There are four conservation areas within the town of

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a location * Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire * Su ...

(among several others across the whole of the

London Borough of Sutton The London Borough of Sutton () is a London borough in south-west London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population. It borders the London Borough of Croydon to ...

). One of these is in Sutton town centre - the ''Sutton Town Centre High Street Crossroads Conservation Area'' - while the other three are residential: ''Grove Avenue'', ''Landseer Road'' and the ''Sutton Garden Suburb''. The High Street features "vivid, Victorian, polychrome brick and stone façades", Grove Avenue displays modernist and half-timbered houses, Landseer Road is an area of large, finely detailed, Edwardian villa houses and Sutton Garden Suburb is a member of the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

Sutton Town Centre High Street Crossroads Conservation Area

The ''Sutton Town Centre High Street Crossroads'' Conservation Area was designated on 9 May 2011, following a review of the town centre, which highlighted the historic importance of the highway network at the crossroads of Cheam Road/Carshalton Road and

Sutton High Street Sutton High Street is a high street running north–south through the town of Sutton in the London Borough of Sutton. The High Street area constitutes the sixth most important retail centre in London, and is home to many restaurants and major r ...

, as well as the associated buildings and spaces. The Conservation Area focuses on the area around the historic crossroads, and stretches from the station down to Trinity Square. It also takes in part of Grove Road, in particular the late 19th century masonic hall. It includes two churches, Sutton Baptist Church and Trinity Church. The Carshalton Road section includes the Edwardian era police station. The local authority noted that the buildings, especially their upper storeys, were worthy of preservation and enhancement. Its report concluded that conservation status was warranted on the basis of the historic importance of the area together with its architectural and aesthetic merit. The designation would enable the provision of guidance to landowners and developers on maintaining and improving the historic aspects of the area.Sutton Council document
/ref> Gordon Rookledge in his "Sutton Architectural Identifier" remarks on the "vivid, Victorian, polychrome brick and stone façades" in his description of Sutton High Street.

Heritage Action Zone

In March 2017 it was announced that Sutton town centre had been designated one of the first ten Heritage Action Zones by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked ...

. Gaining this status will unlock resources to enhance the historic environment, including the conservation area, with the aim of encouraging economic growth. Heritage will be made a central consideration for new developments in the area, so as to retain the town's distinct architectural nature.

Landseer Road Conservation Area

''Landseer Road'' Conservation Area includes Landseer Road itself plus all or most of the nearby Bridgefield Road, York Road, Derby Road, Cecil Road and Salisbury Avenue; and short sections of Cheam Road and Grove Road. It was designated in 1992, is nine hectares in size, comprises 138 properties, and is located between Sutton town centre and Cheam Village. Most of the houses are large detached villas. The grandeur of the houses is a notable feature of the area, which is surrounded by mature trees and grass verges. The development of these roads began in the late nineteenth century and was fully completed in 1913. The roads are lined with, according to Gordon Rookledge, the "finest, detailed Edwardian detached and semi-detached houses" in Sutton Borough.

The Sutton Garden Suburb Conservation Area

The ''Sutton Garden Suburb'' is in

Benhilton Benhilton is a suburban parish in north Sutton, Greater London. It is dominated by All Saints Church, which is a Grade II* listed building designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon in a Gothic Revival style and opened in 1863. It also containAll Saint ...

in north Sutton. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, it was the first of the Sutton conservation areas to be designated as such, in 1989. Thomas Wall, famous for his sausages and ice cream, developed the Sutton Garden Suburb between 1912 and 1914. This suburb contributed to the

that was originally conceived by

Ebenezer Howard Sir Ebenezer Howard (29 January 1850 – 1 May 1928) was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication '' To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform'' (1898), the description of a utopian city in whi ...

and was similar to the development of the

Hampstead Garden Suburb Hampstead Garden Suburb is an elevated suburb of London, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations. It is an example of early twentiet ...

in north London. Designed by Frederick Cavendish Pearson for Rose Hill Park Limited, which sold out its rights in 1913 to Sutton Garden Suburb Limited, it has an integrated house and landscape design, some secreted around small greens and others along well-planted avenues. The original plans would have provided for 1,000 houses, to be built around greens and woods including a recreation ground and a clubhouse for members of the Suburb. Tennis courts and a clubhouse were in fact built at the centre of the Suburb, and the remnant of a post of one of the courts can be found on the land, but during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

most of the land was put to use as a

victory garden Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany during World War I ...

instead. Local residents continued to use the land as allotments until they were evicted by the then landowner in 1997. The Sutton Garden Suburb Residents Association was formed soon after, principally to oppose residential development of the site. The land has since fallen into disuse and been taken over by local wildlife. The site is designated as Urban Green Space. The first houses to be built were at Oak Close, followed by Meadow Close, Hawthorne Close and Horseshoe Green. Between 1912 and 1914, 79 houses to Cavendish's plans and elevations had been started on site. Houses in Woodend were started in 1914, and in 1915 a further 55 houses were under construction in Greenhill and Aultone Way, with footings already set out. However, Sutton Garden Suburb Limited failed to obtain permission from the Local Government Board to borrow further money in the winter of 1914. The government also intervened and put a stop to all house building in 1915 following the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighti ...

. After the war, financial difficulties meant that the remaining plots envisaged for development were sold off to local builders for as little as £2 per footing. This is visually evident in the different styles of housing in the area, with most of the semi-detached properties and

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a bun ...

s being built on those plots waiting to be developed before the First World War. Cavendish Pearson was later employed by private individuals to design houses in the Suburb, and notably became involved in designing the nearby

St Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

estate for

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

. Cavendish Pearson is known to have lived at two houses he designed in the Suburb, 12 Woodend in 1914-15, and 20 Meadow Close from 1920-63.

Grove Avenue Conservation Area

''Grove Avenue'' Conservation Area was built as a private estate in the 1920s or early 1930s. It is situated between Grove Road and Cheam Road, near the Landseer Road Conservation Area. The properties consist of single blocks, each containing four maisonettes, presenting a symmetrical facade to the road. The blocks are alternately built in

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

styles. Many of the details survive, including iron-framed windows, hand-painted number and instruction boards, garage facades, front-garden walls, tree plantings and the estate gate-piers.

References

{{Reflist Sutton, London