Inter War Years Walking Tour

Inter
War years – its influence on urban housing in New Town

This
bijoux walking tour will depart from Runnymede and will concentrate on the
influence  of interwar styles in architecture  from 1915 through to
the 1940's and even the 1950’s when the last
reflections of these styles faded into modernism and international styles.

New
Town was a suburb in change in the inter war years and increased in size with
415 new buildings by 1920. Suburbanisation driven by the influence of
public trains and trams, the Electrolytic Zinc Works and  the “Jam Factory “ and its influence on inter war development will be
discussed.

New
Town has an array of interwar houses concentrating on a unique mixture of
Arte Moderne, Italianate, Spanish Mission, Old English and California Bungalow
styles with a surprising “splatter component” in the finishes!

The
different design elements of interwar architecture are often mixed in a way
that reflects how they arrived here in movies, magazines and
architecture  journals.

Bob
Broughton has a long interest in modern architecture and house museums and
shares a California bungalow on our tour. Gemma Webberley is a previous
Churchill Fellow and well known through her long association with heritage
houses and the National Trust and has a wide ranging  knowledge of New
Town’s buildings from all eras.