Dawson's Heights (also known as Dawson Heights) is a large social housing estate in

East Dulwich East Dulwich is an area of South East London, England in the London Borough of Southwark. It forms the eastern part of Dulwich, with Peckham to the east and Camberwell to the north. This South London suburb was first developed in the nineteen ...

, London Borough of

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It was designed by

Kate Macintosh Catherine Ailsa "Kate" Macintosh MBE (born 1937) is a Scottish architect known for her work for local authorities. She designed Dawson's Heights in Southwark and 269 Leigham Court Road, a Grade II listed building in Lambeth. Career Macintosh ...

and built in between 1964 and 1972. The estate is built on top of a

spoil tip A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quant ...

from the creation of a nearby railway line. Dawson's Heights consists of two blocks of flats: ''Bredinghurst'' to the south and ''Ladlands'' to the north. Composed of 298 flats distributed over 12 floors, it compromises 112 one-bed flats, 75 two-bed, 81 three-bed and 28 four-bed, all split-level dual aspect maisonettes. There is also a small nature reserve to the north of the buildings, managed by the Dawson's Hill Trust. It has a modernist style, reminiscent of a

ziggurat A ziggurat (; Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, Akkadian: ', D-stem of ' 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew ''zaqar'' (זָקַר) 'protrude') is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. It has ...

. The purpose of this design was to ensure that two thirds of the flats had views in both directions, including towards central London.

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

described the estate as having "a striking and original massing that possesses evocative associations with ancient cities and Italian hill towns". Despite its unique and imposing architectural style within the East Dulwich area, and strong recommendation from English Heritage, it was turned down for listing by the Secretary of State in 2012.

Gallery

File:Dawsons-Heights-Overhill-Road-East-Dulwich-South-London-2008.jpg, Dawson's Heights from Overhill Road File:Fox on Reserve.jpg, An urban fox in the nature reserve on Dawson's Hill, May 2018 File:View from Ladlands 062018.jpg, View of Central London from the Ladlands building, June 2018

References

Residential buildings completed in 1972 1972 establishments in England Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Southwark {{London-struct-stub