Description
Lawns Court was a speculative housing development by Messrs Haymills designed in the International or Moderne style popular in the 1930s, with careful regard to the relationship between buildings and open space. The low-rise blocks are set back from The Avenue, fronted by a low brick retaining wall and hedges that forms the boundary of a communal green planted with grass and trees. Behind and to either side of this garden are the front gardens of ground floor flats formed as a continuous landscape strip.
Practical Information
| Site location | The Avenue, Wembley Park |
|---|---|
| Postcode | HA9 9PN |
| What3Words | ///august.middle.vibrates |
| Type of Site | Housing/Estate Landscaping |
| Borough | Brent |
| Open to Public | No |
| Opening Times | for residents only |
| Public Transport | Tube: Wembley Park |
| Research Updated | 1 January 2009 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Lawns Court was built by Messrs Haymills on the former agricultural land of the Holland Estate of Forty Farm, on the lower west side of Barn Hill. Haymills had purchased the adjacent Barn Hill estate in 1923, probably encouraged by the British Empire Exhibition of 1924-5, which had brought improved transport facilities to the area. Barn Hill was recorded as Bardonhill from at least 1547 and in the late C18th was part of the Uxendon estate owned by the Page family who formed Wembley Park, employing Humphry Repton to lay out the landscape park. The land was not developed for housing until the C20th.
Earlier examples of Haymills' house building projects of the 1920s were generally mock-Tudor in style but Lawns Court was designed by architects Cashmaille-Day and Lander in the Moderne or International style that became popular in the 1930s. The estate comprises six linear apartment blocks faced in characteristic rendering, of varying lengths. They are arranged in a dog-legged formation so as to accommodate a small triangular communal garden between the central four blocks and the main road. In addition to this communal garden the blocks are set back behind communal front gardens and each of the ground floor flats has a private rear garden. 'The subtlety of implied ownership in the front gardens is quite unique and reflects the interest in egalitarian landscapes expressed in Modern Movement theory' (Conservation Area Appraisal statement). The ground floor flats have there own front paths and boundary gates, with wider paths to the communal entrances. Unlike the back gardens, which are private spaces for each ground floor flat, the front gardens are formed as a continuous strip without dividing hedges or other boundaries. So although the residents benefit from the visual amenity of an open and cohesively planted garden there is a relationship between each ground floor flat and the space in front. This is emphasised with owners adding individual touches to the front gardens immediately in front of their flats. Some of the flats above have roof terraces. The small triangular green has an open but leafy character connecting it as much to the public realm as the apartment blocks.
Earlier examples of Haymills' house building projects of the 1920s were generally mock-Tudor in style but Lawns Court was designed by architects Cashmaille-Day and Lander in the Moderne or International style that became popular in the 1930s. The estate comprises six linear apartment blocks faced in characteristic rendering, of varying lengths. They are arranged in a dog-legged formation so as to accommodate a small triangular communal garden between the central four blocks and the main road. In addition to this communal garden the blocks are set back behind communal front gardens and each of the ground floor flats has a private rear garden. 'The subtlety of implied ownership in the front gardens is quite unique and reflects the interest in egalitarian landscapes expressed in Modern Movement theory' (Conservation Area Appraisal statement). The ground floor flats have there own front paths and boundary gates, with wider paths to the communal entrances. Unlike the back gardens, which are private spaces for each ground floor flat, the front gardens are formed as a continuous strip without dividing hedges or other boundaries. So although the residents benefit from the visual amenity of an open and cohesively planted garden there is a relationship between each ground floor flat and the space in front. This is emphasised with owners adding individual touches to the front gardens immediately in front of their flats. Some of the flats above have roof terraces. The small triangular green has an open but leafy character connecting it as much to the public realm as the apartment blocks.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ189868 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | private |
| Dates | 1932-33 |
| Designers | Cashmaille-Day and Lander |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Brent |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Lawns Court |
| Tree Preservation Order | Not known |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
Gallery
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Nearby parks and gardens
Modestly designed interwar park created for the surrounding council housing of Preston Park Estate, built between 1927-37. The land was once part of Preston Farm, which until 1086 had belonged to the church. Preston was a rural hamlet until the station was opened in the area in 1931/2 although the railway had run through the area from 1880 and there was a halt by 1908. Planting in the park consists chiefly of willows and poplars, with some specimen trees and ornamental conifers; there is a bowling green to the east.
The site, which comprises two adjacent sports fields, is partly public open space and partly sports ground. Its recreational use dates from at least the 1920s. In 1920 an area of land at the west of Tenterden Fields was bequeathed for sports and later named after John Billam; a large flat open space, it had a pavilion built for Selfridge's Sports Ground, which was opened by Princess Wiasenski, daughter of Gordon Selfridge; the pavilion was subsequently acquired by Middlesex County Council and was later in private use. An aerial photograph taken in 1928 shows the sports field and pavilion; the OS Map of 1935 shows the site laid out with playing fields, tennis courts and pavilions.
The land was formerly part of Read's Farm and was purchased from Edward Spencer Churchill by Wembley UDC in 1913 and laid out as a public park in memory of the late king and also in compensation for the loss of Wembley Park as public open space. King Edward VII Park was opened on 4 July 1914, reputedly by Queen Alexandra. The park had a lodge, a rustic bandstand and picturesque refreshment pavilion; a children's gymnasium with swings, a giant slide and see-saws, a shallow pond and a drinking fountain. There were facilities for tennis and bowling, and the lower part was laid out for cricket and hockey, separated by a belt of elms. There were gravelled walks and seating, formal planting and numerous beds with shrubs and trees.
