History of Peterlee History of Peterlee The history of Peterlee, England By the Bethany Simpson

About Peterlee  Peterlee is situated in the North East of England in County Durham.  Peterlee was built in 1948 (fairly recently compared to some other towns in England), just after World War II.  Peterlee is a town of a moderate size and has many residence that live thoughout.

Why was Peterlee built?  Unlike many towns Peterlee was mostly built all together at the same time rather than gradually grow.  Peterlee was designed by an artist rather than an architect. The artists name was Victor Passmore.  Peterlee was built under the new towns act of 1946.

Influences of the Artist  The fact an artist designed Peterlee had a big effect on the way Peterlee looks.  For example: the house are not in streets but laid out in an scattered style.  Some houses are more like sculptures and the have odd lines and many shapes.

What did the houses look like?  The houses were never dull they were made up of different shapes and colours.  The flats are tall and geometrical.  The roofs are not pointed and therefore they are modern and very untraditional for an English house.

Images of the houses

The Pavilion  One thing iconic about Peterlee is the Passmore Pavilion which is a great architectural structure crossing a small river in Peterlee.  It was again designed by Victor Passmore.  The Pavilion had recently under gone a renovation project and is looking better than ever.

Images of the Pavilion in the past

Images of the Pavilion now

Peterlee?  Peterlee is actually named after a man called Peter Lee, who’s vision was to see a better way of life for the residents of County Durham.  Peterlee was one of his success stories and therefore it was named after him.  Peter Lee over saw many new town builds and described Peterlee has his greatest success.

Why the change of roofs?  Nearly all houses in Peterlee were built with flat roofs.  But after Victor Passmore’s death most houses roofs were changed to have pointed roofs, flat roofs were thought to be unsafe although they were perfectly safe. So most the houses had pointed roofs added to make them safe.  The geometric houses were now more traditional which was not the way they were meant to be.