The Exhibition that saved Bedford Park

The consequences continued

Replacement of existing buildings

In two cases, unfortunate post-war developments have been replaced by replica Bedford Park buildings much more appropriate to their settings. An old shed has recently been replaced by a small modern house designed to harmonise with its neighbours. A near-derelict studio at 2A Queen Anne’s Gardens was replaced in 2012 by a small modern house (not shown).

9 Blenheim Road

The Cloisters, Queen Anne’s Grove

The Cloisters, a very unsympathetic 1959 fill-in of a vacant site between 20 and 22 Queen Anne’s Grove. (Fill-ins at 18A and 18B Queen Anne’s Grove, built in 1972-1977, harmonise much better with their neighbours.) [D W Budworth]

Replica Bedford Park house on the site of the Cloisters, built in 2008-2010. [D W Budworth]

The Yard

Old Yard House, 2017. This small house, designed to harmonise with its neighbours in Woodstock Studios, has recently replaced the former shed on the site. [D W Budworth]

9 Queen Anne’s Gardens

The Triangle

With a more settled and prosperous community, the confidence, will, and means to make a significant improvement to the layout of Bedford Park eventually bore fruit in 1985, some 14 years after Ealing Council, under whose jurisdiction most of the area then fell, invited ideas on how to improve the Triangle at the junction of The Avenue and Woodstock Road. Part of the delay arose from the fact that Hounslow also had an interest in the area. The Triangle is currently wholly within the London Borough of Hounslow.

The original newspaper article (above) of 21 January 1971 outlines the Council’s invitation for ideas with Tom Greeves’s annotation: “Wrote to Council suggesting abolishing these two roads and covering the area with grass. The scheme was carried out 14 years later. Submitted to the AGM BedSoc in 1972.”

The detailed design went through several iterations before the final form was reached. The image is from the Bedford Park Society Greeves Archive.