Noel Park

Noel Park in London, England, is a late-19th early 20th-century planned community consisting of 2,200 model dwellings, designed by Rowland Plumbe. It was developed in open countryside to the north of London in the valley of the River Moselle, about half-way between the historic villages of Highgate and Tottenham. It is one of four developments on the outskirts of London built by the Artizans, Labourers & General Dwellings Company (Artizans Company). From 2003 to sometime in 2009, the name was also given to a small park near the southern edge of Noel Park, formerly known, and now known again as Russell Park.

One of the earliest garden suburbs in the world, Noel Park was designed to provide affordable housing for working-class families wishing to leave the inner city; every property had a front and rear garden. It was planned from the outset as a self-contained community close enough to the rail network to allow its residents to commute to work. In line with the principles of the Artizans Company's founder, William Austin, no public houses were built within the estate, and there are still none today.

As a result of London's rapid expansion during the early 20th century, and particularly after the area was connected to the London Underground in 1932, Noel Park became completely surrounded by later developments. In 1965, it was incorporated into the newly created London Borough of Haringey, and in 1966 it was bought by the local authority and taken into public ownership.

Despite damage sustained during World War II and demolition work during the construction of Wood Green Shopping City in the 1970s, Noel Park today remains largely architecturally intact. In 1982, the majority of the area was granted Conservation Area and Article Four Direction status by the Secretary of State for the Environment, in recognition of its significance in the development of suburban and philanthropic housing and in the history of the modern housing estate.

Read more about Noel Park:  Location, Modern Noel Park, Derivation of Street Names

Famous quotes containing the words noel and/or park:

    O Gold! I still prefer thee unto paper,
    Which makes bank credit like a bark of vapour.
    —George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)

    and the words never said,
    And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
    We sat in the car park till twenty to one
    And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.
    Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)