1945

The architects Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith began work in 1945 designing the Park Hill Flats, a radical solution was needed. The unique design was based on an idea by French architect Le Corbusier of creating ‘Streets in the Sky’.  The flats and maisonettes were to be built on top of a 1:10 gradient making them range from 4 storeys high at the top end to 13 storeys at the end nearest the city centre arranged in a series of interconnecting blocks. 

This layout allowed nearly all of the decks to reach ground at some point, meaning milk floats and other services could access them. The construction is of an exposed concrete frame with yellow, orange and red brick curtain walling. However, as a result of weathering and soot-staining from passing trains, few people realise this and assume the building to be constructed entirely from concrete.