Broadfield House

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Broadfield House, south side

Broadfield House is a 19th century mansion in Broadfield , a borough of Crawley , West Sussex , England . The house, built in 1830 on the extensive grounds of the Tilgate Estate, is located south of the then small market town of Crawley and was later expanded in the 19th century and converted into a country club . After World War II , the British government decided that Crawley should become a new town , so the city had to prepare for rapid, strictly planned growth. Broadfield House was selected to be the headquarters of the Development Corporation , making it the place where all the decisions that would determine the future appearance of the city were made. The house, which is still in parkland today, is a Listed Building that was rated Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance .

architecture

Broadfield House is located in Broadfield Park, a nature reserve with lakes and landscaped gardens, and the interior is designed in a neoclassical style. It is a plastered house with a curved front facade and two floors. The Welsh slate roof has striking eaves . A porch supported by pillars runs around the east and north of the building, facing the lake in the park. The entrance is on the north side, but the main facade is to the east and on the driveway that connects to Brighton Road. In the 1860s, a single-story side wing was added on the west side to accommodate a hall and gallery. Its three bays have arched windows . The north side also includes three bays. Most of the windows in the building have blinds .

history

Founded six centuries earlier on an old road from London to Brighton , the market town of Crawley was a thriving center for trade and commerce at the beginning of the 19th century. The construction of a toll road at the end of the 18th century had greatly simplified the mutual accessibility of London and the seaside resort of Brighton, and Crawley's location about halfway made it the ideal place to rest on the journey or change the carriage crew. Wealthy families and members of the money aristocracy, who had to get to London quickly and easily, built country estates and mansions in the vicinity of Crawley. One of the largest of these country estates was Tilgate Estate. It covered 2,185  acres (about 545  hectares ) of woodland and open country, the south was from Crawley at Brighton Road. The main building at the manor was originally the Tilgate Mansion until it was demolished in the 1950s. The villa-like Broadfield House, built around 1830, was built directly west of Brighton Road.

For many years, the parkland building in a rural setting was used as a hotel and country club, while Crawley developed into a slowly growing, prosperous small town. Shortly after the end of the Second World War in 1945, the cabinet and regional planning committees began to deal with the problems of the London-centered housing and labor market. London was considered overpopulated and affected by slum formation , which was exacerbated by the widespread war damage. The construction of planned New Tows with sufficient space for expansion in the south-east of England was therefore proposed. The Ministry of Town and Country Planning department responsible for the south-east found that Crawley and the surrounding area suffered from accidental and poorly planned development, since the beginning of the 20th century the large country estates had been divided up and sold and therefore a suitable candidate for the consistent planning of a development with high residential density would be. Intentions went well and the decision to make Crawley the second New Town in the United Kingdom was announced on July 12, 1946, a provisional planning committee was set up in September and the New Towns Act 1946 was passed shortly thereafter. With him, the government received the legal basis to plan and build New Towns. An approximately 1,500 acre area around Crawley was legally established in January 1947 and in February 1947 the Crawley Development Corporation was established. Architect Thomas Bennett was appointed chairman of the planning committee, which consisted of tax officials, engineers, technicians, surveyors, and other professionals.

The Development Corporation needed space from which to conduct the planning. The intention was not to build any of their own; instead, they waited to see if there was a suitable opportunity when properties in Crawley were sold. Office space in London was used temporarily in the early months. In late 1947, Broadfield House, which until then was still in use as a country club, was closed and put up for sale. On August 23, 1948, the building was commissioned as the headquarters of the Crawley Development Corporation; at the time it had 90 employees. Additional buildings were built on the site to accommodate architects and engineers; the Crawleyer construction company James Longley & Co. began the extension in March 1949, which was completed a few months later.

Crawley Development Corporation was dissolved in 1964 after building nine residential areas, shopping and civic centers and an industrial area with Manor Royal , and Crawley's population had increased from 9,000 to 59,000 in 17 years. Broadfield House was converted into offices for the Crawley Urban District Council, created in 1956, whose job was to administer the city (when Crawley became a borough in 1974 , that council became Crawley Borough Council). In 1984 the building was acquired by the newly established ultra-short wave radio station Radio Mercury , which began broadcasting on October 20, 1984 for West Sussex and Surrey on the frequency 102.7  megahertz . The radio station later moved to offices in the Manor Royal industrial estate and the building was often vacant until 2008. At that time, a building application was submitted to convert the building into an apartment block with twelve apartments. The building permit was granted a few months later, but not implemented.

Todays use

In September 2011 the Montessori Discovery School moved into the building. It is one of the first free schools in England. She teaches primary school children between the ages of four and eleven . In the first year, 48 students between the ages of four and seven attended the school, with the number of students expected to increase to 112 in the future. The school has a Christian outlook in the Anglican tradition.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Broadfield Park ( English ) Crawley Borough Council. October 7, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  2. ↑ a b c d Detailed record: Broadfield House, Brighton Road (formerly listed as Broadfield Country Club) ( English ) In: Images of England . English Heritage . 2007. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 11, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.imagesofengland.org.uk
  3. ^ Ian Nairn , Nikolaus Pevsner : The Buildings of England: Sussex ( English ). Penguin Books , Harmondsworth 1965, ISBN 0-14-071028-0 .
  4. ↑ a b Planning Application CR / 2008/0607 / FUL: Officer Report ( English , PDF) Crawley Borough Council. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Peter Gwynne: A History of Crawley ( English ), 1st edition, Phillimore & Co location = Chichester, 1990, ISBN 0-85033-718-6 .
  6. ↑ a b c d e Fred Gray (Ed.): Crawley: Old Town, New Town ( English ) (= Paper No. 18), Center for Continuing Education, University of Sussex. Edition, University of Sussex , Falmer 1983, ISBN 0-904212-21-8 .
  7. ↑ LF (Ed.) Salzman: A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7 - The Rape of Lewes. Parishes: Worth ( English ) In: Victoria County History of Sussex . British History Online. Pp. 192-200. 1940. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 11, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.british-history.ac.uk
  8. ↑ a b Roger Bastable: Crawley: A Pictorial History ( English ). Phillimore & Co, Chichester 1983, ISBN 0-85033-503-5 .
  9. ^ J. Goepel: The Development of Crawley ( English ). Crawley Borough Council, Crawley 1980.
  10. ^ A b c Thomas P. Bennett : New Towns Act 1946: Reports of the Aycliffe, Crawley, Harlow, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Peterlee, Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City Development Corporations for period ending March 31, 1949. Crawley Development Corporation ( English ) , Volume Second Annual Report. Her Majesty's Stationery Office , 1949.
  11. ↑ 25 years of Mercury FM ( English ) In: 102.7 Mercury FM website . Global Radio UK Limited . 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  12. ↑ FAQs ( English ) In: 102.7 Mercury FM website . Global Radio UK Limited . 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  13. ↑ Planning Application No. CR / 2008/0607 / FUL ( English ) Crawley Borough Council. October 3, 2008. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 11, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crawley.gov.uk
  14. ↑ The free schools set to open in 2011. BBC News, September 1, 2011, accessed October 4, 2012 .
  15. ↑ Free school prepares to welcome first children. (No longer available online.) In: ThisIsSussex.co.uk. Northcliffe Media Ltd as of August 10, 2011, archived from the original on March 29, 2012 ; Retrieved October 4, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thisissussex.co.uk

Coordinates: 51 ° 5 ′ 47 "  N , 0 ° 11 ′ 46.7"  W.