Queens Tower, High Tower, Home Tower and South Tower were the first housing tower blocks to be constructed in post-war Birmingham. These days they are known as the Duddeston Four.
Originally an additional two were planned but these were never built thanks to the failure of the local council to secure the land purchase leaving South Tower cut off from the others.
Planning for the project began in 1950 when Herbert Manzoni proposed the heavily bombed area become Birmingham's first redevelopment zone.
The four towers employ an X shaped layout similar to the "cluster block" theory that was popular at the time with Modernist architects such as Denys Lasdun. This sees a slab block split into a central spine in which the services are located, with wings set off it.
Being the first type of high-rise housing in Birmingham, much effort was staked on getting the buildings right so the architects employed long-lasting brick cladding, with unusual porthole style windows. The end result was that the building costs overran causing much criticism for the local council, which in future would plump for cheaper options with the work brought in-house by the council.
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