Landscaping to Alton East Estate, 1952-1955 by the LCC Architect's Department; group leader Rosemary Stjernstedt, architects in charge A W Cleeve Barr and Oliver Cox, with Graeme Shankland, J N Wall and H P Harrison.
LOCATION
Alton East lies on the edge of the former county of London to the west of Roehampton village.
AREAS AND BOUNDARIES
The landscape to Alton East is bounded by Bessborough Road to the north-west, Petersfield Rise to the north, Roehampton Lane to the east, Alton Road to the south-west and Norley Vale and the wooded embankment to the Kingston Road to the south-east.
There is relatively little evidence of original boundaries to the villas in the present landscape, although there are some remnants of the later-C19 boundary walls, including the partially-rebuilt stock brick wall to Roehampton Lane that encloses Eashing Point and Hindhead Point, which has piers and openings created for pathways into the estate. Heights and treatments of the estate boundary walls differ; the stepped spanning wall to Alton Road and Bessborough Road is of gault brick with the height varying along the road.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES
The primary route through the estate is Bessborough Road, with curved connecting roads and pedestrian paths planned around the ten point blocks and the existing mature specimen trees.
VIEWS
Views played an important part for the architects designing the estate, determining the position and orientation of the ten point blocks within the landscape. The point blocks occupy the highest ground within the estate and their upper storeys give views over Putney Heath, Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. In contrast to Alton West, which was arranged to provide key set-piece views of the monumental slab blocks from the foot of Downshire Hill, the Alton East team aimed at creating more informal vistas of the point blocks from winding, tree-lined roads and paths which cut through the estate.
STRUCTURES
The ten point blocks are the key buildings within the estate, all listed Grade II, these are: Blendworth Point (National Heritage List for England (NHLE) entry 1246030); Eashing Point (NHLE entry 1246031); Witley Point (NHLE entry 1246032); Hilsea Point (NHLE entry 1246033); Hindhead Point (NHLE entry 1246034); Cadnam Point (NHLE entry 1246035); Dunhill Point (NHLE entry 1246034); Westmark Point (NHLE entry 1246037); Longmoor Point (NHLE entry 1246038); Grayswood Point (NHLE entry 1246039). The blocks are clad in pale grey brick with projecting concrete balconies, intended to contrast with the red brick used for the four-storey maisonettes and two-storey houses set along curving roads lower down the hill, on Durford Crescent, Dilton Gardens and Norley Vale. The only remnant of the grouping of Victorian villas that formerly occupied the landscape is the entrance lodge to the demolished Alton House, at 33 Bessborough Road. Additionally, one large villa survives amongst later development at 66 Alton Road, although this falls outside of the registered landscape.
MATERIALS
Most original street surfaces have been removed or overlaid with modern surfaces, however, there is some visible evidence of historic surfaces remaining, including cobble stone sections at the corner of Horndean Close and Bessborough Road. Several large boulders are scattered throughout the grounds of the five point blocks, located on Wanborough Drive (Blendworth, Hilsea, Eashing, Hindhead and Witley Points), demonstrating influence of 1940s Swedish planning, specifically of Vällingby to the west of Stockholm. Original metal bar railings, concrete bollards and stock brick retaining walls define the greens between the point blocks.
LANDSCAPING
The landscaping of Alton East has a much tighter grain and a greater sense of enclosure than the later Alton West scheme. The point blocks were clustered near Roehampton Lane and the Kingston Road, where they could stand on the sites of largest of the former villas which exploited the natural topography of the landscape in occupying the highest ground and also allowed for the retention of mature trees within the former villa gardens. Consequently, Alton East retains dense coverage of mature specimen trees, including cedars and Scots pine (pine trees being suited to the acidic soils of the former heathland). The boundary planting to Bessborough Road is mainly of lime and beech trees, together with yew and holly hedging. The informal arrangement of the estate is principally derived from the absence of any uniform definition between streets and the estate buildings; green open spaces flow between the point blocks and the paths and roads that meander around the buildings and the largest specimen trees. The point blocks are set-back from the principal roads (Roehampton Lane, Alton Road, Bessborough Road and the Kingston Road) and this in combination with the mature trees that shelter the connecting paths works to create the impression of reaching a clearing when arriving at the blocks – an effect that is particularly pronounced from Norley Avenue from the west with the opening vista towards Grayswood and Longmoor Point to the east.
The series of open greens are an important part of the cohesiveness of the landscape at Alton East. These are seen at Durford Crescent and Wanborough Drive, where the generous greens are sheltered by mature oak, beech and lime trees. The greens reflect the gentle undulation of the site, although retaining walls of stock brick both level and give definition to the steeper parts of the land. In the same way that the houses are laid out in informal terraces or groups, so the boundaries were designed to match this informality, with no separation of the point blocks from the landscape in which they stand. Original boundary treatments to the four-storey maisonettes and two-storey houses are mostly of low timber fences on dwarf concrete walls. However, in some cases, gardens simply come to the end of paths with no demarcation other than planting, emphasising the informal planning and the intention to seamlessly integrate the buildings within the landscape.