social housing before at Coin Street, Southwark completed in 2001.
The newer Peabody building slightly follows the curve of the neighbouring railway tracks.
https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/joined-up-thinking-of-pimlicos-peabody-avenue-6394281.html
