Gidea Park - History

History

Gidea Park is the location of the "Romford Garden Suburb" constructed in 1910 to 1911 on the Gidea Hall and Balgores Estates as an exhibition of town planning. Small cottages and houses were designed by more than 100 architects, many of them of considerable reputation. A competition was held to select the best town planning scheme for the suburb and the best designs for houses costing £500 and cottages costing £375. The project, including a new railway station, was promoted by a company founded by three Liberal MP's who had links with the Hampstead Garden Suburb development, Herbert Raphael, John Tudor Walters (later both knighted) and Charles McCurdy.

Known as the "exhibition houses" and set in their garden suburb are fine examples of their time. Six of them are now Grade II listed buildings and all are now very sought after.Further houses mostly of contemporary flat-roofed designs were built in 1934/35 for a "Modern Homes" Exhibition in Heath Drive, Brook Road, Eastern Avenue, one by Lubetkin is now Grade II listed.

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