Bedford Park, London
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Bedford Park is a suburban development in
Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, begun in 1875 under the direction of Jonathan Carr, with many large houses in British Queen Anne Revival style by
Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...
and other leading
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
architects including Edward William Godwin, Edward John May, Henry Wilson, and
Maurice Bingham Adams Maurice Bingham Adams FRIBA (1849–1933) was a British architect in the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts style.Curl, J. S., & Wilson, S., (2015) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture'', 3rd edn, (OUP, Oxford) Life Adams was born in ...
. Its architecture is characterised by red brick with an eclectic mixture of features, such as tile-hung walls,
gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s in varying shapes, balconies,
bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...
s,
terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...
and rubbed brick decorations,
pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...
s, elaborate chimneys, and
balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...
s painted white. The estate's main roads converge on its public buildings, namely its church, St Michael and All Angels; its club, now the London Buddhist Vihara; its inn, The Tabard, and next door its shop, the Bedford Park Stores; and its Chiswick School of Art, now replaced by the Arts Educational Schools. Bedford Park has been described as the world's first garden suburb, creating a model of apparent informality emulated around the world. It became extremely fashionable in the 1880s, attracting artists including the poet and dramatist
W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
, the actor William Terriss, the actress Florence Farr, the playwright Arthur Wing Pinero and the painter
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
to live on the estate. It appeared in the works of G. K. Chesterton and
John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...
, and was gently mocked in the '' St James's Gazette''. The development is protected by a
conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
in the
London Borough of Ealing The London Borough of Ealing () is a London boroughs, London borough in London, England. It comprises the districts of Acton, London, Acton, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Northolt, Perivale and Southall. With a population of 367,100 inhabitants, i ...
, and a smaller one in the
London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow ( ) is a London borough in west London, England, forming part of Outer London. It is governed by Hounslow London Borough Council. The borough stretches from near Central London in the east (Chiswick) to the b ...
. Over 350 of its buildings are
Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
; the church and the inn are Grade II*. The historian of London, Stephen Inwood, calls it probably the best garden suburb in London.


Garden suburb


Development

Bedford Park's developer was Jonathan Carr, who in 1875 bought of land just north of Turnham Green Station on the
District Line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road tube station (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines), Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One br ...
, opened in 1869. The
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
was only 30 minutes away by steam train. The area included three existing Georgian houses: Bedford House (now on The Avenue) for which the new estate was named; Melbourne House, set back from South Parade; and Sidney House, which stood between The Avenue and Woodstock Road, and was replaced by a block of flats in the 1890s. File:Bedford House, The Avenue, Bedford Park with John Lindley blue plaque.jpg, Bedford House, The Avenue, is an 18th-century house, lending its name to the estate which grew up around it. File:Melbourne House, South Parade.jpg, Melbourne House, South Parade was one of the few other existing houses on the estate. The area covered by the estate's housing grew, and neighbouring areas were also developed. By 1883, Carr's 24 acres had become acres, with almost 500 houses. By 1915 Bedford Park stretched from Esmond Road in the west to Abinger Road in the east, and from Flanders Road in the south to Fielding Road in the north; and where the estate had in 1877 been bordered by orchards and farmland, it had become part of an integrated network of streets.


Estate plan

File:Maurice B. Adams map of Bedford Park 1897.jpg, The architect
Maurice Bingham Adams Maurice Bingham Adams FRIBA (1849–1933) was a British architect in the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts style.Curl, J. S., & Wilson, S., (2015) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture'', 3rd edn, (OUP, Oxford) Life Adams was born in ...
's map of Bedford Park, 1897 File:Focus of Bedford Park Garden Suburb.svg, Locations of community buildings. The development was enabled by the arrival of the
District Line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road tube station (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines), Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One br ...
in 1869.
The plan of the estate was of three main roads, namely The Avenue from the north, Woodstock Road from the northeast, and Bath Road from the east, which converged on the focal area with the new church, St Michael and All Angels, the new inn, The Tabard, its next-door neighbour the Bedford Park Stores, and an art school a little further up Bath Road. There was a club house, meant to be the social centre of the estate, on The Avenue, now much modified as the London Buddhist Vihara. The area at the western end of Bath Road was intended to be the centre of a village-like complex. File:The Church, Tabard Inn and Stores from Acton Green by Edward Hargitt 1882.jpg, The Church, Tabard Inn and Stores from Acton Green by Edward Hargitt, 1882 File:School of Art, Stores and Tabard Inn by Thomas Erat Harrison 1882.jpg, School of Art, Stores and Tabard Inn by Thomas Erat Harrison, 1882


Community buildings

The architect
Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...
set the style for the suburb with his early houses, and provided its focus with the community buildings. He designed the Stores, a private house, and the "Hostelry" as a single block with matching heights but varying architectural details. He designed the estate church, St Michael and All Angels, in a similar Queen Anne Revival style to his Bedford Park houses, an unusual choice for an ecclesiastical building, though incorporating a measure of
Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...
. The School of Art was designed by
Maurice Bingham Adams Maurice Bingham Adams FRIBA (1849–1933) was a British architect in the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts style.Curl, J. S., & Wilson, S., (2015) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture'', 3rd edn, (OUP, Oxford) Life Adams was born in ...
. The school was meant to provide the estate with a feeling of community. It taught classes such as "Freehand drawing in all its branches, practical Geometry and perspective, pottery and tile painting, design for decorative purposes – as in Wall-papers, Furniture, Metalwork, Stained Glass". File:London Buddhist Vihara, London, UK.jpg, The estate club on The Avenue by
Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...
, 1878 File:Plans for Bedford Park Club by Norman Shaw 1878.jpg, Shaw's 1878 plans for Bedford Park Club, with two billiard rooms The Tabard pub Chiswick735.JPG, The estate inn, The Tabard by Shaw, Bath Road, 1879 File:Norman Shaw's plan for Bedford Park Stores and Hostelry 1879.jpg, Shaw's plan for Bedford Park Stores and Hostelry 1880 File:Bedford Park Stores (and Tabard) corner view.jpg, The estate shop, the Bedford Park Stores (with a private house and The Tabard), all by Shaw, 1880 File:St Michael and All Angels.jpg, The estate church of St Michael and All Angels by Shaw, 1880 File:St Michael and All Angels by Norman Shaw Building News 1879.jpg, Shaw's St Michael and All Angels, drawn by Maurice Adams for ''Building News'', 1879 File:Chiswick School of Art, Bath Road, 1881.jpg, Design for Chiswick School of Art, Bath Road by
Maurice Bingham Adams Maurice Bingham Adams FRIBA (1849–1933) was a British architect in the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts style.Curl, J. S., & Wilson, S., (2015) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture'', 3rd edn, (OUP, Oxford) Life Adams was born in ...
, 1881


Informality

A major feature of Bedford Park is its apparently informal plan. One suggestion is that this derived from a desire to protect the estate's fine trees, the smaller streets incorporating bends to allow the favoured mature trees to remain. This is denied by the local historian David Budworth, who writes that the roads followed plot boundaries, which were marked by trees, though he accepts that avoiding trees influenced the siting of some houses. The historian Stephen Inwood writes that the plan was to look unplanned, without squares, without formal crescents, and almost without right angles; the bending streets could be village lanes, just as the houses give the illusion of being country cottages. Budworth however traces the origins of the bends in each road, finding practical explanations: Woodstock Road takes its lines from the eastern edge of Carr's 24-acre purchase; a track, with bend, already existed by 1875; and the bends in Queen Anne's Gardens may, he writes, have been introduced to allow best use to be made of the trapezoidal area delineated by The Avenue, Blenheim Road, Woodstock Road, and Bedford Road. The ''Bedford Park Gazette'' of July 1883 quoted a report from the ''Daily News'' to the effect that the estate's roads were made "with cunning carelessness to curve in such wise as never to leave the eye to stare at nothing... he streetsform a succession of views as if the architect had taken a hint from Nature". Visitors admired the country feeling of the suburb, rather than the assemblage of buildings; the essayist Ian Fletcher comments that it was '' rus in urbe'', the countryside in the city, noting that in the 1880s and '90s,
nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, ...
s were reported to sing in the gardens. The informality attracted intellectuals and artists; some twenty houses incorporated studios for artists to work in. A result was a reputation for being aesthetic and arty. File:Zigzag in Queen Anne's Gardens, Bedford Park.jpg, Double bend in Queen Anne's Gardens File:Leafy Bedford Road.jpg, Bedford Park was by intention a pleasant leafy place to live. This view is on Bedford Road. File:Joseph Nash's studio with 1879 cartouche Blenheim Road on Norman Shaw corner house.jpg, Joseph Nash Jr.'s
studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...
with 1879 cartouche, Blenheim Road, on Norman Shaw corner house


Architecture

Many of the best-known architects of the Victorian era contributed buildings in a mixture of styles in Bedford Park; two of them, E. J. May and Maurice Adams, chose to live on the estate. Major architects involved in the early period of the creation of the estate included Edward William Godwin, Richard Norman Shaw, Edward John May, Henry Wilson, and
Maurice Bingham Adams Maurice Bingham Adams FRIBA (1849–1933) was a British architect in the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts style.Curl, J. S., & Wilson, S., (2015) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture'', 3rd edn, (OUP, Oxford) Life Adams was born in ...
; later, a modernist building was contributed by C.F.A. Voysey, and another by Fritz Ruhemann and Michael Dugdale. Most of the houses are large, often
detached A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling, single-family residence (SFR) or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family residential dwelling. Definitions ...
or
semi-detached A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single-family Duplex (building), duplex dwelling that shares one common party wall, wall with its neighbour. The name distinguishes this style of construction from detached houses, with no sh ...
, but there are some smaller terraced cottages, such as on Marlborough Crescent. Most, too, are in British Queen Anne Revival style, meaning a mix of English and Flemish house styles from the 17th and 18th centuries, but elements of many other styles are included in some of the houses. The streets, too, have names from the time of Queen Anne (1665–1714), as for instance Addison Grove for
Joseph Addison Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 May 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with w ...
(1672–1719), Newton Grove for
Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
(1642–1726), Blenheim Road for the Battle of Blenheim (1704), Marlborough Crescent for the Duke of Marlborough, victor of that battle, Woodstock Road for the site of Marlborough's Blenheim Palace, and Queen Anne's Gardens for the monarch herself. Characteristic features of the houses are red brick, walls hung with tiles,
gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s of varying shapes, balconies,
bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...
s,
terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...
and rubbed brick decorations,
pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...
s, elaborate chimneys, and
balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...
s painted white. The eclectic approach is well seen in the estate church of St Michael and All Angels, where Shaw has incorporated Arts & Crafts, Georgian,
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
, Tudor, and
Wren Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 96 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old Worl ...
styles. File:Smaller Bedford Park cottages, Marlborough Crescent.jpg, Smaller Bedford Park cottages, Marlborough Crescent File:Woodstock House, Woodstock Road.jpg, Mock Tudor style: Woodstock House, Woodstock Road


Industry

The area has always been residential, but in Flanders Road, near the railway line, the 1897 Bedford Park Works was home to a
coachbuilder A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, Coach (bus), motor coaches, and passenger car (rai ...
, H. J. Mulliner & Co.; the neighbouring Bedford Park Stores building was used as its showroom. The long-established firm increasingly specialised in coachwork for luxury Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars. It was taken over by
Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
in 1959; the site is occupied by an office block, Mulliner House.


Promotion

Carr commissioned the artist F. Hamilton Jackson to create a set of nine
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
s to publicise his Bedford Park development, including one, picturing St Michael and All Angels church, described as iconic, claiming that the suburb was "the healthiest place in the world". The development was promoted to people who had a moderate income but who had "aesthetic sensibilities". The promotion mentioned "A Garden and a Bath Room with Hot and Cold water to every house, whatever its size", and "A Kindergarten and good Cheap Day Schools on the Estate, and a School of Art. Also Church, Club (for Ladies & Gentlemen), Stores, 'The Tabard Inn', Tennis Courts, &c."


Impact


Fashion

Living in Bedford Park, with its church, parish hall, club, shops, pub and school of art, became the height of fashion in the 1880s.
W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
, the actor William Terriss, the actress Florence Farr, the playwright Arthur Wing Pinero and the painter
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
lived here. Pissarro made five paintings of the estate among his London works. Living there was felt to signify some connection with aestheticism. Nine painters contributed works to an 1882 illustrated book, ''Bedford Park'', celebrating the suburb. Bedford Park is Saffron Park in G. K. Chesterton's '' The Man Who Was Thursday'' and Biggleswick in
John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. As a ...
's '' Mr Standfast''. ''The Man Who Was Thursday'' begins: Fletcher wrote that Chesterton knew the suburb well, having met his future wife there; his depiction of it was "somewhat fantastic, somewhat inaccurate", as he liked to dramatise people, but his depiction was one of many, portraying Bedford Park as "Arcadian, Aesthetic, Bohemian; as ... a romantic Socialist Co-operative". Its residents were "artists, poets, academics, journalists, actors" and educated professionals, all self-conscious and articulate. File:A Garden in Bedford Park by F. Hamilton Jackson.jpg, A garden in Queen Anne's Grove by Frederick Hamilton Jackson, 1882 File:7 Queen Anne's Gardens by Thomas Matthews Rooke.jpg, 7 Queen Anne's Gardens
by T. M. Rooke, 1882
File:Newton Grove by Joseph Nash Jr 1882.jpg, Newton Grove by Joseph Nash Jr, 1882 File:The Avenue by John Charles Dollman 1882.jpg, The Avenue by John Charles Dollman, 1882 File:Bath Road looking east by Berry F. Berry 1882.jpg, Bath Road looking east by
Berry F. Berry Berry Francis Berry (3 December 1852 – 4 December 1926) was an English painter and book illustrator. He was born in Barrow Hill, St John's Wood, London, to George Berry and Ann Woods. On 24 June 1880 he married Amy Palmer Goodall in Fulham, Lon ...
, 1882 File:Bath Road, London by Camille Pissarro.jpg, '' Bath Road, London'' by the
Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( ; ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). ...
, 1897
So fashionable did the suburb become that Bedford Park came in for some gentle ribbing in the '' St James's Gazette'' of 17 December 1881 in the lengthy "Ballad of Bedford Park", with verses such as Fletcher commented that the ballad "sounds like a malicious insider: dubious drains, Aestheticism, agnosticism, speculative building, are all present". By 1888, the area's fashionability may have been declining; a piece by a Miss M. Nicolle in
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
's ''
The Woman's World ''The Woman's World'' was a Victorian women's magazine published by Orion Publishing Group, Cassell between 1886 and 1890, edited by Oscar Wilde between 1887 and 1889, and by Ella Hepworth Dixon from 1888.. Foundation In the late nineteenth ce ...
'' magazine stated that "five or six years ago, Bedford Park was supposed to be the Mecca of Aestheticism... Much has happened since then. Bedford Park is no longer aesthetic (if indeed it ever was so) and the appreciation of Japanese art-wares has long ceased to be confined within its narrow bounds."


Significance

Bedford Park has been described as the world's first garden suburb. Although it was not built in the co-operative manner like some later developments ( Brentham Garden Suburb, Hampstead Garden Suburb), it created a model that was emulated not just by 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 Green belt, greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, i ...
, but by suburban developments around the world. Sir John Betjeman called Bedford Park "the most significant suburb built in the last century, probably in the western world". Herman Muthesius, the German author of the 1904 book ''The English House'', commented that "It signifies neither more nor less than the starting point of the smaller modern house, which spread from there over the whole country". The historian of London Stephen Inwood writes that it "looks and feels like a true garden suburb, probably the best in London". John J. Duffy, reviewing Ian Fletcher's essay "Bedford Park: Aesthete's Elysium?", calls Bedford Park "timidly self-conscious and physically ill-constructed", and "that imaginary museum in the London suburbs where inhabitants tried to break down the limits between art and life by time-travelling in the historically self-conscious architecture of their homes". He writes that Fletcher suggests that such a project would have required "a firmer base than a genteel Bohemianism and the omphalos of the District Railway linking it to time-conscious London". Chesterton mocked the red-brick suburb with its "manufactured quaintness ... model cottages ... and arty-crafty shops", writing "Match me this marvel save where aesthetes are, A rose-red suburb half as old as Carr", a
parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
of a famous couplet from J. W. Burgon's 1845 poem ''Petra'' about an ancient Middle Eastern city: "Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime, A rose-red city half as old as time". The popular press, like the architectural journals, admired the development. '' The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News'' commented in 1879 that "There is no attempt to conceal with false fronts, or stucco ornament or unmeaning balustrades ... everything is simple, honest, unpretending", and "There is an old-world air about the place despite its newness, a strong touch of Dutch homeliness, with an air of English comfort and luxuriousness, but not a bit of the showy, artificial French stuffs which prevailed in our homes when Queen Anne was on the throne".


Protection: The Bedford Park Society

Despite their creation by well-known architects, buildings in the suburb, especially the larger houses to the west with large gardens, have been demolished by developers to make way for blocks of flats. Among these was Carr's own property, Tower House on Bedford Road. Shaw designed it for him in 1878; it had 16 rooms, and its grounds were large enough to include both tennis and badminton courts. It served as St Catherine's Convent from 1908 to 1933, when it was replaced by St Catherine's Court. The Bedford Park Society, a
registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...
, was formed in 1963 by the local activist Harry Taylor and the architect Tom Greeves. Their concerns were united by the demolition of another Shaw house, The Bramptons on Bedford Road, to make way for a flat-roofed old people's home. The poet John Betjeman, a founder of the Victorian Society, became its first patron. A breakthrough for the society came in 1967 when 356 of Bedford Park's houses were individually
Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
; this unprecedented move was seen to be necessary to protect the suburb, as
conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
s did not then exist in Britain. In 1969, with the law updated, the
London Borough of Ealing The London Borough of Ealing () is a London boroughs, London borough in London, England. It comprises the districts of Acton, London, Acton, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Northolt, Perivale and Southall. With a population of 367,100 inhabitants, i ...
made Bedford Park a conservation area; in 1970, the
London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow ( ) is a London borough in west London, England, forming part of Outer London. It is governed by Hounslow London Borough Council. The borough stretches from near Central London in the east (Chiswick) to the b ...
followed suit for its part of the suburb.


Notable residents

Before the estate was developed,
John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...
(1799–1865), botanist, lived at Bedford House, The Avenue, marked with a blue plaque. ; Born in the 19th century *
Hubert Willis Hubert Willis (1862 – 13 December 1933) was a British actor best known for his recurring role as Dr. Watson, Doctor Watson in a Sherlock Holmes (Stoll film series), series of silent Sherlock Holmes films co-starring with Eille Norwood. St ...
(1862–1933),
silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
actor, lived at 39 Marlborough Crescent. *
W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
(1865–1939), poet, and his brother Jack Butler Yeats lived at 3 Blenheim Road, marked with a Bedford Park Society plaque. * Sir Sydney Cockerell (1867–1962),
Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...
curator, arts collector, lived at 51 Woodstock Road, 5 Priory Gardens, and 3 Fairfax Road. * Harold Hume Piffard (1867–1939), artist, illustrator, and early aviator, lived at 18 Addison Road. * Cecil Aldin (1870–1935), animal painter, lived at 47 Priory Avenue (then numbered 41). * Karl Parsons (1884–1934), stained glass artist, lived at 38 Gainsborough Road. ; Born in the 20th century * Jo Grimond (1913–1993), Liberal politician, lived at 24 Priory Avenue. *
Alec Dickson Dr Alexander Graeme Dickson CBE (23 May 1914 – 23 September 1994) was the founder of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Dickson graduated from Oxford University in 1935 and worked as a foreign correspondent in Central Europe during the rise of H ...
(1914–1994) and his wife Mora, who founded
Voluntary Service Overseas VSO is a not-for-profit international development organization charity with a vision for "a fair world for everyone" and a mission to "create lasting change through volunteering". VSO delivers development impact through a blended volunteer model c ...
and
Community Service Volunteers Volunteering Matters is a UK charity focused on "''the advancement of citizenship and community development for the public benefit through the promotion of volunteering''". It was founded in 1962 as Community Service Volunteers (CSV) by Mora and ...
, lived at 19 Blenheim Road, marked by a Bedford Park Society plaque. * Michael Flanders (1922–1975), entertainer, lived at 63 Esmond Road, marked by an Ealing Civic Society green plaque. * Blake Butler (1924–1981), actor, lived at 33 Bath Road. * Richard Briers (1934–2013), sitcom actor, lived and died at 6 The Orchard. * Fenja Anderson (1941–2020) of 33 Abinger Road painted four watercolours of Bedford Park streets; these now hang in St Michael and All Angels Church.


References


Further reading

* Binns, Sheila (2013). ''The Aesthetics of Utopia: Saltaire, Akroydon and Bedford Park'', Spire Books. * Budworth, David W (2012). ''Jonathan Carr's Bedford Park'', The Bedford Park Society. * Girouard, Mark (1977). ''Sweetness and Light: The "Queen Anne" Movement, 1860–1900'',
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. * Greeves, Tom (revised edition 2010). ''Bedford Park: the first Garden Suburb'', Wordsearch Communications. 95pp.


External links


The Bedford Park Society

Bedford Park Residents Association

W B Yeats Bedford Park Artwork Project
{{Authority control Areas of London Conservation areas in London Districts of the London Borough of Ealing Districts of the London Borough of Hounslow Garden suburbs Places formerly in Middlesex