Our Heritage
Cornerstone, one of Exeter’s oldest and largest housing associations, has been providing quality, affordable housing to those in need for over 90 years.
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1926
Cornerstone, as it is known today, was first established as the ‘Exeter Workmen’s Dwellings Company Ltd’ in 1926 by a group of philanthropists concerned with the unsanitary and overcrowded slum conditions that Exeter’s poorest people were living in.
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Led by Dr Lovely, they sought to rehouse the working classes of the City into new spacious homes with good living conditions and secure tenancies. It was their mission to provide quality, affordable, rented housing.
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1928
Our first homes, at Looe Road in St David’s, Exeter, were opened by the Exeter Workmen’s Dwellings Company in 1928. By the start of WWII, they had built 550 homes across the City.
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1950s
In 1954 we were granted charitable status under the Industrial & Provident Societies Act and became ‘The Exeter Housing Society Ltd’, officially a not-for-profit organisation. Our in-house repairs and maintenance service began that same year – blossoming from a humble team of two to more than 40 tradespeople today! Photo: The opening of Simey Close, Exwick in the 1970s.
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2000s
In 2008, we officially became ‘Cornerstone’, a name chosen to reflect the expansion of our founders’ social mission, as we began to support those in housing need in Exeter and beyond. We now manage homes in Exeter, Teignbridge, Mid Devon and East Devon. Photo: buried beneath Cornerstone House is a time capsule full of mementos from our past.
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Today
Since our first estate was opened in 1928, we have grown to become Exeter’s largest independent housing association, with over 1300 homes.
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The Future
In spite of our greater size, very little has changed since we first began in 1926. Today, Dr Lovely’s mission to provide quality, affordable rented housing remains central to our values as we continue to build on his social legacy.
