‘Stopping to dream’: the beautification and vandalism of London’s interwar arterial roads : WestminsterResearch

Publication dates
Title	‘Stopping to dream’: the beautification and vandalism of London’s interwar arterial roads
Authors	Law, Michael John
Abstract	In the interwar period in Greater London, the new arterial road system produced a contestation over appearance between the forces of beautification and vandalism. The Roads of Remembrance Association was determined to beautify the arterial road as a memorial to the fallen of World War I; it jostled for influence with the Roads Beautifying Association and others for the leading role in influencing county councils in their planting schemes. This debate throws further light on the meanings of Englishness between the wars, when a traditional, picturesque interpretation of the rural was set against the modernity of the new roads. Both beauty and modernity were challenged by outside forces. Vandalism by the bored teenagers of London’s new suburbs destroyed memorials placed on the road by still-grieving parents. Most of the attempted beautification was eventually destroyed by uncontrolled ribbon development, leaving a dystopic suburban landscape that is still with us today. Intellectual criticism of ribbon development was withering, but failed to take into account the attraction of modern, electrified houses on the new roads to London’s new lower middle classes.
Journal	London Journal
Journal citation	35 (1), pp. 58-84
ISSN	0305-8034
Year	Mar 2010
Publisher	Maney
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.1179/174963210X12598738033459
Published	Mar 2010

Related outputs

Not Like Home: American visitors to Britain in the 1950s
Law, Michael John 2019. Not Like Home: American visitors to Britain in the 1950s. McGill-Queen's University Press.

1938: Modern Britain
Law, Michael John 2018. 1938: Modern Britain. London Bloomsbury Academic.

The Roadhouse comes to Britain: Drinking, Driving and Dancing, 1925-1955
Gutzke, David W. and Law, Michael John 2017. The Roadhouse comes to Britain: Drinking, Driving and Dancing, 1925-1955 . London Bloomsbury.

Charabancs and Social Class in 1930s Britain
Law, Michael John 2015. Charabancs and Social Class in 1930s Britain. Journal of Transport History. 36 (1), pp. 41-57. https://doi.org/10.7227/TJTH.36.1.4

1930s London - The Modern City
Law, Michael John 2015. 1930s London - The Modern City. Canterbury Yellowback.

The experience of suburban modernity: how private transport changed interwar London
Law, Michael John 2014. The experience of suburban modernity: how private transport changed interwar London. Manchester Manchester University Press.

‘The flashy strings of neon lights unravelled': motoring leisure and the potential for technological sublimity on the Great West Road
Law, Michael John 2014. ‘The flashy strings of neon lights unravelled': motoring leisure and the potential for technological sublimity on the Great West Road. London Journal. 39 (3), pp. 281-294. https://doi.org/10.1179/0305803414Z.00000000053

‘The car indispensable’: the hidden influence of the car in inter-war suburban London
Law, Michael John 2013. ‘The car indispensable’: the hidden influence of the car in inter-war suburban London. Journal of Historical Geography. 38 (4), pp. 424-433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2012.04.005

Cars, Driving, Landscape, and the Architectural Gaze
Law, Michael John 2013. Cars, Driving, Landscape, and the Architectural Gaze. Journal of Historical Geography. 41 (July 2013), pp. 86-89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2013.04.001

Speed and blood on the bypass: the new automobilities of inter-war London
Law, Michael John 2012. Speed and blood on the bypass: the new automobilities of inter-war London. Urban History. 39 (3), pp. 490-509. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926812000247

Automobility and the Expanding Metropolis: Motoring Culture and the Growth of London 1925 -1939
Law, Michael John 2010. Automobility and the Expanding Metropolis: Motoring Culture and the Growth of London 1925 -1939. PhD thesis Royal Holloway, University of London Geography

Turning night into day: transgression and Americanisation at the English inter-war roadhouse
Law, Michael John 2009. Turning night into day: transgression and Americanisation at the English inter-war roadhouse. Journal of Historical Geography. 35 (3), pp. 473-494. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhg.2008.09.002

Permalink - https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/90347/-stopping-to-dream-the-beautification-and-vandalism-of-london-s-interwar-arterial-roads

‘Stopping to dream’: the beautification and vandalism of London’s interwar arterial roads

Related outputs

Usage statistics

Export as