The Peckham Experiment

The Peckham Experiment took place between 1926 and 1950, initially generated by rising public concern over the health of the working class and an increasing interest in preventative social medicine.

George Scott Williamson (1884–1953) and Innes Hope Pearse (1889–1978), two doctors who later married, opened the Pioneer Health Centre in an area – Peckham, south east London, which was chosen because "this populace roughly represents a cross-section of the total populace of the nation with as widely differing a cultural admixture as it is possible to find in any circumscribed metropolitan area" – in a house in Queen's Road SE5 in 1926. Their aim was to study health as a medical condition in a manner comparable to studies of the natural history of disease. The first phase closed in 1929. The findings were disseminated, and funding was then sought to build a larger, purpose-designed, centre. This re-opened in 1935 in a purpose-built Modern building in St Mary's Road, often quoted as an early example of how new architectural techniques could help further bold new social experiments.

The new building, designed by Sir Owen Williams was described in detail in the Bulletin of the Pioneer Health Centre, 1949. It moved away from the traditional lines dominating medical buildings. Williams created a large open space using the latest structural techniques allowing the Centre's doctors to properly observe the members. At the middle of the Centre a large swimming pool was covered by a glazed roof, which, along with large areas of windows, allowed natural light into the building. These windows could be fully opened to circulate fresh air into the building. The cork floors allowed people to move about barefoot.

Williamson and Pearse recruited 950 local families to be part of "The Peckham Experiment". Paying one shilling (5 pence) a week, they had access to a range of activities such as physical exercise, swimming, games and workshops. Members underwent a medical examination once a year, and they were monitored throughout the year as they participated in the Centre’s events. Central to Scott Williamson's philosophy was the belief that left to themselves people would spontaneously begin to organize in a creative way, and this happened, the members initiating a wide range of sporting, social and cultural activities using the facilities offered by the Centre.

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