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22 Housing
CLEARANCE OF INSANITARY HOUSES
1950
St. Alphonsus Road Area: This area, which is divided into
three sections, comprising 79 dwelling-houses, was represented on
22nd March, 1950.
Closing Orders were made during the year on the basement
premises at 132c Cavendish Road, 861a Garratt Lane, 7 Crichton
Street and 43a Mount Ephraim Road.
Notices were served on the owners of the basement premises
at 26 Elmsleigh Road, but were withdrawn on receipt of an undertaking
that the premises would not be used for human habitation.
Similar notices were served in respect of basement premises at
19 Angles Road and 342 Streatham High Road.
The Demolition Orders made on 2 and 4 Westbury Street in
1947 have now been complied with and the houses have been taken
down.
Three of the basement premises in Byrne Road, on which
Closing Orders were made by the Council in 1947, were finally
closed. Two other premises, however, continued in occupation.
The basement premises at 130 Merton Road, on which a
Closing Order was made in 1949, were also closed.
The Clearance of Insanitary Houses in the Borough of Wandsworth
(1919—1950)
The first steps towards the clearance of houses in Wandsworth
considered to be unsuitable for human habitation were taken at
the end of the first World War when, in April, 1919, Closing
Orders were made on the Old School House, Felsham Road,
Putney, and various properties in Field's Alley, Southfields. The
latter were demolished by the owners—Messrs. Hardwicks—in
order to extend their business premises, whilst the former was
afterwards included in one of the Council's later Clearance
Schemes. During the succeeding years up to 1925, Closing Orders
were made from time to time in respect of some 11 dwellings, five
of which were occupied caravans; but it was not until December
of that year that a considerable area, containing 13 houses, was
scheduled for clearance by the Council. This was in the former
Tooting Ward and comprised eight houses in Mitcham Lane and
five in Shepherd's Close. The demolition was completed by 1928,
and the site was afterwards developed by the owners.
During the next two or three years a systematic survey of the
Borough was undertaken, as a result of which 632 houses grouped
in 33 areas were scheduled as insanitary. Conditions varied to some
extent in the different areas, but all the houses were well below