After the World War II The Wates Company, an established family builders, completed several housing developments in London and the south of England including the renowned Dulwich Estate. The 120 acre Park Hill site in Croydon was built with many of the same principles in mind: car free streets, communal gardens, and generous internal layouts with large windows. There is an interesting mix of mid-century modern styles on the estate, of which some were architect-designed, although most were conceived by Wates’ in-house architecture team. The original brochure for the estate outlines the developers’ ‘Village Concept’, that Park Hill would draw on the success of 18th Century villages such as Highgate as well as later commuter towns like Hampstead Garden Suburb to create a ‘vigorous and vital community’. Cars were to be ‘tamed’ with plentiful parking and private garages for each home, and streets were conceived not to be through-roads.