Memento mori

Quarry Hill Flats was a large housing estate, built on continental lines and peculiar to Leeds. The largest and most modern of their kind in Europe, housing around 3,000 people, the Flats were constructed during the 1930s as part of a ‘great social experiment’ to accommodate an entire urban community. But soon the daring vision for the future began to crumble – literally – and by the 1950s the Flats were infamous. During the 1970s the decision was made to demolish the ‘stone jungle’ and Peter Mitchell arrived in Leeds in time to record the passing of the great estate.