London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Official Opening of Highview Gardens, Southgate (c1960)
Fascinating film showing a new council high-rise in Southgate, and speeches concerning the responsibility of councils to provide social housing.
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Overview
Highview Gardens was the first tower block to go up in New Southgate, part of a wholesale reconstruction of the town after the destruction of the Second World War. This film shows the official opening, with dignitaries admiring the views, before one gives a speech discussing the shortage of London housing, rising prices, and what a council should do about it. The featured block is now called Swinson House.
Enfield Local Studies Library and Archive
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