View report page

182
passage. At the end of the year 61 of the 87 tenements (275 rooms) comprising
Chamberlain House (central section) had been completed, and work on the remainder
of the block was well advanced. This block includes 14 lock-up shops and accommodation
for a maternity and child welfare centre and a Salvation Army meeting
hall. Work on the first portion of Walker House (northern section), comprising
39 tenements with 117 rooms, was approaching completion at the end of 1929, and
preliminary plans for the remainder of this block, which will comprise in all 149
tenements were under consideration.
On 16th July, 1929, a composite capital estimate of £333,976 was approved
in respect of the erection of the whole of the dwellings, shops and other buildings
to be erected on the estate, this estimate absorbing the estimates already approved.
Levita House (southern section) will comprise 245 tenements, and 28 shops in
Chalton-street, and at the end of the year preliminary arrangements were in hand for
the construction of 121 tenements(402 rooms) comprising the first portion of this block.
The various blocks of dwellings on this estate will vary in height from three to
six storeys. A central hot water supply is being provided in Chamberlain House
and the first portion of Walker House, and electricity, to the exclusion of gas, is being
installed for lighting, heating and cooking. It is not proposed to extend the central
hot water installation to Levita House and the remainder of Walker House, and
the question of installing electricity for heating and cooking as well as lighting in
these buildings will be considered when experience has been gained of the working
of this system in the other dwellings.
The Council on 11th June, 1929, agreed to a lease for 21 years at a rent of £160
a year, of the accommodation provided in Chamberlain House for a Salvation Army
meeting hall. On 9th July, 1929, the Council agreed to a similar lease to the St.
Pancras Metropolitan Borough Council of the maternity and child welfare centre, at a
rent of £127 10s. a year.
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales paid an informal visit to the estate on 17th October,
1929, and inspected two specimen flats, the rent office, the Salvation Army hall, the
welfare centre and other outstanding features on the site.
The "Cock Tavern" and "Somers Town Coffee House" public-houses, included
in the scheme, have been reinstated on sites leased by the Council for the purpose.
The new buildings were completed and opened for business on 12th June and 17th July
1929, respectively.
China-walk,
etc., scheme.
The China-walk, etc., scheme deals with four unhealthy areas known as
the China-walk area, Lambeth; the Hatfield-street and Hankey-place areas,
Southwark; and the Wyndham-road area, Camberwell. The scheme, which was
confirmed by the Minister of Health in 1927, involves the displacement of 3,350
persons of the working classes.
China-walk
area.
The China-walk area when reconstructed will be known as China-walk estate.
During the year Coalport, Davenport, Derby and Minton Houses, comprising 76
tenements (240 rooms) were completed. In connection with the latter block,
nine costermongers' barrow sheds and four workshops were provided. The Council
on 30th July, 1929, approved a capital estimate of £78,000 for the erection of the first
(rectangular) portion of a fifth block of dwellings on the estate. This portion, five
storeys in height, will consist of 138 tenements of the normal type with 447 rooms.
The tender of Mr. A. T. Rowley amounting to £19,806 for the erection of the first
section of the dwellings comprising 34 tenements (108 rooms) and for the erection of
the second section of 35 tenements (118 rooms) at the same schedule of prices was
accepted in December, 1929. The remainder of block 5 (other than the rectangular
portion), on land along the Kennington-road frontage surplus to the requirements of
the improvement scheme, will be appropriated to Part III of the Housing Act, 1925,
and the 60 tenements to be erected will be five storeys in height and of a superior
type to those ordinarily provided for rehousing purposes under clearance schemes.