Clapham Park is an area in the Borough of Lambeth in London, to the south of central Clapham and west of Brixton.
History
The original Clapham Park Estate was a speculative development by Thomas Cubitt, who bought of Bleak Hall Farm in 1825, and marked out plots for building around the new, broad, tree-lined streets of King's Road, Clarence Road, Queen's Road and Atkins Road. (The first three have now been renamed Kings Avenue, Clarence Avenue and Poynders Road respectively). The estate was planned to consist of large detached houses in Cubitt's characteristic Italianate villa style, with each house set in extensive grounds. However, Cubitt's ambitions were never fulfilled, and some plots remained undeveloped at the outbreak of World War I. Cubitt's own residence, Lincoln House, was demolished in 1905, and Rodenhurst Road, a street of large, double-fronted, semi-detached Edwardian houses, was laid out on the site. British statesman Arthur Henderson once lived at number 13 and there is a Blue Plaque on the house indicating this. With the adoption of Poynders Road as the arterial "South Circular" road, this area is now severed from the area further south by traffic, and the streets south of Poynders Road are not generally referred to as being part of Clapham Park.
Clapham Park West Estate
Following World War II, Oaklands House, Oakfield House, Clarence House, and their associated grounds underwent much development as this area was heavily damaged during the Blitz. The area immediately to the east of the Estate had been developed by the London County Council (LCC) in the 1920s as council housing, mostly in characteristic blocks of neo-Georgian brick flats. After 1945, most of the Cubitt houses were demolished and the northern part of the original area was redeveloped by the LCC in a very different Modern Movement style. On completion of the scheme the Clapham Park Estate became the largest single council estate within the London Borough of Lambeth.
London Borough of Lambeth Council also built tower blocks west of Clarence Avenue, including three tower blocks (Barnsbury, Belgravia and Bloomsbury houses) commemorating Cubitt's more successful developments.
An air raid shelter is still situated within the former grounds of Clarence House, now the Clapham Park West Estate. Some of the undeveloped plots on the southern part of the estate were developed with medium-density terraced and semi-detached houses, but the majority of the grounds associated with Oakfield House were transformed into the Poynders Garden Estate and an open green space now called Agnes Riley Gardens.
Metropolitan Clapham Park
Metropolitan Clapham Park is an estate, which was owned by Metropolitan Clapham Park, a housing association that was formed to take over the ownership and management of houses on the Clapham Park estate following the stock transfer of the estate from the council to Metropolitan Housing in 2006. The estate is now run by Metropolitan Thames Valley.
Since May 2006, Metropolitan Clapham Park has provided a housing management and maintenance service to Clapham Park tenants who are renting their homes. Clapham Park also offers services to leaseholders, shared ownership schemes, and private residents of the estate.