Great pics arn!

The closest England (Scottish and Irish architecture and design are rather different, especially the first) came to perfection was when Wren was building.  Other names to conjure with: Jones, Hawksmoor, Gerber, May, Pratt.  Some refer to a 'Queen Anne' style of building, but most of the better examples show some Dutch influence and came a good deal earlier than her reign. 
George Orwell grew impatient with local politicians in the 1930s who were building grandiose, semi-classical public buildings when their urban housing problems were acute.  Nottingham is an excellent example and still had some of the worse housing stock in England as late as the 1960s (possibly later). 
I took a look at a brick building built in a Scandinavian style yesterday.  Rather pleasing because essentially modest.
London pub architecture is often worth a second and third glance.

the Futuro house, designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968.

The Woolster used to make some good contributions to Talk Ivy. I wonder if he is still into Ivy clothes. I've also been interested in the Futuro house and the Guardian article he quoted is worth a read. Pity we can't post pictures.

There is a place for a Futuro house. Or something similar to small Japanese apartment style. They're well thought out. As long as you're not hoarding bin bags full of button down shirts. They're easy to live in. The size alone should make them more affordable. And affordable to live in. As long as they're priced in line with their square footage, rather than novelty value or location i.e. overlooking The Thames.

There's an argument that if built in big enough numbers this type of housing would be a huge boost. We are a nation of house builders and owners. Small, quality starter homes (maybe price capped? Or somehow free of the fluctuations in property prices generally) readily available to those stepping on the ladder (maybe available ONLY to young, first time buyers instead of investors/downsizers) that would, on the whole, naturally be vacated by those moving on and up, leaving stock available to the next generation of first time buyers.

Unfortunately, the hard truth is that in the UK, at that level of housing, planning regulations don't leave much room for originality, imagination AND profit. In fact small (one/two bedroom) starter homes with all the required fees, warrantees, minimum standard interior space, parking, amenity, storage, insulation etc barely turn any profit at all. So nobody in the private sector builds them.

2 bedroom-2 bathroom apartments are the big thing where we live as the council are under such pressure to meet homebuilding targets and most of the viable building land was used up many moons ago. So if you apply to build apartments on any brownfield site, or even knock a big old Victorian detached place and build on it, you are almost guaranteed to get permission. 

I like modernist houses but I’m not sure I would want to live in some of them, especially the ones put up in the mid-60s. Many had poor building materials, lacked insulation and have damp and cold issues that are difficult to rectify. Their achilles heel was revealed in the  years following the 1973 oil crisis when heating bills went through the roof (as they are about to do again) and the case of these places that was literally it - the heat was just going through the roof … and the walls and the floors.