Dunbridge House

Dunbridge House is a block of 75 maisonettes designed between 1952 and 1953, and constructed between 1955 and 1958, as part of the London County Council's Alton West estate. The design was led by Colin Lucas, with J A Partridge, W G Howell, J A W Killick, S F Amis, and J R Galley as architects, R Stout as job architect, W V Zinn and Partners as engineers.

The building is characterized by a reinforced concrete frame, constructed using board-marked concrete, now painted. The exterior features prefabricated concrete panels with Dorset shingle and Derbyshire spar aggregate, and a flat roof. The plan organizes the maisonettes into five tiers, each containing fifteen units within 12-foot bays, raised on alternating lines of pilotis, or supporting columns, at ground-floor bay intervals. The south side includes an expressed lift shaft, with services revealed on the roof as geometric shapes. Double-height lift landings are paved.

Each maisonette has a private balcony facing east and gallery access from the west. The upper three tiers also include steel emergency access balconies at bedroom level. The original timber windows incorporate opening casements, and flush timber doors. Internally, each maisonette features a kitchen and living room on the lower level, and two bedrooms with a mechanically ventilated bathroom and toilet on the upper level, representing a novel approach to planning at the time. Internal fittings are not of particular interest. A board-marked concrete ramp leading to the lifts incorporates a drip mould, reflective of contemporary architectural trends.

The design draws inspiration from Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation in Marseilles, particularly influenced by Howell’s visit in 1951. Proportions are based on Le Corbusier's 'Modulor' and the Fibonacci number sequence. The emphasis on individual maisonettes within the facade marks a new level of sophistication in LCC slab design. A revised design in 1953 integrated the building into the hillside, skillfully responding to the landscape of Downshire Field, an 18th-century landscape significantly remodelled by the design team; the slope served to emphasize the pilotis. The arrangement of the slabs and their relationship to the landscape has been described as a "majestic" achievement in town planning, and the development has been considered "probably the finest low-cost housing development in the world".