12 Views of Kensal House - ACE149.7

Caption: "The Waste Chute at the New Flats East of Kensal House." Railway bridges. Commentary talks about the fear and isolation caused by the break-up of communities, the arrival of new residents from further afield, and thus the disappearance of common experience. Dorette Hawthorne, Tenants Association, says there have been huge changes in the last thirteen years since she arrived, with a high turnover of tenants, many of whom don’t speak English as a first language. Watkins complains about the Council’s strategies for occupancy. Commentary says that, in the 1970s, Kensal House deteriorated to the point where it was set aside for "third category or substandard tenants", and by the 1980s was being used for single people or families from Asian countries. Parsons says she doesn’t see her neighbours any more; many of the flats are let out on a shared basis. Paul Ryan, Mark Eager, Michael Burges, Resident 1 Year, say there was no curiosity about them when they moved in; the flats are now regarded as "hard to let". Commentary says that the lack of social cohesion made it difficult for Kensal House to adapt to changes in society at large. Ivor Flint, Resident 2 Years, on the difficulty of getting to know neighbours as there’s nowhere to meet. Thora Skinner, Resident 3 Months, knows two people because they were also in the Refuge that placed her. Burges. Catherine Morencie, Resident 5 Years, counts the few people she knows. Parsons says that, in the old days, everyone knew everyone. Flint comments on a lack of community spirit. Parsons. Hawthorne on problems faced by the Tenants’ Association. Commentary points out changes in use for the former club rooms, one an independently-run youth club, one an independently-run crèche. Fry says that post-war development "brought the whole [Modernist] movement into disrepute" because it was much more commercially minded, and considers that much contemporary work is "not stirring the whole body of architecture as it should". Commentary talks about the cost of maintaining Kensal House’s social facilities as being too expensive to be extended, after the war, across the country: "The decline of Kensal House was the price of the war, a loss of community feeling still being paid for well beyond Kensal House." Extracts from Kensal House. Credits.