Samuda Estate
Encyclopedia
Cubitt Town
Cubitt Town is an area on the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is on the east of the Isle, facing Greenwich across the River Thames. To the west is Millwall, to the northwest Canary Wharf and to the north, across the Blue Bridge, Blackwall...
on the Isle of Dogs
Isle of Dogs
The Isle of Dogs is a former island in the East End of London that is bounded on three sides by one of the largest meanders in the River Thames.-Etymology:...
. With 505 dwellings it is home to about 1,500 people and covers 11.4 acres (4.6 ha).
Historical background
Samuda Brothers
Samuda Brothers was an engineering and ship building firm at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs in London, founded by Jacob and Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda. The site is now occupied by Samuda Estate....
, Jacob
Jacob Samuda
Jacob Samuda was a Jewish English civil engineer born in London. He is described as "the first Jewish engineer" on his tombstone, in the Sephardic cemetery, Mile End, London. He was the elder son of Abraham Samuda, an East and West India merchant of London, and Joy, daughter of H. d'Aguilar of...
and Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda
Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda
Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda was an English civil engineer and politician. He was born in London the younger son of Abraham Samuda, and brother of Jacob Samuda...
, who formerly occupied the site. Admiral Togo
Togo Heihachiro
Fleet Admiral Marquis was a Fleet Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy and one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. He was termed by Western journalists as "the Nelson of the East".-Early life:...
did his work experience
Work experience
Work experience is the experience that a person has been working, or worked in a specific field or occupation.- Volunteer work and internships :...
here in 1877 working on the construction of the Fusō.
The estate was designed by Gordon Tait
Gordon Tait
Gordon Thomas Tait was a British architect, active in London.Tait was the eldest son of Scottish architect Thomas Smith Tait and Constance Hardy. He abandoned a career as a sculptor to follow in his father's footsteps. Between 1930 and 1935 he studied at the Architectural Association in London,...
of the Worshipful Company of Masons
Worshipful Company of Masons
The Worshipful Company of Masons is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Masons were formed in mediæval times to regulate stonemasons. They were formally incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1677. Its members have taken part in the construction several famous structures,...
, and built by Tersons Ltd for the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
in two phases, commencing in 1965. Work was completed by the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
and the estate subsequently became part of the Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...
council housing stock. Total cost of construction was £2,879,424 – including the cost of rebuilding the river wall, and the removal of massive concrete foundations on the former ship yard
Composition
The estate comprises four and six-storey blocks arranged around central traffic-free squares, some connected by covered bridges:- Ballin Court, named after Louise Sakina Ballin wife of Joseph d'Aguilar Samuda
- Yarrow House, named after Alfred Fernandez YarrowAlfred YarrowSir Alfred Fernandez Yarrow, 1st Baronet, of Homestead was a British shipbuilder who started a shipbuilding dynasty, Yarrow Shipbuilders.-Life and career:...
(1842–1932), an engineer who set up Folly Shipyard - Pinnace House
- Reef House
- Hedley House, named after Joseph Hedley, one time partner of Alfred Yarrow
- Talia House
- Halyard House
- Dagmar Court
- Kelson House, by the riverside, is a 25–storey tower of interlocking maisonettes, arranged on three levels in a fashion derived from Le CorbusierLe CorbusierCharles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
's Unité d'HabitationUnité d'HabitationThe Unité d'Habitation is the name of a modernist residential housing design principle developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of painter-architect Nadir Afonso...
(1947–52).
The LDDC
London Docklands Development Corporation
The London Docklands Development Corporation was a quango agency set up by the UK Government in 1981 to regenerate the depressed Docklands area of east London. During its eighteen-year existence it was responsible for regenerating an area of in the London Boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and...
built the Samuda Community Centre for the estate in 1986, at a cost of £350,000.
In 2004 the Samuda Estate Local Management Organisation distributed a paper calling for the refurbishment of the derelict underground garages as potential business units, with a multi-faith prayer facility, Tower Hamlets Community Recycling Consortium, and a workshop area for Local Labour in Construction..
Photography
- John GayJohn Gay (photographer)John Gay was a photographer.-Early life:Gay attended art college in his home town...
, the German architectural photographer visited the estate shortly after it was built. 96 photographs he took of the Samuda Estate have been included in the national monuments Archive.
Jonathan B50 visited Kelson House in 1973, and has published 7 photographs taken from the top of Kelson House as part of his Sunset - Moon - Sunrise series.
Literature
- The Samuda Estate was used as the setting for Defiant Pose, a novelNovelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Stewart HomeStewart HomeStewart Home is an English artist, filmmaker, writer, pamphleteer, art historian, and activist. He is best known for his novels such as the non-narrative 69 Things To Do With A Dead Princess , his re-imagining of the 1960s in Tainted Love , and earlier parodistic pulp fictions Pure Mania, Red...
.
Visual arts
- Graffiti: the SELMO participated in the Greater London AuthorityGreater London AuthorityThe Greater London Authority is the top-tier administrative body for Greater London, England. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of London, currently Boris Johnson, and an elected 25-member London Assembly with scrutiny powers...
's investigation into graffiti, explaining that graffiti was not seen as a major problem for the estate, appearing mainly in the communal stairwells. Caretakers were usually able to remove it quickly. When it presented problems, SELMO used specialist services to remove it. In light of far more pressing problems on the estate SELMO had worried about looking into alternative ways of dealing with graffiti.
Film and TV
- The innovative You Have Been Watched (Media Arts Project, 2002) was filmed in one day on the estate using CCTV cameras. See some images here. This involved a high level of resident involvement, which was reflected in the narrative structureNarrative structureNarrative structure is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer....
which involved the local Community televisionCommunity televisionAustralia's Community Television is a form of Citizen media much like Public Access Television in the United States and the Community Channel in Canada...
station having its dataDataThe term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
hijacked by another organisation. When this becomes generally known, the residents organise a protestProtestA protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations...
which leads to the public mock executionMock executionA mock execution is a stratagem in which a victim is deliberately but falsely made to feel that his execution or that of another person is imminent or is taking place. It may be staged for an audience or a subject who is made to believe that he is being led to his own execution...
of the ones responsible. The film has been subject to critical attention in transgenderTransgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
studies. - It has also been used as a location for a number of films and TV Dramas, including Dirty Pretty ThingsDirty Pretty Things (film)Dirty Pretty Things is a 2002 film directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight, a drama about two illegal immigrants in London...
, England Expects, The Face and Red Light Runners an uncompleted film scheduled to star Harvey KeitelHarvey KeitelHarvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
.
Privatisation
In 2005 the Samuda Estate was privatised as part of the Tower Hamlets London Borough CouncilTower Hamlets London Borough Council
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, currently Lutfur Rahman.Following the May 2010 election,...
's Housing Choice programme. A new Housing Association Toynbee
Arnold Toynbee
Arnold Toynbee was a British economic historian also noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living conditions of the working classes.-Biography:...
Island Homes was established on a resident-led basis. However in 2007, This was taken over by One Housing Group in 2007. In April, 2008 the Local Housing Office was the site of a dramatic
Spectacular
Spectacular may refer to:* "Spectacular" , a 2004 song by Graham Coxon* "Spectacular ", the 2010 debut single by Kiely Williams.* Spectacular!, a 2009 television movie produced by Nickelodeon...
sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
by a Board member of the Samuda Estate Local Management Organisation following their eviction from the Samuda Housing Office which they occupied since 2005. This coincided with the firing of the resident Board members of Island Homes by the One Housing Group Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
Mick Sweeney. Quoting a report from Campbell Tickell, Sweeney admitted they were guilty of "persistent serious failures in their duties to properly govern the association".
- Barkantine Management Team,who had been fired from the Island Homes BoardBoard of directorsA board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
responded that residents were be ing treated with disrespect: "It is a question of professionals blaming the amateurs". - In a statement made in the occupied Samuda Office, the view was aired that "management does not like effective participation and would only like to play lip serviceLip ServiceLip service is an idiom meaning 'giving approval or support insincerely' .Lip service may also refer to:- Television :* Lip Service , a 2010 dramatic series broadcast on BBC Three...
to it. - Another SELMO spokesperson suggested that One Housing Group were "flexing their muscles".
In what The Wharf
The Wharf (newspaper)
The Wharf is a free local newspaper produced at Canary Wharf.The Wharf was set up in 1998, as such covering the transformation of the Isle of Dogs as it became one of the most important financial centres in the world...
newspaper described as a "war of words", a spokesperson for One Housing Group argued that the action taken was "essential in protecting the interests of residents":
- "OHG will continue to support Island Homes and an interim board will be appointed to take such steps as are required to ensure that services to Island Homes residents are first class, and to ensure the promises made to residents in relation to the improvement works to their homes are delivered."