Park Hill Tours

30/10/2026

Jack Lynn, one of Park Hill’s project architects, was born in North Seaton, Northumberland, 100 years ago today. The youngest of eight children, his Methodist upbringing in a relatively poor mining community shaped his lifelong belief that working people had a basic right to decent work, housing, education and health care.

After studying architecture at King's College, Durham, Lynn began his career designing buildings in Cambridge for the newly formed National Health Service. Here he met Ivor Smith, his collaborator on the design of Park Hill.

Lynn had some prior experience designing high-density housing, having submitted an unsuccessful entry to the competition to design London's Golden Lane Estate. This, along with inspiration from European Modernists including Le Corbusier and the British husband-and-wife duo Alison and Peter Smithson, fed into the estate's design.

The estate's design ethos focused on retaining the sense of community of the terraces the flats replaced. Much of this thinking must have been influenced by his upbringing in Northumberland.

The design was radical - 995 flats arranged in sweeping blocks along the hillside, connected by 'streets in the sky.' Shops, pubs, and a community centre were included to help create a real community, not just a block of flats.

Opening in June 1961, Park Hill was lauded in the architectural press, promoted by the council as a symbol of a modern, post-war city, and was popular with tenants who moved into the building.

Lynn returned to the North East, helped expand Newcastle University, and in 1968, started his own architectural practice, Kendrick & Lynn Associates. His later projects showed his ongoing commitment to socially responsible design, especially in making buildings and facilities accessible to disabled people.

Jack Lynn died in October 2013, a few weeks after the first phase of Park Hill’s regeneration was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize. On what would have been his centenary, Lynn’s legacy is still visible in Sheffield’s skyline. A building now revered as an icon and a clear reminder of a city's ambition and its architect’s belief that everyone deserves a decent home.

28/09/2026

Until 1987, only buildings dating from before 1939 were eligible for listing. That year, a 30-year rule was introduced, bringing post-war buildings onto the radar of conservationists. Over the subsequent decade, nearly 200 such buildings were listed but were still a fraction of those put forward. During 1996, English Heritage (now Historic England) undertook a consultation titled ‘Something worth keeping?’ to change public perception and gain support for a further tranche of proposed listings - one that included Park Hill. In 1992, English Heritage had embarked on a 3-year research programme focusing on different types of post-war buildings, with Park Hill identified under the ‘Housing and Houses’ theme.

A brochure and thematic leaflets were published, alongside exhibitions at the Royal Institute of British Architects Architcture Centre. In July 1996, the travelling version of the exhibition opened at the Graves Gallery in Sheffield, where it remained for four months.

The Sheffield Telegraph was not in favour of the recommendation to list Park Hill, describing it in an opinion piece as ‘plainly silly’ and claiming a decisive thumbs down from residents. However, this was not borne out in the comments received via the consultation which were marginally in favour. Influential backing was received from the Twentieth Century Society and Sheffield City Council, which voted to support the proposal during meetings of the Housing and Planning Committees in September 1996.

Park Hill was designated as a Grade II* listed building by the Secretary of State on 22 December 1998, recognising it as a particularly important building of more than special interest. Find out how this status has informed the ongoing redevelopment by attending one of our tours, which will be opening for booking early in the new year.

20/09/2026

Another season of public tours concluded this week with our participation in Heritage Open Days, which sold out within just one minute of tickets being released!

Likewise, we’ve had five months of sold-out tours, welcoming first-time visitors, guests returning for a second or even third tour, former residents (including some who lived here when the flats first opened), and others with past connections to Park Hill such as a former school headmaster and healthcare workers who made home visits here.

Many thanks to everyone who joined us for a tour this year. We’ve really enjoyed sharing the architecture and history of Park Hill with you, answering your questions and hearing your own stories, from which we’ve learnt a lot ourselves. One third of you discovered the tours through word of mouth, so thank you also to everyone who shared their experiences and recommended us.

If you missed out this year, our weekly public tours will return next spring and summer. Please follow us here or sign up to our mailing list at www.parkhilltours.com for announcements about ticket sales.

07/09/2026

On Saturday, we welcomed guests from Sheffield and Manchester, to walk the Streets in the Sky for our very first British Sign Language (BSL) and Discover BSL tours of Park Hill.

Led by Martin Glover, the tours were delivered with humour and in a conversational presentation style that made everyone feel included and engaged. It was particularly interesting to hear his perspective, as an art facilitator, on the various sculptures and artistic features around the estate.

During the Discover BSL tour, visitors also learnt to sign relevant words along the way, including ‘flat’, ‘architect’, ‘Sheffield’ and even ‘applause’ - a fitting way to thank Martin for his fantastic guiding!

Many thanks as well to everyone who joined us, to BSL interpreter Lauren for translating, and to Urban Splash for helping make these tours happen.

If you’d like to hear about any future BSL tours of Park Hill, please follow us on social media or sign up to our mailing list via our website at www.parkhilltours.com

01/09/2026

Places are still available for our British Sign Language (BSL) tours of Park Hill this coming Saturday. Led by architect and BSL user Martin Glover, and accompanied by a resident guide, you'll discover the history and architecture of Park Hill, walk the iconic Streets in the Sky, and step inside a renovated flat.

For those who are not deaf or hard of hearing, there is also a Discover BSL where an interpreter will translate from BSL into spoken English. This is a great opportunity to find out more about BSL and learn to sign some words, whilst exploring the history and architecture of Park Hill.

These tours are run in partnership with Urban Splash to make Park Hill's story accessible to everyone.

Book now at https://www.parkhilltours.com/bsl-tours/

29/08/2026

Hi,

Final reminder; I will do two types of BSL architectural tours next Saturday at Park Hill, Sheffield;

BSL only tours (10. 30 or 13.00) and

BSL with an interpreter (15.30); suitable for early BSL learners.

Please book soon!

https://www.parkhilltours.com/bsl-tours/?fbclid=IwY2xjawT_cjRwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMTNKMndYYXZRZDJJNmtXblVzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeU2wRtJnZ-8XKD9cEZC1HAv-eAje7PXEmrMp-l_ezYMUzmHXF33xlPPjyZ-c_aem_5x4eg2uDHg3GIL9yBP6OrA

Park Hill Residents’ Association and Urban Splash invite you on this special 90 minute British Sign Language (BSL) tour to walk the Streets in the Sky. You will learn the history of Park Hill, explore the inspirations and people behind its design as well as its architectural concepts and distincti...

07/08/2026

Today marked the formal opening of ‘On The Edge’, the winner of the 2026 Chelsea Flower Show Garden of the Year. Designed by Sarah Eberle Landscape and Garden Design, the garden celebrates the centenary of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the grounds of Park Hill have been chosen as its permanent home.

At the heart of the garden is Gaia, a striking sculpture of the Earth goddess created by chainsaw artist Chris Wood. The planting will be installed this autumn when weather conditions are more suitable and will subsequently be cared for by volunteers of the residents’ gardening group.

The garden is open to the public and will also feature as part of our guided tours. We are fully booked for the remainder of the year (although we recommend checking for cancellations), so follow us on social media for announcements about 2027 ticket releases. We also offer private group tours throughout the year — please visit our website for further details.

31/07/2026

All tickets for our remaining weekly tours this year have now sold out. If you were hoping to book, please keep an eye on our website for any returned tickets that become available. We look forward to welcoming those joining us throughout August. If you’d like to hear about ticket sales for our 2027 tours, please follow our social media channels for updates. Tickets are still available for our British Sign Language tours on the 5th September - see our website for details and booking.

26/07/2026

One of four pubs originally built at Park Hill, The Parkway was designed by Sheffield-based Hadfield, Cawkwell and Davidson Architects for the Hope and Anchor brewery. Built in 1960, its exterior was adorned with bold graphic adverts, an idea suggested by the city architects, and Vetreria Ia Valle glass mosaics in a modernist palette of red, light grey, dark grey, orange, blue and white.

The Parkway was admired in the architectural press, with the Architectural Review in 1961 regarding it the best of Park Hills pubs and highlighting the use of exterior mosaics for both their graphic design and advertising opportunities. A few years later the Architects Journal presented it as an exemplary post-war pub, praising the way it enhanced the street scene through a modern interpretation of the Victorian and Edwardian public house.

The journal also described The Parkway as a notable exception to the poor quality of many pub interiors of the period, calling it a "pleasant interior, free from gimmickry and content to let the natural harmony of bottles, glasses and people provide atmosphere."

We can see this for ourselves in the photograph of patrons enjoying the public bar, complete with a dartboard mounted on the brick wall and a yard-of-ale glass hanging above the bar. On the opposite side of the pub was the lounge bar, finished with Baltic pine panelling and carpet for a more comfortable setting.

Now a convenience store, all that remains are the mosaics, restored in 2020 by Olicana Mosaics after years hidden beneath layers of graffiti and paint. We stop to admire these during our tours and it's always interesting to hear visitors' different interpretations of the abstract orange and blue mosaic.

Our tour finishes near Park Hill's current pub, The Pearl, where you can enjoy a discount on your purchase by showing your tour ticket. The last remaining tickets for this year are available at www.parkhilltours.com

All photographs Sheffield Archives and the Hadfield Cawkwell and Davidson collection. Reproduced with the permission of Sheffield Archives.

21/07/2026

TOURS LATE AVAILABILITY

Our tours are sold out until mid-August however we have received a few returns for this Thursday evening (23/7). To join us for a summers evening tour of Park Hill visit www.parkhilltours.com to book your ticket.

Explore a brutalist icon and its bold reinvention