Geograph - photograph every grid square

Emily Smith House is part of the Riley Square estate in Bell Green, Coventry, which was built between 1957 and 1965 by Coventry Corporation to designs by the City Architect's Department under Arthur Ling. For more information on Riley Square see SP3582 : Entrance to Riley Square from Henley Road, Bell Green; on Emily Smith, mayor of Coventry 1942-43, see SP3582 : Emily Smith House, viewed from Riley Square, which shows the other side of this block, part of the southwest elevation, which faces onto the square itself. The pedestrian entry ramp to Riley Square passes under the block.

Emily Smith and the other Riley Square blocks are an example of Zeilenbau, a design developed during the heyday of modernism in Germany in the 1920s. Social housing was built in long, narrow blocks, one apartment deep, and oriented so that bedroom and bathroom received the morning sun and living room and kitchen the afternoon and evening sun. This block looks north east, with the front doors and access decks facing onto Roseberry Avenue; the living rooms with their individual balconies overlook Riley Square itself. Samuel Hayward House, off to the left of this picture (SP3682 : Samuel Hayward House, with Dewis House behind, Riley Square) and at right angles to this block, has the reverse arrangement, with front doors overlooking the square and living rooms and balconies facing south east onto the road. There is debate as to how well this system worked in practice; see this article on the Solar House History blog Link , though the more recent addition of double glazing certainly helps the flats to retain heat absorbed from the sun during the day.

The building attached to Emily Smith House at the left was a police station and is currently disused and boarded up.