Robin Hood Gardens was a council housing estate in Poplar, in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, designed in the late 1960s by the architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972. The estate consisted of two long concrete blocks connected by broad elevated walkways the Smithsons called streets in the sky, a concept also used at the Park Hill estate in Sheffield and developed partly as a reaction to, and partly in dialogue with, Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation. Built by the Greater London Council, which was later succeeded as landlord by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the estate treated its aerial walkways rather than individual dwellings as the building's fundamental organizing feature. The western block was demolished between 2017 and 2018 and the eastern block in March 2025, though a three-story section of facade with its original fittings was preserved and is now held at the Victoria and Albert Museum's East Storehouse.
Facts
Building Type LocationPoplar, Tower Hamlets, London, England 1 Completed Year Classification
Standing Status Building Type
Building Type (category) Connections
Has Building Type
In Style
Source Robin Hood Gardens, Wikipedia
Uses Element
Source Robin Hood Gardens, Wikipedia
Source Robin Hood Gardens, Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Located In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.
Sources
1. Robin Hood Gardens, Wikipedia
Lead section, opening paragraph
It was built as a council housing estate with homes spread across 'streets in the sky'
Estate section
the scheme as a whole was completed in 1972
Location section
a residential estate in Poplar, London
- Wikipedia "Robin Hood Gardens" intro (read live, w-fk-arch-rel2-0927c, R-K)
Lead section
Robin Hood Gardens was a residential estate in Poplar, London, designed in the late 1960s by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972. It was built as a council housing estate with homes spread across 'streets in the sky': social housing characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks, much like the Park Hill estate in Sheffield; it was informed by, and a reaction against, Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation.
In Style: Brutalism, Location
It was within sight of the nearby Balfron Tower, both highly visible examples of Brutalist architecture.
Uses Element: Precast Concrete, Wikipedia article
The blocks were of ten storeys (east) and seven storeys (west), built from precast concrete slab blocks and contained 213 flats.
Uses Element: Concrete, Wikipedia lead
It was built as a council housing estate with homes spread across 'streets in the sky': social housing characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks, much like the Park Hill estate in Sheffield; it was informed by, and a reaction against, Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation.
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