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Letter: The aesthetics of leaseholds

Mr Martin Richardson
Tuesday 02 March 1993 00:02 GMT
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Sir: Whether one thinks of Belgravia or Chelsea, Regent's Park or Hampstead Garden Suburb, the major leasehold estates are distinguished by the integrity with which their urban image has been maintained. These oases stand out for their urbane and civilised calm; for the way in which the expression of the individual is balanced in the interest of the harmony of the whole.

This is in contrast to once-handsome council estates where individual houses have been sold. The London County Council arts and crafts cottage estates of the early 1900s are being wrecked by coarse aluminium and plastic replacements of their well-proportioned timber sashes; a harmonious landscape of hedges by a miscellany of concrete block walls. Conversely, fine terraces of modern houses, for example at Pimlico or Roehampton, have their windows randomly replaced by those in DIY cottage style. It is hard not to read this as destructive assertion rather than happy self-expression.

I have no particular sympathy with the gross imbalance of ownership represented by a Westminster or Cadogan. However, if the ownership of these precious parts of London (and elsewhere) is to be dispersed, then some formula must be found to maintain their visual control.

Yours faithfully,

MARTIN RICHARDSON

London, NW1

27 February

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