Risley Avenue, N17

Road in/near Tower Gardens, existing between 1909 and now.

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Road · * · N17 ·
FEBRUARY
14
2021
Risley Avenue is part of the Tower Gardens Estate.

The Tower Gardens Estate has a very special place in the history of Council house building. It was one of the first ’garden suburbs’ in the world and its architecture is of extremely high quality.

At the turn of the twentieth century Tottenham was a suburb served by new railways and at the end of the tram lines. It was surrounded by fields which the newly formed London County Council (LCC ) could acquire using as-yet hardly-used powers to buy land and build housing.

Early experiments in housing design for workers had produced beautiful picturesque estates outside London modelled on traditional rural housing, such as Port Sunlight and Bourneville. They were designed by some of the most progressive architects of their day and funded by rich social reformers. Their architectural philosophy respected co-operation between architects and craftspeople and was called the ’Arts and Crafts Movement’.

The LCC wanted to improve housing conditions for the working classes by providing well-constructed homes in pleasant surroundings for rent. The provision of local authority housing to supply the needs of working people only became possible following an 1885 Royal Commission Enquiry into the provision of housing for working people. The result was the 1890 Housing of the Working Classes Act. The Act, for the first time, gave general powers to local authorities to build housing for the needs of working people.

In 1898 Ebenezer Howard published ’Tomorrow-A peaceful path to real reform’ - the book which launched the Garden City movement and Town Planning.

Immediately after its publication, the Jewish entrepreneur Samuel Montagu (later made Lord Swaythling) donated £10 000 to purchase land and build at lower density to provide accommodation in a ’garden suburb’ setting. This donation was tied to the rehousing of Jewish workers resident in the Tower Hamlets parishes and required an area of land to be set aside for public gardens: hence the name Tower Gardens.

Between 1898 and 1914 the LCC provided 2915 housing units on four estates at Tooting, Hammersmith, Croydon and at Tottenham. The 954 housing units on Tower Gardens form about one third of the total and make it the largest enterprise. Tower Gardens was also the first LCC estate to be built outside the LCC area. Tower Gardens was the foremost housing achievement of the early London County Council . It demonstrates the unequalled idealism, boldness and scale of operation of the early LCC under the Progressive Party, whose political will brought together the professional skills and financial resources to undertake such large scale social housing projects.

The estate was planned on a grid - a layout which has successfully resisted modem rat-running by cars. Each phase of development was designed with its own theme and containing architectural variety. The western portion of the estate in Wood Green Borough developed only after a special Act of Parliament gave right of exemption from building regulations for garden suburb developments. This freed it from regulations as to road widths, height of rooms and design of party walls.

Streets were named after lords of Tottenham Manor. Sir John Risley was lord of the manor in 1507.

First phase between Tower Gardens Road and Risley Avenue was completed before 1910. 1914-15 developments extended up to The Roundway and continued beyond it through the 1920s. Topham Square was added in 1920s. Later sections owe less to the Arts and Crafts movement and become progressively more standardised.




Main source: Tower Gardens – Tottenham’s Garden Suburb | Haringey Council
Further citations and sources


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Comment
Kathleen   
Added: 28 Jul 2021 08:59 GMT   

Spigurnell Road, N17
I was born and lived in Spigurnell Road no 32 from 1951.My father George lived in Spigurnell Road from 1930’s.When he died in’76 we moved to number 3 until I got married in 1982 and moved to Edmonton.Spigurnell Road was a great place to live.Number 32 was 2 up 2 down toilet out the back council house in those days

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Comment
Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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Summerhill Road (1914)
TUM image id: 1582908280
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Millfield Nursery
TUM image id: 1490628737
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

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Junction of Lordship Lane, Tottenham and Boreham Road, looking east (1908)
Old London postcard
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