T4toria
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- Aug 13, 2010
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The Billy Banks Estate in Penarth, Cardiff flows west from Paget Terrace in an almost pristine sixties line. They have that mid-century failed social solution look about them. District heating stacks. Communal grass. Balconies. Grey pebble dash. Connecting walls perforated by chequer-board laid bricks. Today the flats themselves have largely been abandoned. There are hundreds of them, named after a curious mix of Welsh and English royalty - Prince Charles Court, Prince Llywelyn Flats, Prince Rhodri House. The windows are boarded with ventilated metal, the doors blocked and broken. Crap in the courtyards. Aluminium bell and intercom plates belted by stones, dented out of their recesses. In their time the blocks won prizes for their architecture. They also suffered the standard sink estate disasters of asbestos, damp, leaking water systems, and being belted out of shape just for the fun of it vandalism. They became a ghetto for the municipal dumping of problem families. Punk music like an electric saw day and night. Dope in the flowerbeds.
The last resident left the estate in November 2011. When we visited, the travellers, who have occupied the site for several years, were moving on and its clear that demolition was imminent.
source: www.peterfinch.co.uk/billy
DSC09594 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09591 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09567 by T4toria, on Flickr
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DSC09551 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09544 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09540 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09539 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09529 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09530 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09516 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09513 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09512 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09501 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09491 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09489 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09459 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09470 by T4toria, on Flickr
The last resident left the estate in November 2011. When we visited, the travellers, who have occupied the site for several years, were moving on and its clear that demolition was imminent.
source: www.peterfinch.co.uk/billy
DSC09594 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09591 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09567 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09560 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09551 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09544 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09540 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09539 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09529 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09530 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09516 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09513 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09512 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09501 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09491 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09489 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09459 by T4toria, on Flickr
DSC09470 by T4toria, on Flickr
