Inventory Site Record

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.

Site location:

The Avenue, Wembley Park

Postcode:

HA9 9PN

What 3 Words:

august.middle.vibrates

Type of site:

Housing/Estate Landscaping

Borough:

Brent

Open to public?

No

Opening times:

for residents only

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Wembley Park

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Research updated:

01/01/2009

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news.

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.

Sources consulted:

'Lawns Court Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan' (LB Brent, Planning Service, March 2006)

Grid ref:

TQ189868 (518537,186772)

Size in hectares:

Site ownership:

private

Site management:

Date(s):

1932-33

Designer(s):

Cashmaille-Day and Lander

Listed structures:

None

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 Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

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

Other LA designation:

None