Sheffield retro: 20 remarkable photos looking back at short-lived Kelvin Flats, demolished before their time

The twin 13-storey blocks on Infirmary Road, in Upperthorpe, containing 948 flats between them, were completed in 1967 – just a few years after Park Hill. Like their slightly larger, slightly older cousin, they were opened to great excitement as a bold architectural statement for which slum dwellings had been torn down to show how social housing could reach for the stars.

As with Park Hill and the Hyde Park development, that dream all too quickly turned into a nightmare, with the Kelvin Flats too becoming a magnet for crime and anti-social behaviour. But unlike Park Hill, which is today one of the city’s most sought-after addresses, celebrated on stage in the acclaimed musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge, there was no second chance for the Kelvin Flats.

They were demolished in 1995 – just three years before Park Hill’s concrete brutalism was protected with a Grade II* listing. Few people shed a tear for the Kelvin Flats and they are not remembered with the same affection as other lost Sheffield landmarks like the Hole in the Road or the Tinsley cooling towers. But they had their admirers and some of the last residents to leave spoke of the ‘happy’ times they enjoyed there.

Today, the low-rise Philadephia Gardens estate, with its popular recreation area and wildlife haven, stands in their place. But this retro photo gallery should bring back plenty of memories for anyone who lived in the Kelvin Flats or recalls them looming large on Sheffield’s skyline.

All photos are from The Star’s archives or courtesy of Picture Sheffield.