Dawson's Heights Featured in the Guardian

[Serena2012]

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2013/nov/16/architecture-housing

A very interesting architectural piece.

[steveo]

I used to think that plonking that structure on that hill was an act of barbarism but now I have to concede that the hulking ship is growing on me. I like the way you can be almost underneath it and not be able to see it.

It's a shame the Guardian didn't mention the Excalibur prefab estate in Catford, which is very cool but sadly being demolished as we speak

[Loz]

From the top of Dog Kennel Hill, I always though it looked like an airplane had crashed into it and taken out the middle section.

[fl0wer]

Shame the writer deliberately touches upon, then avoids discussion re: social problems / council estates.

[Loz]

Not too relevant in an architecture piece, though, is it?

[NewWave]

And not every council estate attracts social problems.

I abhor it when people assume the worst of residents who happen to live in council owned property.

[Alex K]

Serena, thanks for your post -- I should have missed the article otherwise.

[Otta]

I've always thought it looked amazing at night all lit up.

[newboots]

Love Dawson's heights. If you walk up there from the path on Dunstan's Road you come in to the car park (and the famous view) and it is possible to walk through the grounds of the Estate to Overhill Road. It is immaculately kept and looks to be a wonderful place to live.

[malcolmchurch]

Although originally built by Southwark council, Dawson's Heights is now owned and managed by Southern Housing Asociation. The view from the top floor is amazing....especially during events such as New Year's Eve fireworks.

And it is a nice place to live with very few problems.

[PeckhamRose]

I have been fortunate enough to do some work from those flats and the people in them seemed very pleasant.

There are sometimes film companies filming up there, the view is so much better than Primrose Hill! We often see New Year's in from there.

[Sue]

Otta Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've always thought it looked amazing at night all

> lit up.

xxxxx

Yeh so have I :)

[intexasatthe moment]

All credit to the young female architect who designed it .

[Millhaven]

When I was a lad that estate was notorious as popluar choice for the suicides. Not sure if that was fact or just a local urban myth.

[Otta]

My dad knew a guy who jumped prob mid 90s (I remember him coming to our house), but I don't know if it was a common occurrence.

[Jah Lush]

Yeah, I had a mate who jumped to his death in 1990 from Dawson Heights.

[steveo]

He was trying to jump balconies wasn't he?

[Otta]

We're talking about the same bloke Jah, we've had this discussion in the early days of the EDF. I thought it was a few years later than that, but you're probably right.

[Millhaven]

70s/80s when I was a lad so it's grim reputation was well established by the 90s.

[fluffy]

It's a fabulous place to live, kids can play outside in a less structured way than being taken to the park. It's safe, well lit, well maintained and almost eerily quiet for so many people in one place. Also the flats are HUGE. Grim reputation maybe, but that certainly isn't the reality.

[Millhaven]

I've always wondered what they were like inside. Yes, I imagine many reputations of that sort are undeserved in the reality.

[ryan72020]

In the mid 90s, a young guy was being chased by police and he ended up falling/jumping to his death and landed outside my bedroom window. I was only a baby at the time, but my Mum and Nan told me about it when I was much older.

My Mum used to live at 184 Ladlands from 1994-2002 with me and my younger sister.

Unfortunately, this place holds a lot of painful memories for me personally as I witnessed domestic abuse and was heavily bullied by other children on the estate.

My Nan still lives opposite on Belvoir Road where I was born via homebirth.