Noel Park
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The Noel Park estate is an area bordered by the High Road, Lordship Lane and Westbury Avenue in Wood Green, in the borough of Haringey, North London (N22).
Noel Park is also the name given to the public green space bordered by Russell Avenue, Maurice Avenue and Willingdon Road on the Noel Park estate. The park was previously known as Russell Park, but a survey of residents in 2003 suggested it be renamed Noel Park. It was also the usual name of the Noel Park and Wood Green railway station on the Palace Gates Line to Stratford (East) and North Woolwich.
The Parish Church was dedicated to St Mark on 29th March 1889 as part of the Shropshire Mission by the Earl of Bedford and Lord Lieutenant of Salop.
Noel Park is a special place to live. It has a remarkable significance in the history of architecture and social housing, now recognised by its status as a designated Conservation Area. The construction of the estate notably came at a pivotal moment in the evolution of Council Housing.
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[edit] The design and construction of Noel Park
Noel Park was the third of five estates in London to be built by the Artisans', Labourers' and General Dwellings Company (A.L.& G.D.Co). The 100 acre site, once Dovecote Farm, was purchased by the company in 1882 for £56,345. Building was largely completed by 1907, although a further spurt of building, in a different style, took place in the 1920s.
On completion, the estate numbered more than 2,000, houses with a density of 27 houses per acre. It also included Cheapside shopping parade, the Empire Theatre, and the Shropshire Mission Hall on the corner of Lymington Avenue and Darwin Road. The latter was the first place of worship inaugurated on the site, being opened marginally earlier than St Mark's, Noel Park's parish church.
The architect of the original estate was Roland Plumbe, who followed the company style of the earlier A.L.& G.D. Co's estates in Clapham and Queens Park. Terraces with ornate porches, decorative brickwork, and occasional gables and corner turrets, feature in a mixture of Gothic and Jolly Queen Anne revivals. The houses were arranged in five different 'grades', from the smaller, lower-grade homes such as on Moselle Avenue, to the larger ones on Russell Avenue. There is an overall harmony of design within the estate, but each Avenue and Road is different, having its own unique identity.
[edit] Victorian patricians found the village in the city
The estate, to the East of Wood Green High Road in what is now the London Borough of Haringey, was named after Sir Ernest Noel MP, chairman of the A.L& G.D. Co from 1883 to 1928. The main Avenue was named Gladstone in deference to the Prime Minister of the day. Several streets were named after directors of the company, some of whom were also in government, notably Viscount Lymington MP and the Hon. Cecil Ashley MP, son of Lord Shaftsbury. Moselle Avenue is named after 'Moss Well', - now 'Muswell' - the hill where the Moselle Brook begins. Today's residents of Moselle Avenue are not always aware of this waterway nearby, as it has long since been hidden underground.
[edit] Tribulations in the Second World War
Noel Park seemed to act as a magnet for bombs in the Second World War. Gaps in the original architecture, now filled with post-war flats, are reminders of this part of the estate's history. The path of aircraft dropping conventional bombs can be traced by following the trail of damage. Larger devastation occurred in Farrant Avenue and Gladstone Avenue towards the end of the war, caused by unmanned flying bombs. Noel Park suffered both the V1 'doodlebug', and the massive V2 rocket-bomb/missile.
[edit] Homes for the decent and upright working man
Formed in 1867, the A.L.& G.D. Co. attempted to be a profit - making organisation, but with philanthropic ideals, reflecting concern about the dreadful state of London's housing for ordinary people. The aim was to build decent homes for higher - paid workers. The company ran the estate strictly. No pubs were built within the boundaries, for example. Noel Park was to be a stronghold for skilled, successful and respectable working-class people.
At the inauguration of the estate in 1883, Noel said it was being built so that low income people would be able to reside amid pleasant surroundings in the shape of broad and bright streets, trees, attractive houses, good shops, and churches and chapels.
The first rents in Noel Park were between 6s and 11s 6d (30p - 57 1/2 p) weekly, but this was then expensive. The Great Eastern Railway built a station at Noel Park (now the site of Wood Green Shopping City East) to take workers to their jobs but fares were costly too. Unable to find tenants who could afford these expenses, the A.L.& G.D. Co. was pushed into a financial crisis.
[edit] A forerunner of Council Housing
Nevertheless, Noel Park has an important place in social history because the company was the first to produce this kind of accommodation, setting an example for local authorities on which to develop what is now called Council Housing. Slightly earlier in the 19th Century, The Peabody Trust had built housing for the working-class, but this was in high density, tenement blocks. The A.L.& G.D. Co. was the first to build two - story, cottage - style, terraced houses.
The Houses and Working Classes Act, 1890 followed. Liverpool was the first city to build council houses; the London County Council was formed in 1888, but did not build on any scale until the early 20th Century. Noel Park predates this by two decades.
The London Borough of Haringey took over the running of Noel Park from the A.L.& G.D. Co. in the 1960s. The Estate should be treasured for its place in history, and for its delightful architecture. Although valuable, Noel Park is vulnerable: it is hoped that it will be preserved.
[edit] Street names
The distinctive names of the streets in Noel Park are named after contemporary dignitaries and notable persons of the day. So the estate's main avenue is Gladstone Avenue, named after former Prime Minister William Gladstone, Darwin Road is named after Charles Darwin, a stakeholder in the Artisans', Labourers' and General Dwellings Company, Hewitt Avenue after a prominent local QC, etc. The exception to this is Moselle Avenue, named from the Moselle River which flows underneath the area of this road.
[edit] Source
Noel Park - A Social and Architectural History by Caroline Welch available from the Bruce Castle Museum.
[edit] External links
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