Ralph Hancock - The Roof Gardens at Derry and Toms

The Roof Gardens At Derry and Toms

The gardens at the Rockefeller were visited by Trevor Bowen, the managing director of Barkers who had taken over Derry and Toms, a department store in Kensington, London. Bowen liked what he saw and employed Hancock to create a similar effect in the heart of London.

This time Hancock was to build three gardens, each with its own unique style and planting. The gardens were; a Tudor garden with herringbone brickwork, impressive Tudor arches and wrought iron. The Spanish garden complete with palm trees and fountains as well as Moorish colonnades. And a woodland garden, built with a cascade, a river and its very own pink flamingoes.

Once again the logistics involved in the construction were impressive. Before planting and building could start a thick bitumastic base was laid on the roof, followed by a layer of loose brick and rubble that was arranged in a fan-like pattern to aid drainage. On top of this was a 36 inch layer of topsoil into which the planting was made. Water came from Derry and Toms own artesian wells. On opening day the gardens contained over 500 different varieties of trees and shrubs.

The gardens were completed in 1938 at a cost of £25,000 and were officially opened by the Earl of Athlone in May of that year. Visitors were charged a shilling (5p) to tour the gardens and over the next 30 years over £120,000 was raised for local hospitals.

Today, the three gardens look virtually as they did in the late 1930s. Many of the original trees, now covered by preservation orders, remain.

• _{Spanish Garden Moorish arches, May 2007}