The Condemned House     1985

  
In 1983 I moved to just around the corner from this house. At the time the whole area was scheduled for demolition to make way for green parkland encouraged by the County of London Plan, adopted by the Greater London Council and described poignantly in Fiona Atkin’s book ‘Lost Times’. The aim was to 'refresh' London's housing stock of poorly maintained terraces and improve sanitary conditions although it is now questionable as to whether this was the right means, given that so much of the character and the familiar had to be obliterated in order to achieve these objectives.
  
Happily the house I moved into survived but 'The Condemned House' became one of the last victims to the bulldozers in 1988. For five years the street lamp outside was lit continuously day and night. No-one lived there any more having being evicted, so no-one complained to the council.