The Progress Estate is a

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

located in

Well Hall Well Hall is a place to the north of Eltham in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in southeast London, England, with no present formal boundaries and located east-southeast of Charing Cross.Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...

, in the

Royal Borough of Greenwich The Royal Borough of Greenwich (, , or ) is a London borough in southeast Greater London. The London Borough of Greenwich was formed in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. The new borough covered the former area of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, South East London. It was built in 1915 to house some of the senior and skilled workers employed at the nearby Royal Arsenal munitions factories in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

Location

The north/south Well Hall Road and the east/west Rochester Way cross about 600m north of

Eltham railway station Eltham railway station is in the Well Hall area of Eltham, South East London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is measured from . It is in Travelcard Zone 4. The station is operated by Southeastern. The station has two platforms: pla ...

at the

Well Hall Well Hall is a place to the north of Eltham in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in southeast London, England, with no present formal boundaries and located east-southeast of Charing Cross.HM Office of Works. The Estate was not known as The Progress Estate until 1925, when the Office of Works sold it to Progress Estates Ltd, a subsidiary of the

Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS) was a large consumer co-operative based in south east London, England. The co-operative took its name from the Royal Arsenal munitions works in Woolwich and its motto was: "Each for all and all for e ...

. The site was selected for three reasons. First, it was the nearest available land of the required acreage to

. Second, the

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...

to Woolwich tram service (route 44, which opened on 23 July 1910) provided transport for Arsenal employees to and from their place of work. Third, the Bexleyheath railway line from Dartford to Blackheath (opened on 1 May 1895) enabled rapid transport of building materials to the site. By 1980, and as a result of the Leasehold Reform Act, 1967, about 65% of the estate's homes had been purchased by their occupiers so Progress Estates sold the remainder to what is now Hyde Group, a social housing company, in 1980.

Design

Although HM Office of Works had little if any history in the construction of housing estates, its principal architect, Mr. (later Sir)

Frank Baines Sir Frank Baines, KCVO, CBE, FRIBA (1877–1933) was chief architect at the British Office of Works from 1920 to 1927. His most famous work was Thames House and its neighbour Imperial Chemical House (1929–30) in London. Thames Hous ...

had four architects in the Office's employ who had previous domestic experience: Messrs. A Pitcher, G E Phillips, J A Bowden and G Parker. After each produced a site layout, Baines accepted one submitted by Phillips who had concluded the estate should look ‘as if it had grown and not merely been dropped there’. It has been described as 'the first and most spectacular of the garden suburbs built by the government during the First World War to house munitions workers.' The estate was intended from the start to be a showpiece solution to the emergency housing problems created by the war. Phillips' layout followed the low-density principles established by

Richard Barry Parker Richard Barry Parker (18 November 1867 – 21 February 1947) was an English architect and urban planner associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. He was primarily known for his architectural partnership with Raymond Unwin. Biography ...

and

Raymond Unwin Sir Raymond Unwin (2 November 1863 – 29 June 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing. Early years Raymond Unwin was born in Rotherham, York ...

and others involved in the

Garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

between 1900 and the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Faced with the acute wartime problems of materials supply, Baines's approach was to make use of all and any materials that might be available; architecturally the result was a tour-de-force of picturesque design. Variety in materials and finishes (timber-framing, tile-hanging, slate-hanging, stone, brick and rendering) was matched by the complexity of shape and silhouette, and combined with period details such as the raised pavement to produce a virtuoso re-creation of the ‘old English Village’. The uniqueness of the design of the estate still makes the area popular today. Well Hall Road is the only road on the estate that preceded its construction. At the suggestion of HM Office of Works,

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

– responsible at the time for the naming of all new roads in the Metropolis – selected the names of famous men who had lived in Woolwich and held high office at Woolwich Arsenal or the

Dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...

; Congreve, Maudslay, Phineas Pett, Sandby, Shrapnel and Whinyates are examples. Sir William Congreve and his son both served as comptroller of the Royal Laboratories at the Royal Arsenal;

machine tool A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. All ...

pioneer

Henry Maudslay Henry Maudslay ( pronunciation and spelling) (22 August 1771 – 14 February 1831) was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology. His inventions were ...

worked at the Arsenal;

Phineas Pett Phineas Pett (1 November 1570 – August 1647) was a shipwright and First Resident Commissioner of Chatham Dockyard and a member of the Pett dynasty. Phineas left a memoir of his activities which is preserved in the British Library and was publi ...

was master shipwright at the Dockyard from 1675 to 1678; artist

Paul Sandby Paul Sandby (1731 – 7 November 1809) was an English map-maker turned landscape painter in watercolours, who, along with his older brother Thomas, became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. Life and work Sandby was ...

was chief drawing master at the Royal Military Academy from 1768 to 1799;

Henry Shrapnel Lieutenant General Henry Shrapnel (3 June 1761 – 13 March 1842) was a British Army officer whose name has entered the English language as the inventor of the shrapnel shell. Henry Shrapnel was born at Midway Manor in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltsh ...

invented the shrapnel shell; and General

Edward Charles Whinyates General Sir Edward Charles Whinyates, (6 May 1782 – 25 December 1865) was a senior British Army artillery officer. Biography Whinyates was the son of Major Thomas Whinyates of Abbotsleigh, Devon, and his wife Katharine Frankland, and was edu ...

commanded the Royal Artillery base at Woolwich. The estate was visited by Queen Mary in 1916. She met three residents in their houses before being driven to Woolwich Arsenal to inspect the canteen facilities. The estate was granted Conservation Area status in 1975. The estate celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2015.

References

{{coords, 51.4620, 0.0476, display=title Housing estates in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Conservation areas in London Royal Borough of Greenwich Eltham