Argyle Street, Norwich
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| Argyle Street Alternative Republic | |
 Argyle Street in winter 1981 | |
  Location within Norwich | |
| Maintained by | Norwich City Council |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 52°37′18.9″N 1°18′10.7″E / 52.621917°N 1.302972°E |
| Construction | |
| Completion | 1873 |
| Demolished | 1986 |
| Other | |
| Known for | Squats in the 1980s |
Argyle Street was a Victorian terraced street in Norwich, Norfolk. It became a squat lasting from 1979 to 1985. The street was then demolished in 1986. Some of the newbuild houses were subsequently demolished in 2015.
Argyle Street was a Victorian street consisting of small two-up two-down terraced houses. According to Morant's map, it was partly built in 1873.[1] In 1883-4 there were 106 families, primarily manual workers with a significant number of men employed by the railway.[2] The Jarrold & Sons Directory of 1889 lists one shopkeeper.[3]
The street was saved from slum clearance in the early 1960s, after the nearby area of Richmond, or the "village on the hill", was completely demolished.[4]
Squatted
The University of East Anglia planned to buy the Victorian terraced housing of Argyle Street from Norwich City Council for student homes in 1979. However, on 6 December 1978, forty squatters moved into fourteen empty houses and one of Britain's largest and longest running squats had begun. The other fifteen empty houses were quickly occupied and eventually the street had 120 squatters. [5][4]
The squatters termed the squat the "Argyle Street Alternative Republic".[5] The lamp posts were painted to look like giraffes and the pavements were embellished with rainbows and peace signs.[6]
In 1980 the squatters formed a co-operative which was backed by Norwich City Council, which at the time included Pat Hollis. Together they applied for a grant from the Government-funded Housing Corporation. In 1981 a £1 million grant was agreed for a major renovation scheme, but in 1982 the Department of the Environment blocked Norwich City Council's plan to sell or lease the houses to the co-operative.[7]
