Municipal Dreams
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municipaldreams.bsky.social
Municipal Dreams
@municipaldreams.bsky.social
8.7K followers 1.7K following 1.8K posts
Social historian of housing. Author of 'A History of Council Housing in 100 Estates' (RIBA Books) and 'Municipal Dreams: the Rise and Fall of Council Housing' (Verso). I blog at https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/.
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municipaldreams.bsky.social
Fulmerston's Almshouses, Thetford: 1610, remodelled late C19. Sir Richard Fulmerston's will left funds and land for a free school for 30 boys and alms for four poor people. The plaque quotes Hebrews 12: 14: 'Follow Peace and Holiness with all men without the which no man shall see the lord'.
Row of four one-storey almshouses, . Cut and galleted flint, ashlar blocks and stone quoins. Red brick dressings to window and door surrounds. Plain tile roofs View of two doorways and plaque Close-up of plaque with inscription from Hebrews 12:14
December 14, 2025 at 9:04 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
The avowedly 'anti-socialist' council of Carlisle built 4702 houses in the interwar period; by 1939 27 percent of homes in Carlisle were Council-rented. In its words 'careful housekeeping’ combined with ‘good and progressive government for the city’.
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/carlisles-...
Plaque with text: CITY OF CARLISLE CORPORATION HOUSING SCHEME 2,000th HOUSE OPENED BY SIR W. A. ROBINSON, G.C.B., C.B.E., SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH, 4TH APRIL, 1929. MAYOR – T. GARDHOUSE CHARLTON, ESQ., A.R.I.B.A., J.P. CHAIRMAN OF HOUSING COMMITTEE – J. HENDERSON, ESQ., J.P. Semi-detached pair of council houses built in 1929 with plaque on left-hand side
December 13, 2025 at 8:54 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
With the grand reopening last weekend of Hornsey Town Hall - 'the quintessential English modern public building' of the 1930s - it's a good time to revisit my earlier post on the building and its history (with some pre-restoration pics):
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/hornsey-to...
Marbled lobby area Grand entrance stairway Concert hall and assembly room Rear of assembly room
December 12, 2025 at 5:21 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
2/ Minns, born in the Bahamas, was a doctor at the local workhouse and cottage hospital. First elected to the council in 1903, he served as mayor from 1904 to 1906.
Photo portrait of Minns wearing mayoral chain Minns , at far right rear of photo, shown among the staff o the workhouse and cottage hospital
December 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
1/ Thetford Guildhall - designed by Herbert John Green in neoclassical style and completed in 1901; the former home of Thetford Borough Council. Inside, there is a small display commemorating Britain's first black mayor, Allan Glaisyer Minns.
View of Guildhall showing columned and pedimented exterior and clock tower cupola
December 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
An eclectic range of post-Second World War council housing all found in the small Prospect Road estate in Norton, Suffolk. Built by Thedwastre Rural District Council.
Semi-detached pair of double-fronted, white-rendered council houses Short terrace of old people's bungalows Terrace of brick-built council housing Semi-detached pair of brick-built council houses
December 12, 2025 at 3:08 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
🚨 New post. Carlisle: the self-declared 'anti-socialist' council committed to 'careful housekeeping … good and progressive government’ that built proportionately more council housing than any other between the wars.
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/carlisles-...
Semi-detached pair of council houses built in 1929 woth plaque on left-hand side Plaque with text: CITY OF CARLISLE CORPORATION HOUSING SCHEME 2,000th HOUSE OPENED BY SIR W. A. ROBINSON, G.C.B., C.B.E., SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH, 4TH APRIL, 1929. MAYOR – T. GARDHOUSE CHARLTON, ESQ., A.R.I.B.A., J.P. CHAIRMAN OF HOUSING COMMITTEE – J. HENDERSON, ESQ., J.P.
December 11, 2025 at 8:25 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
It's all kicking off in my home town of Sheringham over proposals to demolish this 'Streamline Moderne art-deco design' bus shelter from the 1950s ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Picture of bus shelter with painting of steam train on inside walls
December 7, 2025 at 3:42 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
3/ Here's the church shown in its very rural setting.
View of church and churchyard View of church over ploughed field
December 7, 2025 at 10:01 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
2/ For the avoidance of doubt, this armrest carving represents an elderly woman about to spank a miscreant youth.
Youth about to be beaten leant over into lap of older woman
December 7, 2025 at 10:01 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
1/ Two C15th misericord carvings (misericords were the ledges on which choristers perched) from St Andrew's, Norton, Suffolk: a cleric studying and a woman carding wool, separating and untangling the strands.
Wooden carving of cleric leaning over and reading book Wooden carving of woman wearing hat combing wool to untangle it.
December 7, 2025 at 10:01 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
Council housing, Norton, Suffolk
Semi-detached council houses with pink, blue and green paint wash seen on horizon across ploughed field.
December 7, 2025 at 9:38 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
Another example of the far-reaching impact of the 1951 Festival of Britain: the local history exhibition in Blaxhall, Suffolk (pictured Robert Savage and Henry Hewitt). The exhibition was organised by George Ewart Evans, rural historian and author of Ask the Fellows Who Cut the Hay.
Photograph of two men with rural farm implements
December 6, 2025 at 11:47 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
This week's new blogpost reviewed Ned Newitt's excellent history of social housing in Leicester:
municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2025/12/02/b...
A yard off South Bond Street in 1936, showing the single tap providing the water supply. (Image credit: Record Office for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland) Block of four parlour houses, Braunstone Estate, 1928 (Drawing by Ned Newitt from the original plans) ‘Community Centre – western area’. This drawing showing the centre of the proposed New Parks Estate was displayed at the 1944 Post-War Reconstruction Exhibition. (Image credit: Record Office for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland) Iffley Close, Rowlatts Hill, built with the Laing’s Easiform system, c1968. (Image credit: Record Office for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland)
December 6, 2025 at 8:34 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
Fascinating exhibition on school meals at the @foodmuseumuk.bsky.social. You'll be pleased to see Bradford's pioneering role given due coverage, @rdrberry.bsky.social
Bradford was a hub of educational experimentation in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was the first area to bring in school dinners under the permissive 1906 Education (Provision of Meals) Act. They built a whole infrastructure to feed children at school and the first kitchen was opened at Green Lane School. Early 20th century Bradford school meals service depot with labour saving machinery Early 20th century Bradford school meals delivery van
December 4, 2025 at 8:14 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
🚨 New on Substack, my post on the postwar Regent’s Park Estate, St Pancras: ‘catering for the main bulk and backbone of our people’
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-regent...
Ainsdake House - four-storey vlock with ceramic tiled decoration Borrowdale House - 10-storey slab block Hawkshead House - eight-storey T-shaped block Swallowfield House - eleven-storey slab block with glass-fronted balcony access galleries
December 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
I'm in Thetford again, @grindrod.bsky.social! It's a good time to remind people about our chat about the town here:
johngrindrod.substack.com/p/monstrosit...
Me pointing to a sign saying 'Welcome to Thetford' with a town map
December 3, 2025 at 6:25 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
King Charles the Martyr, Selland, and St Mary's, Woolpit, Suffolk; morning and late afternoon.
Church under bright blue sky in crisp sunlight Church bathed in golden light afternoon light
December 2, 2025 at 4:49 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
'The 'Pillar of Salt': a Grade II-listed road sign designed in International Modern style by Basil Oliver, Borough Architect, for Bury St Edmunds Town Council in 1935.
Finger post sign on thick white pillar with illuminated top beacon. Medieval abbey gatehouse to test.
December 1, 2025 at 4:51 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
The Hufeisensiedlung (Horseshoe Estate), Berlin - a modernist masterpiece designed by Bruno Taut and and built by the socialist trades union housing association, GEHAG between 1925 and 1927.
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-hufeis...
Interior view of estate showing shops and facilities Interior view of estate showing wooded pond and green open space with flats to rear Interior view of estate showing private gardens and terrace Interior view of estate showing curved terrace
November 29, 2025 at 9:06 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
Attractive scheme of flats on Aylesford High Street/Mount Pleasant, built by Malling Rural District Council in 1968. The plaque gives due credit to C Brown Architect, Engineer and Surveyor to the Council 1954-1967.
Three-storey brick built flats with bay windows and entrance porch Entrance to car park with flat above and staggered terrace Plaque on scheme. Text reads: MALLING RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL This development was designed and supervised by:- C. BROWN ARIBA. ARICS. AMTPI. Dip T.P. AMIMunE Architect, Engineer and Surveyor to the Council August 1954 – December 1967 5th April 1968
November 27, 2025 at 2:11 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
🚨 New on Substack: the Hufeisensiedlung, Berlin; Bruno Taut's modernist masterpiece of the 1920s - ‘light and air, dignity and order’.
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/the-hufeis...
Aerial view of estate showing distinctive horseshoe shape of central block and surrounding terraces and greenery
November 27, 2025 at 7:53 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
Born on this day in 1819, George Eliot. Here's my favourite bit from the greatest English novel - Eliot's concluding paean to Middlemarch's heroine, Dorothea (who, among other things worked to improve the housing of the local agricultural labourers). Here's to all the Dorotheas, past and present.
Text: Her full nature ... spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs
November 22, 2025 at 8:37 PM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
🚨 NEW on Substack, my post on Liverpool’s interwar multi-storey Housing: Building an "A1 community in a properly planned township of flats"
municipaldreams.substack.com/p/liverpools...
Exterior view of rounded five-storey brick built tenement block Arched entrance with glimpse of inner courtyard Interior view with walkways and balconies
November 22, 2025 at 9:01 AM
municipaldreams.bsky.social
🚨 My latest blog post is on Bergpolderflat, Rotterdam - the 1934 modernist scheme that revolutionised social housing and provided the prototype of the postwar slab block:
municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2025/11/18/h...
Crane and early steel frame Completed steel frame Black and white photo of completed building
November 22, 2025 at 8:55 AM