Uncovered Photos Show London’s Disappearing Working Class Housing

As London continues to gentrify, this east London arts project uncovers a wealth of historic images illustrating how radically working class family life has changed over the last century.

To be exhibited later this month at the Vestry House Museum, artists Lucy Harrison and Katherine Green have collected hundreds of images as well as oral histories from those living in ‘social housing’ in the distinctive Warner Homes in Walthamstow and Leyton. The unseen photographs and archive materials document generations of families living and renting in the tight-knit environment. The newest generations of these families are now being forced out, with two-bedroom ex-council flats now selling for around £450,000 each.

At a time when east London is becoming rapidly gentrified and a lack of affordable housing is a huge issue for many, the project looks at one example of how a private company developed large amounts of good quality housing stock and its legacy for the area today.

Lucy Harrison

29 October 2016 – 19 February 2017
Vestry House Museum, Vestry Road, London, E17 9NH
Open 10am – 5pm, Wednesday – Sunday.

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