A Home Fit To Live In
Housing in Canning Town in the 1950s, 60s and 70s
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Turning on a lightbulb
Throughout the 1960s, many Canning Town families moved into the new builds, with more people living in maisonettes and high-rise flats. The swinging sixties saw a complete change in decor and design. Some for the first time had money to decorate their homes, choosing on-trend bright colours and groovy patterns.
“It was like time turning on a lightbulb really. We all became stylish and colourful. Orange was the colour. All part of the swinging sixties.” - Terry C
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Building Innovation
"It was the days when we were growing up it was the skyrise, the big tower blocks, that was the big change. And lots of new housing coming in, and people started to, right at the beginning, get a bit more affluent, coming away from the celebration years of after the War."
- John
"You had a gas fire now instead of a coal fire but there was only one fire in the whole three bedroom maisonette - and we had a bathroom and one toilet. (...) You had the television, the gas fire and your little settee."
- Terry C
"In the early days, those big bulk deliveries of coke were by horse and cart. (...) All gas works were connected by rail. The reason that they didn't need to do that here is because it's made here - there was a huge market in this area with the density of homes with open fires that as I said we used to deliver it by horse."
- Terry E
Parker Morris Standards
At the end of Kildare Road, there are 39 homes that house an important history. Completed in 1964, they were built as a testbed for the Parker Morris Standards, an innovative new housing policy.
In 1961, a committee led by Sir Parker Morris published a report called Homes for Today and Tomorrow. The report outlined new standards for improving space and living standards, based around making homes as functional as possible. These included inside flushing toilets, heating systems, and outlines for minimum floor space, which reflected the fact that consumer goods and household appliances were becoming more affordable. This report led to the Parker Morris Standards, which were tested in the buildings on Kildare Road in Canning Town.
“Building work was everywhere - in fact, bad building really when you look back on it now. I was about when that Ronan Point fell down." - Terry C
This experiment influenced changes in housing policy and design – the standards became mandatory for all new town builds in 1967 and all new council houses in 1969.
As the government tried to reduce public spending and housing costs, the Parker Morris Standards ceased to be mandatory in 1980. However, the legacy of these standards remain significant in local planning committees as a benchmark when agreeing new housing. This legacy all started in Canning Town.
Ronan Point Disaster
In 1968, there was an explosion at a 22-storey tower block in Canning Town, which made multiple floors collapse and caused 4 deaths and injured 17 people. A government inquiry ruled that the extent of the Ronan Point disaster was due to poor construction. This led to a sudden move away from high-rise building and major changes in building regulations. Ronan Point and other high-rise buildings in Canning Town were demolished in 1986.
The Swinging 60s
"I can remember my dad when we first got the colour telly. He hid it! It was 1969 (...) I came home and there was a telly there (...) He turned down all the colour so it was all black and white and I said "Weren’t you getting a colour?", he said "Nah, nah, too dear". It was a great surprise when it all came up!"
- Terry C
- Pat
"There'd be a party around somebody's house. Every Saturday night, the men would carry crates of beer with them and the people who was having the party wouldn't even know they was gonna have a party! (...) Everybody’s records go on, everybody starts dancing until two o'clock in the morning when everybody's going home and the poor woman's gonna clean up after everybody."
Paintings by Canning Town-born artist, Terence Claydon.
John met his wife Doreen at his ex-girlfriend, Pat's, birthday party. They grew up 2 streets away from each other, but never met until that night. They were married for 53 years. This is the story of how they met, at the Tidal Basin Tavern in 1967.