This is a summary of the urban design process for the Tolmers Square redevelopment. It introduces some of the reports and drawings that were produced at the time and are essential for understanding why the environment of the area has changed as it has.

As was standard practice at the time Camden Council started the process of deciding what should happen to the Tolmers area by commissioning a private architecture firm, Renton Howard Wood (RHW) to undertake a feasibility study. This resulted in Tolmers Square Area, Site Fabric Study, closely followed by Tolmers Square Redevelopment Proposals which were summarised in Tolmers Square, A London Architect Supplement published by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).  The proposals envisaged retaining a few buildings in Drummond Street and North Gower Street but all the rest of the area was to be demolished and redeveloped. A separate document, Tolmers Square Area, Site A Feasibility Study shows the office block envisaged.

The following year, in 1974, Tolmers Square Redevelopment, Report 2 focused on rehabilitation and conversion details, new infill buildings, general environmental treatment and traffic management. A Tolmers Square Area, Hotel Feasibility Study shows a hotel by Euston station.

The community-based Tolmers Village Association was formed in 1973, and in February 1974 mounted an exhibition about the area and its future in a shop in Drummond Street. Architects from RHW can be seen visiting the exhibition and in September 1974 RHWL published a revised scheme, Tolmers Square Redevelopment Proposals, Report 3. This increased the amount of the area to be retained but still involved the demolition of Tolmers Square.

The proposals for the west of the area bordering Hampstead Road were further elaborated in 1976 in Tolmers Square Redevelopment Proposals, Site One. This showed details of the barrier block which was to replace mixed use buildings on Hampstead Road.

The community response to the RHWL proposals was The Tolmers People’s Plan. A local press report, Homes for Tolmers, featured a very helpful birds eye view. The scheme was drawn up by three young architects who were squatting in Tolmers Square (Caroline Lwin, Barry Shaw and Doug Smith) and who interpreted the wishes of the community of which they were a part. It kept and restored Tolmers Square and shows how an office block could easily have been accommodated between the Square and the Euston Road frontage. The Plan was formally adopted by the Tolmers Village Action Group, the more structured Tolmers Village Association having run out of steam.

The Tolmers People’s Plan was overwhelmingly supported by local community and labour organisations. But nothing could halt the momentum of the Camden backed RHWL proposals. Camden Council teamed up with Greycoats to build the office block. An article in the Architect’s Journal in 1980 Tolmers transformed confirmed the final shape of the project. Project completion was formally celebrated by Camden Council in October 1982 although some building work was not completed until 1983. A detailed review of the scheme’s long term successes and failures from an urban design and community perspective is still awaited. 

Note: The documents shared here were hard to access and share in pre digital and pre internet days. Many of them were comb bound and pages were often not numbered. Handwritten page numbers on the digital versions were added during the digitising process and may not be accurate if the document had been taken apart previously for photocopying. If you know of errors or other relevant documents please get in touch.