Prior Weston Primary School and Children’s Centre is located in amongst a diverse and bustling community of South Islington. It is a great location! As well as being easily accessible via train and bus, we also have a vast range of services, facilities and London sights and attractions just a short walk away.
Fortune Park
Golden Lane Campus is nestled away in the small but popular Fortune Park. When making your way to our main entrance, you can first wander through the flower beds, trees and grass areas the park has to offer. There is also an extensive children’s playground that is very popular with local families.
Whitecross Street Food Market
Prior Weston is ideally located opposite the mouth-watering Whitecross Street food market offering a delicious variety of street food from across the world. There is everything from pies and cakes, to Vietnamese and Turkish food; with a few commodity stalls popping up alongside. The market is open Monday to Friday, 10am-5pm, but the busiest period is lunchtime when many, many city workers flock to sample the fresh delights on offer!
The Barbican
From our rooftop playground, we can view the magnificent sight that is The Barbican, Europe’s largest multi-arts and conference venue. This Centre hosts an exciting mix of art, theatre, dance, film and creative learning events, there is always something new and something to suit every age and interest. There is also a stunning garden, a number of shops, restaurants and cafes, as well as an extensive library. It is also home to the London Symphony Orchestra.
St Luke’s Community Centre
This large and newly refurbished community centre provides a place for local people to gather and socialise. The space is also used by organisations, groups and charities to bring local residents together for community events. It is alive with activity most days, and caters for young and old. There is a lunch club for over 55s but also table tennis and street dance for children! It is also home to Central Street Cookery which hosts classes for adults and the whole family to enjoy!
Golden Lane Estate
In 1952, architects Peter 'Joe' Chamberlin, Geoffry Powell and Christoph Bon entered a competition to design high-density housing on a bombsite, and made a pact that if any of them won, they'd form a partnership to build it. Powell won it, and the three formed Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, subsequently to become one of the most important modernist architectural firms in post-war England.
Their original plan for the Golden Lane Estate in the City of London involved bulky medium-rise blocks, but these were considered too oppressive.
The site was expanded and it was decided to have fewer but taller blocks. The final design was for an estate of 557 flats and maisonettes, centred around a 16-storey block containing 120 two-room flats, each with a projecting balcony, called Great Arthur House, which would have 'hobby rooms' and a laundry on the ground floor.
Completed in 1957, Great Arthur House was London's first housing to reach over 50m, making it, effectively, London's first tower block skyscraper.
Standing at 51m and with 17 storeys , Great Arthur House has pick-hammered concrete end-walls and mustard-yellow spandrels beneath the windows radiating a bright, summery feel. The crowning glory is a distinctive concrete wave structure on the roof, which juts westward like a jauntily upturned cap brim. Behind the overhang, it arches up above the boiler, water tanks and lift machinery, and around that is a roof terrace for the tenants, which was furnished with a decorative pool, seats and plant boxes. This is exactly what Le Corbusier intended for his flat roofs, and is directly inspired by his Unité d'Habitation in Marseilles.
Golden Lane became Chamberlin Powell & Bon's practice run before tackling the huge Barbican Estate next door to it. The estate is proof that le Corbusian ideals in post-war social housing can work, although today.
Words by Herbert Wright
