Festival of Britain Architecture Exhibition The 1951 Furnished Flat Lansbury Estate, Poplar

The brochure refers to the showpiece Lansbury neighbourhood estate in Poplar, East London that featured in the Festival of Britain as a 'Live Architecture Exhibition.' Visitors to the 'Live Exhibition', open from May to September 1951 could wander round the estate under construction and visit newly built homes, schools and shops, including the show flat described in the brochure and even interact with residents including the Snoddy family who moved into their three bedroom flat with their tortoise just before the exhibition opened. The exhibition also included a Building Research Pavilion offering scientific solutions to London's housing problems, a Town Planning Pavilion, that demonstrated the principles of town planning and the need for new towns, and a mock up of an imaginary town called Avoncaster. Despite promoting the exhibition through leaflets such as this visitor figures for the exhibition were disappointing.
Constructed by the London County Council, the Lansbury estate was named after the East London Labour politician George Lansbury. The location of the site was selected as much of the area had been flattened by bombing in World War II. Lansbury was constructed as a self-contained neighbourhood with all the facilities required for a post-war society including health provision, schools, modern housing, shops and a church. It's design and architecture embodied post World War II ideologies regarding town planning, public housing and the rebuilding of London.