Three nineteen-storey point blocks built as public housing as part of the redevelopment of Sunderland town centre. The blocks contain 270 dwellings in total. Construction was approved by committee in 1967.
The blocks were constructed by Sunderland County Borough Council.
The developers of the Town Central Area were Town and City Properties Ltd. It is believed that they contributed £38,600 to the development of the blocks.
Ian Frazer and Associates were the architects for the sub-structural works only.
Llewelyn, Davies, Weeks and Partners were the structural and mechanical engineers in addition to being the architects for the tower blocks.
Gilbert-Ash Northern Ltd.’s tender for the contract was £959,258 – construction began in March 1967.
Astral House, Solar House and Planet House.
Welcome to Marineville – anything can happen in the next half hour.
In actuality the blocks sit upon a shopping centre – recently redeveloped as The Bridges.
And we are not in Marineville.
Though once upon a time it looked like this – a brave new shopping world, well worth producing a postcard for.
Photos: Sunderland Echo
Photo: Tom McKitterick
Thanks to Sunderland Antiquarian Society for the links.
This is the current state of affairs.
Though there are still some remnants of the original development.
The whole shebang is topped off with a roof top car park.
So in the absence of anything else happening in the next half hour, I took a look around.
A one bedroomed flat on the eleventh floor will cost you £45,000
Modern Mooch 
Really love that second picture with the signage.
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Interesting fact: A few years ago, there was a huge fire at Alex Smiles Recycling Yard in Deptford. The pall of smoke was visible and photographed from Whitby in North Yorkshire. Because of the curvature of the Earth, only the smoke was visible, not the seat of the fire itself. However, when looking at the photograph a little more closely, you can make out three very small rectangular shapes just poking up above the horizion. Those shapes were the tops of the three blocks of flats rising up from the Bridges Shopping Centre.
The photograph was taken from up near Whitby Abbey and so, on a clear day, armed with a pair of binoculars, it should be possible to see Whitby Abbey from the top floors of those blocks of flats.
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Thanks for that – what an astounding tale!
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