Hilsea Point

Hilsea Point is a block of 42 flats built between 1952 and 1955 by the London County Council Architect’s Department Housing Division, with Rosemary Stjernstedt as Architect in Charge, A W Cleeve Barr and Oliver Cox as principal job architects, and Ove Arup and Partners as engineers. The building’s structure is reinforced concrete and is faced with grey “clinker block” brickwork, with concrete floors expressed as bands in the design. It features a flat roof and a projecting service tower with a rounded sculptural form. The layout provides three flats on the ground floor and four on each upper floor, with one-bedroom and three two-bedroom units located at the corners of an asymmetrical plan. These corners feature partially projecting balconies. A central lift lobby accommodates two lifts serving alternate floors and two escape staircases, originally brightly coloured. The ground floor is partially set back and painted, including storerooms and a former laundry, both retaining original galvanised steel windows. Flat windows have been renewed in UPVC-coated aluminium within the original openings and to a similar pattern, although some mullions have been removed. Balconies retain their original panelled fronts. Each block's entrance is distinguished by patterned tilework, at Hilsea Point consisting of white crosses on a background primarily of grey tiles, with a few near-black tiles. The original tile sign remains in place.

These point blocks at Alton East pioneered mechanically ventilated lavatories and bathrooms, and were the first high-rise public housing with central heating. The flat interiors are not of particular architectural interest, aside from their plan layout. The design’s development represents the London County Council’s best examples of pioneering work in tall flat design. The term "point block" was coined by the Alton East team, derived from the Swedish 'punkthus' and inspired by English housing tradition, respect for earlier LCC work nearby, and a consideration of prospective tenants’ needs. The site’s sloping ground is maximized by the picturesque massing of the buildings, retaining and enhancing Victorian planting from earlier gardens and villas. The point blocks are strategically grouped at the top of the rise to shield traffic noise and are contrasted with surrounding red-brick houses and maisonettes.