Planning your Neighbourhood for Home, for Work, for Play

1944. GOLDFINGER, Erno and Ursula BLACKWELL. Planning your Neighbourhood for Home, for Work, for Play. 20 colored pictorial boards. Folio, 490 x 355 mm., loose, in a new cloth folding box. [London: Air Ministry Directorate of Educational Services, 1944.] A spectacular set of designs by the Hungarian-born architect Erno Goldfinger and his wife Ursula Blackwell, assisted by Martin Cobbett, with cartoons by Sheila Hawkins and landscaping by Peter Shepheard. They were prepared for exhibitions put on by the Army Bureau of Current Affairs and depict plans for the rebuilding of the East End of London after the war. The set is made up as follows: the first plate is the title-page, 2 and 3 contrast village and town life, 4-10 describe what planning means: "Shops, Schools, Work and Recreation within east reach of our home." 9 and 10 are about different types of homes (houses, flats or maisonettes) and the space needed to supply accommodation for different sized families. 11-20 show the site in Shoreditch on which the plans were to be based and how the new changes would impact the site. With pin holes for display in corners. A little rubbing and dusting, one board with small loss to right hand edge, otherwise a very good copy of this rare set.