Repton House, Lillington Gardens, Westminster, Greater London

This block of sixteen three-bedroom flats, two one-bedroom flats and two bedsits is part of the Lillington Gardens Estate. The estate was designed in 1961 by John Darbourne. The design is based on the nearby Church of St James the Less, with its striking Victorian red brick. Phase 1 was built in 1964-8, by Darbourne and Geoffrey Darke, for Westminster City Council. Lillington was the first low rise, high density public housing scheme to be built. It proved that low rise flats with an interesting design could accommodate the same number of people per acre (density) as tower blocks. It influenced the style of council housing from the mid 1960s until the early 1980s. The scheme won many awards including a Ministry of Housing and Local Government award for good design in 1970. The scheme provided homes for around 2,000 people with a high proportion provided for older people. There were also pubs, shops, doctors, a community hall and a library. Before the estate was built this part of Pimlico was mainly older terraced housing.

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