Resident Ruth Crowley explains why the Tottenham housing estate was a landmark of 20th Century London architecture

Tower Gardens Road, Tottenham (credit Google)

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the end of London County Council (LCC) and the creation of the 32 London boroughs, including Haringey.

The Royal Historical Society recently organised a film screening and a two-day conference at the London School of Architecture to mark 60 years since LCC was disbanded. The LCC’s contribution to housing was reported as being “crucial to the growth of and development of modern London”.

LCC was the municipal authority for the former County of London between 1889 and 1965, when it was replaced by the Greater London Council (GLC). Although the LCC was the largest and most ambitious local authority in England and its impact on London’s built environment, politics, culture and history has been acknowledged as significant, its contribution has been overlooked both in academia and by the wider public.

As a resident of Tower Gardens in Tottenham, I was approached by the organisers of the conference and asked to present a residents’ perspective, highlighting why the estate was such an important piece of LCC housing history.

So what makes Tower Gardens special?

In 1899, following rejection of previous housing proposals, Jewish philanthropist and Montague Bank founder Samuel Montague (later becoming Lord Swathling) donated £10,000 to purchase the land of a former farm in White Hart Lane. The idea was to build at low density to rehouse Jewish workers from parishes in Tower Hamlets, East London.

Tower Gardens became the largest of four LCC housing sites with 954 homes, forming one-third of the planned housing of four sites. It was the foremost housing achievement of the early LCC, under the Progressive Party. The high-quality cottage garden design was based on Sir Ebenezer Howard’s ‘Garden City’ movement, cited in the publication To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform as the description of a utopian city in which people live harmoniously together with nature.

The architects were, until 1919, W.E. Riley, followed by George Topham Forest. Both were chief architects of the LCC. They were associated with housing of the working classes, which became known as the ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement.

Built between 1904 and 1924, the main part of the Tower Gardens estate was the first built by LCC outside of central London and was one of the foremost social housing designs of its type in the UK and the world.

Tower Gardens is featured in the annual London Open House programme on 21st September 2025. Self-guided architectural tours are available at 5 Tower Gardens Road, Tottenham N17 7PX – just turn up!

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