Lillington Gardens

City of Westminster, United Kingdom

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Reference#SOSBrutalism↗

Lillington Gardens is a brutalist housing estate in Pimlico, City of Westminster, constructed between 1961 and 1971 by architects Darbourne & Darke. Among the last major postwar public housing schemes built in London, it pioneered an influential alternative to high-rise tower blocks by achieving high density within medium-rise structures that emphasised individuality and human scale. The design incorporated private gardens at ground and roof levels, with planted "roof streets" that blend sympathetically with the surrounding Victorian terraces. The estate's exceptional quality earned multiple accolades, including a Housing Design Award (1961), a Ministry of Housing and Local Government Award for Good Design (1970), and RIBA awards in 1970 and 1973. Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner called it "easily the most interesting recent housing in inner London" in 1973. The estate surrounds the Grade I listed Church of St James the Less (1859–61), and both were designated a conservation area in 1990.