Cadnam Point

Cadnam Point is a block of 43 flats built between 1952 and 1955 by the London County Council Architect’s Department Housing Division. Rosemary Stjernstedt was the architect in charge, with A W Cleeve Barr and Oliver Cox as principal job architects, and Ove Arup and Partners as engineers. The building employs an in-situ reinforced concrete frame clad in grey 'clinker block' brickwork, with concrete floors expressed as bands in the composition. It features a flat roof and a projecting service tower, designed as a rounded sculptural form.

The building’s plan is picturesquely asymmetrical, with four flats per floor, set in the corners. These include three flats on the ground floor, with one 1-bedroom and three 2-bedroom units on each upper floor. Partially projecting balconies are located at the corners of the building. A lift lobby runs through the center, housing a pair of lifts serving alternate floors and two escape staircases, which were originally brightly coloured. The ground floor is partially set back and painted, and contains storerooms, originally a laundry, retaining their original galvanised steel windows. Windows to the flats have been renewed in UPVC-coated aluminium within the original openings and to a similar pattern, although some mullions have been eliminated. The balconies retain their original panelled fronts. Each block is differentiated by patterned tilework at the entrance; Cadnam Point has a small area of grey marble tiles, and retains its original tile sign.

The block incorporates pioneering features that define it as a significant example of post-war social housing – it was the first public housing in Britain to include mechanically-ventilated lavatories and bathrooms and central heating. The interiors of the flats are not of particular architectural interest. The stairwells and lift lobbies have been rendered.

The design of the point blocks, known as “point blocks” derived from the Swedish 'punkthus,' was inspired by English housing tradition, respect for earlier London County Council work nearby, tenant preferences, and the site’s sloping topography. This grouping concentrates the buildings at the top of the rise to shield traffic noise, while contrasting red-brick houses and maisonettes are located around them. The layout and design of Alton East exemplify the humanist tradition in post-war British architecture.