The aim in this paper is to consider several interweaving narratives on Kensal House, which was the first housing estate inspired by Modern architecture to be built in Britain, opening in 1936. The analysis focuses on the ways in which architectural theory and everyday life collided at Kensal House—which is situated in Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington, London—through a reading of the theories, ideas, and ideals of the designers of the spaces combined with the often neglected narrative of the intended users of these domestic environments, the first inhabitants of the block. The paper offers an analysis of Modern architecture from two contrasting yet often complementary standpoints, considering Kensal House both as an ‘urban village’, as the architects called it, and as the ‘white house’, as it became known by residents of North Kensington. Particular focus will be made on the ways in which people responded to the striking domestic modernities of these blocks. Whereas some conventional narratives seem to argue that the architects had an isolated set of views which were simplistically imposed on their consumers, the argument here is that the relationship was rather more blurred and messy, with a constant dialogue among the interested parties. The debates concerning these spaces are polyvocal, including many, often marginalised, voices in the historical narrative of Modern architecture. Consequently, what is produced here is a complex, and often contradictory, tale—a thick description of home.

Loretta Lees' recent call for a 'critical geography of architecture' argued that a more nuanced and truly interpretative methodology for analysing the relationship between space, place and architecture would involve active engagement with such architectural spaces. This paper argues that, in the same way, by broadening our approach to historical architectural geographies more meaningful interpretations will result. Utilizing a 'polyvocal' methodological approach, by which not only architects and planners but also residents of these spaces are considered as important actors, will facilitate this 'critical' engagement with architectural spaces. Further, by taking this polyvocal approach, interesting conclusions can be reached about the production, consumption and re-production of space, both in the past and also in the present.

During the early decades of the twentieth century in Britain, architects focused on domestic architecture to a degree previously unseen. This paper considers the geographies of the shifting ideological relationships between the architectural space of the home and women, both those who designed and those who used it. The analysis centres around the spaces of the kitchen, and the work of two key individuals: the housing consultant Elizabeth Denby, and the Modern architect Jane Drew, and her publication of 1944, Kitchen planning. The paper argues that discourses surrounding the geographies of the kitchen can be seen as representative of wider societal shifts in the position of both middle- and working-class women at this time. The paper ends by considering what these discourses tell us about the changing nature of gendered spaces at this time.