The Queen's Gardens

By the mid C19th Croydon was a rapidly expanding market town on the fringe of London and on an old coaching route to the South Coast. Croydon Town Railway Station (West Croydon) opened in 1839 and East Croydon Station in 1841. Because the latter was considered too far away from the commercial and shopping centre of Croydon a branch line was opened in January 1868 terminating at Croydon Central in Katharine Street. However, the branch line was never very successful and it closed in November 1871 but it had succeeded in bringing under one ownership a large plot of land in the centre of the town that later became the site of The Queen's Gardens. The redundant station site was offered to Croydon Corporation in 1889 and a municipal complex was proposed to include Municipal Offices, Courts, a Police Station, Library and other public facilities although there was no plan for an adjacent open space or garden at this time.

By 1891 local architect Charles Henman was instructed to prepare alternative plans for the complex and these led to part of the site being set aside as a public garden, probably laid out by the Borough Engineer. The new Town Hall was opened in 1896 by the Prince of Wales and a banquet held in a large marquee that had been erected in the Town Hall Gardens, which were set below ground level. Few changes have taken place in the Victorian gardens, although some alteration occurred when the subway under Park Lane was built in 1963-5, but there had been plans to build over the gardens in the 1930s that came to nothing. By then the Town Hall could no longer accommodate all the Corporation's Departments and a design competition was held in 1935 for an extension to be built on the gardens, which were to be relocated on the Fairfield site. World War II put an end to plans for development until the post-war period when proposals for a new municipal block as part of the Central Area Development Scheme were drawn up by 1956. A garden was included from the beginning. The site was bounded by Mint Walk, Park Lane, Fell Road and Friends Road. The construction was completed in 1968 and all the buildings on the garden site demolished after lengthy discussions.

In keeping with the building, a modern formal design was adopted for the garden with a central axis leading towards Katharine Street. From a horticultural point of view the garden was on the wrong side of the building because of the shade cast by the 18-storey block. After the construction of Taberner House, the Police Station was the only building left that fronted Mint Walk. In conjunction with other road alterations one end of the Walk was stopped up and the remaining portion served the Station. In 1980 when the Police Station was vacated and demolished the remaining road was removed and the area grassed over. The architect of Taberner House envisaged the two gardens being joined together, and his scheme sought to marry together the Victorian aspect of the Town Hall Garden and the formal Taberner House Garden. The new design anticipated a direct line of access with the lower Town Hall Gardens and a depression was created in a position where a change from high to low level could be achieved without further extensive damage to the grounds.

The gardens were renamed The Queen's Gardens when they were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 21 June 1983 for the Borough Centenary, with a small plinth unveiled to commemorate the occasion. The Town Hall Gardens retain their Victorian design with carpet bedding, shrubs and lawns while the largely level Queen's Gardens have cleaner lines, laid out with lawns, flower beds and paths largely centring on a large pool and fountain. Within the gardens are old garden urns.