From south London’s Half Pint Press comes this compact monograph focusing on one of the area’s most distinctive buildings. Thirty-Six Views of Dawson’s Heights offers up a portrait of the towering housing complex, two blocks containing nearly 300 flats, built between 1964 and 1972.
The lead architect for Southwark Council was Kate Macintosh, aged just 28 when she started work on the project. The stepped brick façade and carefully articulated massing, not to mention the spectacular views from the flats, have long made Dawson’s Heights a prominent local landmark, visible from far and wide.
With its reference to Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, this Thirty-Six Views features photographs by Michael Jones and a text by John Gray, who writes the South London Landscape History series of zines (available from Rivertones). According to the publishers, the book was a pandemic project. ‘Something we noticed when taking our lockdown walks around our local area was that you seemed to be able to see Dawson’s Heights from everywhere, and it looked different from every angle. From that thought, the idea for this book grew.’
Like the Japanese artist’s different perspectives on the mountain, Thirty-Six Views of Dawson’s Heights shows off the building from a scattering of localities, demonstrating its constant presence. Throw in the richness and complexity of MacIntosh’s architecture, which frustrates a simple reading of a single building on a hill, and you have a book that’s perfect for the south Londoner in your life.
Thirty-Six Views of Dawson's Heights, Michael Jones and John Gray, £16, The Half Pint Press, HalfPintPress.Wordpress.com, @HalfPintPress_London