Place Name
In 1951 the architect’s department at the London County Council selected this area of Roehampton as the site for one of the largest and most radical housing developments ever undertaken in London – the Alton Estate. At the time of its completion in 1958, Alton West was considered by many British architects to be the crowning glory of post-World War II social housing. Alton Road, and the estate itself takes its name from Alton Lodge, an early-19th-century villa on the Kingston Road, occupied by Dr Thomas Hake from around 1854 until 1872. Alton Lodge probably got its name because it was located on the main road running between London and Alton in Hampshire. The name itself comes from the Old English words ǣwell meaning river source and tūn meaning settlement or town.
