https://www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/blog/edgware-1924-the-making-of-a-suburb MODERNISM IN METRO-LAND * About * Metro-Land and Modernism * The Buildings + North London + West London + East London + South London + Counties * The Architects * Shop + Modernism Beyond Metroland + The Guide + Mini Guides + Tube Station Books * Blog * References & Links Edgware 1924: The Making of a Suburb Archives 27/11/2024 January 2025 1 Comment November 2024 October Picture 2024 A poster advertising the opening of the Northern Line July 2024 Edgware extension. Image from London Transport Museum. May 2024 One hundred years ago, the new Edgware Underground April 2024 station was opened. It marked the completion of the March 2024 tube extension from Golders Green, on the line we now February call the Northern, but what was then the Charing 2024 Cross. Euston & Hampstead Railway, owned by the November Underground Electric Railways Company of London, the 2023 forerunner to London Transport. The expansion of the September underground in the first 30 or so years of the 20th 2023 century helped spur a suburban boom, as improved August transport links allowed people to travel more easily 2023 for work and live further away from the centre of July 2023 London. Property developers built numerous speculative April 2023 estates around the newly built stations, and other March 2023 buildings followed, for leisure, education and other February needs, some modernist-influenced, most not. 2023 Picture January Edgware station (in the foreground) and the town as 2023 seen shortly after the opening of the station. Image November from Britain From Above. 2022 Edgware had been a stopping point for journeys to and October from London for hundreds of years, with its main 2022 industry being farming and hay making. The Great September Northern Railway arrived in the second half of the 2022 19th century, but a population boom did not follow. In July 2022 the early years of the 20th century, speculative June 2022 builders like George Cross began to build new houses, May 2022 with the population increasing to just over 1500 by January 1921. The arrival of the tube three years later would 2022 increase this figure by 350% over the next 10 years. December 2021 The new station itself was designed by Stanley Heaps, November chief architect to the UERL, and later the chief 2021 designer for London Transport, although he would be September overshadowed by Charles Holden's input. The station he 2021 designed for Edgware continued the suburban theme he July 2021 used for the previous stations on the extension, at January Hendon, Brent Cross and others. The ticket hall was 2021 placed in the middle of a U-shaped colonnaded parade November containing shops and waiting rooms for bus passengers, 2020 with a palette of wooden doors, black & white quarry October tiles and iron railings. The streamlined modernity of 2020 future stations like Arnos Grove, would have to wait a September few years to arrive at the platform. 2020 Picture July 2020 Sun Trap houses for sale in Old Rectory Gardens. Image May 2020 from RIBApix. January However, there were more modernist designs to be found 2020 not far from Heaps' Neo-Georgian terminus. Just around October the corner from the station is Old Rectory Gardens, 2019 one of the first art deco influenced speculative house September groups to be built in the suburbs. They were designed 2019 by the partnership of Welch, Cachemaille-Day and July 2019 Lander, who became known for their Sun Trap style, April 2019 debuted here. The Sun Trap house incorporated moderne March 2019 elements from modernism and deco such as curved metal December windows, decorative tilework and white render finish, 2018 whilst still keeping a traditional house shape, November usually presented in terraces or semi detached plans. 2018 This compromise became very popular with developers October and was much imitated, still found lining the streets 2018 of Metro-Land and beyond. September Picture 2018 A poster for Roger Malcolm of Edgware, developer of August many speculative estates in Edgware and beyond. Image 2018 from MODA. July 2018 The Old Rectory Gardens houses were built for June 2018 developer Roger Malcolm, who built other schemes in May 2018 the area, also designed by Welch, Cachemaille-Day and April 2018 Lander, and can be found at Mill Ridge and St March 2018 Margarets Road. Other developers followed suit with February estates by developers such as John Laing, Wimpey and 2018 others quickly filling up any available space. Laing January built streets of houses to the north of the new 2018 station on the Broadfield Estate, with its Coronation September type house, complete with rounded entrance and 2017 staircase tower, found at intervals along the new August roads. South from there, just across the Edgware Way 2017 is a collection of art deco houses by builder and July 2017 architect Cyril B Heygate on Highview Avenue from May 2017 1933. Nos 87-91 still exhibit their colourful April 2017 decoration with way lines in red between the two March 2017 floors and beside the upper windows. On the upper end February of the speculative market is 2 Broadfields Avenue, a 2017 moderne house designed by JE Newberry for Streather December and Hogan Builders, an L-shaped house with a curved 2016 staircase tower and streamlined balcony. November Picture 2016 The Gas Light and Coke showroom on Station Road. Image September from RIBApix. 2016 Away from housing, there are shopping parades such as August the Quadrant Parade, Station Road (1928) and Kings 2016 Parade both put up by George Cross, and built in a June 2016 typically interwar style in red brick with some deco May 2016 detailing. A similar match of historical and moderne April 2016 elements was used by Welch, Cachemaille-Day and Lander March 2016 for their Gas Light and Coke showroom on Station Road, January with deco details such as chunky name sign, 2016 streamlined lighting and doors with half moon windows October fitted onto the existing Neo-Georgian shop. The 2015 building still stands, as a Starbucks at 81 Station September Road, but the deco details have long gone. 2015 Picture August The Ritz Cinema, Edgware. Image from Cinema Treasures. 2015 Also in the centre of this new town was the Ritz July 2015 Cinema, designed by architect Major WJ King, who May 2015 designed a number of cinemas around the suburbs. The April 2015 Ritz opened in May 1932, and its design was quite February eye-catching, with the profile of an art deco castle, 2015 with an array of tower-like projections on its January exterior, Inside, it was decorated in a Spanish garden 2015 theme. Complete with painted woodland scenes. The August cinema was modernised in 1968 with a blue metal screen 2014 installed at the front. It remained as a cinema until July 2014 2001, when it closed, being demolished the following June 2014 year. April 2014 Picture February John Keble Memorial Church. Image from Coulthard. 2014 The most obviously modernist building of the interwar November expansion of Edgware was the new church on Deans Lane, 2013 the John Keble Memorial Church (1937), designed by October D.F. Martin-Smith, who had won the competition for its 2013 design, judged by Edward Maufe. It has a square tower September with a concrete lantern, constructed of reinforced 2013 concrete and yellow stock brick. Inside, the ceiling June 2013 is constructed in a diagrid pattern, with a diagonal April 2013 pattern in coffered concrete. The church is now Grade March 2013 II listed. February 2013 Certainly not modernist, but definitely worth mentioning, is the Railway Hotel, an "improved" pub of Categories 1931. It was designed by A.E. Sewell for the Truman Hanbury and Buxton brewery, in a Neo-Tudor style with All half timbering, decorative brick chimneys and leaded windows. Improved pubs were built by the chain [bg_feed] breweries in the 1920s and 30s, seeking to attract a RSS Feed better class of clientele such as families, and designed to include parking facilities, comfortable saloon bars and dining rooms. They were built all around the suburbs, quite often next to or just off the new bypass and circular roads of the era. Some were built in a moderne style, but most harked back to earlier eras, as seen with the Railway Hotel, Unfortunately this example has not been treated well by the 21st century, and is currently in a dilapidated state, despite its listed status. In the postwar years the area continued to become more built up and with modernism becoming the accepted architectural style, a number of tower blocks and offices appeared in the town centre. These in turn have largely been replaced by the 21st century successors as the town undergoes a major redevelopment in a partnership between developers Ballymore and Transport for London, something which has been fought against by locals fearful of the town they know disappearing before their eyes. Many of the houses mentioned here can be found in our Speculative Suburban Houses 1928-38 Mini Guide, available HERE References Pevsner London North- Cherry and Pevsner Semi Detached London- Jackson Tube Station Anthology 1900-1933- Abbott and Trower 1 Comment EDU Links link 28/12/2024 05:56:38 am Get high-quality, blog comments that are 100% unique and tailored to your specific needs. We prioritize quality over quantity, ensuring your brand is represented positively. Reply Leave a Reply. Proudly powered by Weebly * About * Metro-Land and Modernism * The Buildings + North London + West London + East London + South London + Counties * The Architects * Shop + Modernism Beyond Metroland + The Guide + Mini Guides + Tube Station Books * Blog * References & Links