Hallfield Estate W2

1940-1945

By Andrew Yeo

The Hallfield Estate, Bayswater W2 is a post-war housing estate, built between 1951-1959 by the firm of Drake and Lasdun. It comprises fifteen individual blocks and a primary school. Its original 17 acre site was laid out with brick and stucco terraces and villas, but was cleared due to war damage.

This Victorian layout survived largely intact until the Second World War, when the area was significantly damaged. Ten bomb incidents were reported within the Hallfield area, and on 20 February 1944, an incendiary bomb hit 50 Porchester Terrace W2. Apart from the damage from bombs, a V1 flying bomb also caused great destruction in the southern corner of the existing school site in 1944. The V1s, among the most terrifying weapons of the war and nicknamed ‘Doodlebugs’, were pilotless bombs set to fly a predetermined number of miles before their engines automatically turned themselves off. Around 2,500 of these weapons reached London in 1944-1945, killing 6,184 people and seriously injuring 17,981.

The V1 destroyed a row of houses due south of Leinster Place W2 and just west of Cleveland Square, home to upper-middle class and wealthy residents. Although some houses nearby were repaired, others had to be demolished, paving the way for Sir Denys Lasdun to build the beautiful Hallfield Estate and Hallfield Primary School on the site. Redevelopment of the damaged estate began in early 1947 by Tecton, and when the firm dissolved, Drake and Lasdun were appointed as architects to take over the project. By that time, Lasdun had already completed his Modernist house at nearby Newton Road for the painter F. J. Conway and was to go on to build the National Theatre, amongst various other commissions.