Residences close to the railway tracks in north London

LIVING NEAR BUSY railway lines can be a noisy experience. The American-born architect Neave Brown (1929-2018), who worked for the London Borough of Camden, understood this when he designed a housing estate that is situated beside a curve of the railway between Kilburn High Road and South Hampstead stations. Six parallel tracks carry trains regulatly past this site. So, living alongside these tracks could be far from peaceful.

Side of the block facing the railway tracks

Neave Brown designed a public housing estate next to this curve. Called the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate, it was designed in the Brutalist style of architecture, but in such a way that the buildings themselves muffle the sounds coming from the railway tracks. How he did this is well explained in a Wikipedia article:

“The higher, eight-story block directly adjacent to the railway line is organised in the form of a ziggurat, and acts as a noise barrier that blocks the noise of the trains from reaching the interior portion of the site, and its foundations rest on rubber pads that eliminate vibration.”

This step-like construction is both impressive and sculptural. Far from being inhuman as many Brutalist constructions can be, the estate, which is rich in vegetation, looks like a pleasant place to live. This contrasts with the pairs of tower blocks that stand on the other side of the tracks. As one of its residents, the architect Lefkos Kyriacou wrote (http://alexandraandainsworth.org/history/):

“… Alexandra Road still retains its cinematic wonder but having suffered the problems that have blighted much of Britain’s post-war social housing it is emerging from the shadows, not only as a valuable part of our national heritage but as a viable example of how mass housing can succeed.”

What is more, and this is a measure of its success, I have read that Neave Brown’s estate has suffered far less from vandalism than almost all of Camden’s other residential estates.