A new Christmas classic

It's wonderful to see a children's book and about Christmas that has been carefully thought out (by adults) from the front cover to the back. The really clever part of the book are the five airmail envelopes that look impressively realistic. The pages between the envelopes have illustrations by Fia Tobing and the child's letter to Santa with an invention idea. The five envelopes each have a technical drawing and a personal letter from Santa about the inventions (worth saying that if you are buying a used copy of the book, check with the seller that all the envelopes' contents are included).

This delightful book is one of those that will probably be kept and discovered again every Christmas time.

US

Letters from the North Pole: With Five Letters from Santa Claus to Pull Out and Read: Atkins, Annie, Tobig, Fia: 9781915569912: Amazon.com: Books

UK

Letters from the North Pole: With Five Letters to Pull Out and Read – A Times Book of the Year 2024: Amazon.co.uk: Atkins, Annie, Tobing, Fia: 9781915569486: Books

Homes for the people 5/5

The author has written a timely look back at the way architects solved the pressing problem of building as many homes as possible during the post-war years. Thirty housing solutions are considered (seventeen in London) over five chapters: Houses; Estates; High-rise; Mid-rise; Mixed-use.

With estimates varying between two million and half a million homes destroyed or beyond repair during World War II, the government and local authorities had the problem, by the early 1950s, of building 300,000 new homes a year. New towns were one solution, high-rise housing, inspired by Le Corbusier's 1952 United d'Habitation, was another and mid-rise structures were also an option. I think the strength of the book is the descriptions of the way architects solved the density problem. The first chapter looks at six bespoke homes that give a flavour of British design of the period but this was not the solution for mass housing.

The chapter on High-rise, looking at six buildings, reveals how younger architects had some worthwhile creative ideas for housing. Three in particular look very impressive: Brooke House in Basildon, designed by Anthony Davis and Point Royal, Easthampton, by Philip Dawson/Arup Partners use pilotis to raise the buildings above ground. Erno Goldfinger's 1972 Trellick Tower in London is rightly a local landmark and now a listed Grade II building. Thirty-one storeys with two hundred apartments (and unusually for social housing, some have four bedrooms).

The Mid-rise chapter (six buildings) offers a middle way between multi-storey floors and traditional terrace homes. The Spa Green Estate, by Tecton, in London, has a four-storey structure that gently curves. Frederick Gibberd's The Lawn in Harlow uses a butterfly plan around a central core of facilities. The best Mid-rise examples shifted from the rectangular housing blocks. A good example is Denys Lasdun's 1959 Keeling House in London, featuring four cluster blocks at different angles to each other and bridges from each connecting them to the building's central amenities.

There are two quite remarkable housing solutions in these pages, both in London. Neave Brown's 1977 Alexandra Road Estate, with five hundred homes and Patrick Hodgkinson's 1972 Brunswick Centre, with five hundred and sixty apartments. Both have a fascinating tiered ziggurat style that allows residents to have balconies and outdoor space. Alexandra Road has a wide, central pedestrian walkway between the two banks of homes (obviously, no vehicles allowed).

I thought this was an excellent overview of the way architects came up with creative ideas to help solve the post-war housing crisis, though some of the buildings are into the 1970s. The book follows the same format as the author's other architectural titles. Each structure gets its own pages for text and photos (colour and mono) and in this title, each of the five chapters gets a four-page introduction. The back pages have biographies, chronology, bibliography and index.

US
Post-War Homes: Mid-Century British Architecture: Bradbury, Dominic: 9781915722492: Amazon.com: Books

UK

Post-War Homes: Mid-Century British Architecture: Amazon.co.uk: Bradbury, Dominic: 9781915722492: Books

Too good to mail 4/5

The only worthwhile souvenir of the Fair is this Homer Laughlin plate. I bought 

it last year with a copy of the Official Guide. Both are available on the net.

The fifty-two postcards in this spiral-bound book (just over seven by six inches) are perforated so they can easily be removed and mailed, though this does seem a waste. The cards are basically colored photos and look very graphic to enhance the original images. It's a good selection of commercial and country pavilions plus various overviews of the main attractions, especially the Trylon and Perisphere. I bought my copy years ago (it was published in 1988) and I'm surprised at the hefty increases in prices now. There are better books about this remarkable World's Fair. There is a similar book about the 1939 San Francisco World's Fair.