This gritty scene captures the stark contrast between past and future in 1970. In the foreground, residents of the ageing Eldon Court housing block trudge through the worn pathways surrounding their dilapidated, soon to be demolished, housing block. The imposing housing development looming behind them, the newly constructed Proteus House, represents their impending relocation as part of the third phase of the city’s sweeping plans.
Eldon Court, with its soot-stained brick facade, small windows and cramped flats, epitomised the outdated public housing of old. Despite being a community anchor for decades, it was slated for destruction to clear land for Danielson's second industrial area, the Onward Business Park.
The Onward Business Park was conceived with lofty aspirations, modeled after the idealistic vision of Bournville - George Cadbury's revolutionary "factory in a garden." Danielson dreamed of creating a harmonious blend of industry and domesticity, where workers would live his purpose built housing, mere steps from their workplace, surrounded by minimalist gardens and communal spaces. But like so many utopian visions, the reality proved far more prosaic: a sprawling collection of prefabricated industrial units and difficult to heat worker accommodation that bore little resemblance to Bournville's chocolate box charm.
The image distils that detached disconnect, freezing in time the transient bridge between the tightly-knit, fading working-class enclave and the impersonal monolithic future looming ahead for its soon-to-be displaced occupants.
