How the Boundary Estate complex – London’s first council housing. Visiting researcher Yulia Taranova

The architectural style and layout of the ensemble was the responsibility of the young architect Owen Fleming, a convinced Marxist who set out to translate the idea of social justice into a new benchmark type of housing. For Victorian England and for the whole world, the construction of the Boundary Estate was a revolutionary breakthrough.

Just under a year ago, Julia Taranova, a researcher and lecturer at King’s College London, founder and head of social science research projects, moved to this neighborhood. Her apartment is located in a building on Old Nicol Street, the very same Old Nicol Street whose name appears more than once in Morrison’s novel.

About building a house

The Boundary Estate is the great-grandmother of our Soviet high-rise apartment blocks, Khrushchevoks and panel houses. It was the first council housing in London, which belonged to the state and was given to those in need. The district was built right on the site of the old slums in the east of the city, where, because of the proximity to factories and warehouses, mostly workers lived. At that time, the wave of industrialization and the economic inequality that accompanied it gave rise to Karl Marx’s ideas about the structure of society, which largely formed the basis for the concept of the first social housing. The architect was also inspired by the dreams of philosopher John Ruskin and artist William Morris about the availability of beauty and dignity for everyone.

The quarter was built over a period of ten years, from 1890 to 1900, during the reign of Queen Victoria. Traces of the Victorian era were reflected in the architecture, layout and exterior decoration of the buildings. In the center of the district was a public garden with the Arnold-Serkus Pavilion, and around it were placed apartment buildings. They are all slightly different in detail and style, and the longer I live here the more I notice this, but of course together they have a sense of unity.

The Boundary Estate has survived two world wars and several large-scale renovations in over a century of history. Now the whole block is a conservation area, and the residential complex itself is architecturally protected and Grade II listed, although some of the apartments in it are still owned by the state and rented on preferential terms.

About the apartment

The living spaces inside the buildings are designed differently. But, in addition to that, they are also different from the original drawings that were used to build the neighborhood. In the city archives I found drawings, including of my apartment, which show how it used to be organized. There was no bathroom in it, because the tenants went to the common bath, but there was a scullery. And also in each apartment there was a hall with a fireplace, but with the advent of electricity they stopped burning them and almost everywhere was walled up. In general, everything was minimal, only the most necessary.

Immediately after World War II, government spending on social housing was cut back, and the neighborhood fell back into disrepair. But in the 1960s, the complex was restored and the apartments were made more modern. By combining areas, kitchens, bathrooms and extra bedrooms were added to make the housing more comfortable and spacious for families. For example, one of my apartments used to be two, and you can still see remnants of the old partitions inside.

Another chapter in the history of this block and council housing in general began in the mid-1980s, after the launch of Right to Buy by Margaret Thatcher’s government, when tenants were able to buy into private ownership at a very deep discount. The previous landlord of my apartment got it that way: he moved in as a first-time buyer, and after the reform privatized the apartment for £15,000, when its market price at the time was around £50,000. He was lucky: the neighboring City in the 1990s began to develop actively, the economy was growing, and Shoreditch turned from a criminal district to a paradise for hipsters. More and more people were buying apartments here and selling them to those who worked nearby, making good money on the difference. But he had lived on the Boundary Estate for most of his life and assured, when handing over the keys, that the house was full of guests and happiness.

About restoration

I moved to the Boundary Estate just under a year ago. I’ve been working on a restoration project for most of that time, with the help of the architect and historian Eric Rogers, who owns the London Night Cafe in Spitalfields. As our house is under architectural protection, any changes I need to agree with the municipality. When I get permission I’ll start the interior work, but for now it’s a temporary setting, so books are still on the floor and things are still on rails.

I really want to re-open the fireplaces, remove some walls, combine the kitchen and living room, and re-surface the floor. My neighbors across the street have already done this and the municipality has given them permission, but from experience it is not a quick process.

My favorite things in the apartment are books and works of art. In the study there is a photograph I took in Tirana last year, in the kitchen there is a painting by Roma Durov, painted in Tbilisi during the first days of the war, in the corridor there is an installation by Nika Dubrovskaya consisting of newspaper quotes from the First World War: they perfectly reflect today’s narrative. And right in front of the front door hangs an optimistic and pessimistic poster “Everything is Just Beginning” by Partisan Press. They printed this one in the summer of 2021, exactly when the Social Science Lab, whose director I was in Russia, was recognized as a foreign agent. After that I thought the worst was over, but soon February 2022 came and everything changed.

About emigration

For a long time, I didn’t feel like I was in emigration because I lived in constant flights between Moscow and London – both when I was studying for my Master’s degree at Oxford and when I entered graduate school. And now my home is here.

For me, home is the place you want to go back to when you’re tired of wandering. I’m very adventurous, but every now and then I want to crawl into a safe predictable place where I can recuperate and digest events. Home is a place where I feel at ease.

The original text is printed in the Winter special issue of #EnglishHome . You can order your copy at the link.