Live in Edgware! : advert issued by A W Curton Ltd., Edgware, Middlesex, 1934
Seen in a small promotional book entitled "London Suburbs Old and New", full of 'useful knowledge for health and home' edited by Frank Green and Sr S Wolff, this edition issued in 1934. The guide has an amazing range of advice and information and this included descriptions of various suburban locations, complete with relevant adverts by local developers.
In North London, like so many other locations in Middlesex, the arrival of the railway especially the 'Tube' and Metropolitan, had a dramatic effect on once rural villages as London expanded. Already in place in Victorian and Edwardian times this expansion reached new heights in the inter-war period when "Metroland", as coined by John Betjeman as well as the marketing people at the Met Railway, became reality. Tens of thousands of houses constructed by a multiplicity of often local developers were built and advertised with claims as to construction, features and layout and location - often pushing proximity to the station or bus route. Many were offered with 'attractive' mortgage or purchase arrangements allowing the new and growing middle class of office workers and such to 'buy their own little suburban home'.
Edgware had been the terminus of a rather wndering branch line from Kings Cross station opened by the Great Northern Railway as early as 1867 and that closed, as part of a modernisation project by London Transport that was curtailed after the way, in 1939. The electric tram reached the village in the Edwardian era but the real spur to growth was the arrival of the extension of the Underground line from Golders Green in 1924.
A E Curton were one such builder and developer. The houses seen here in Edgwarebury Lane, were under development by 1935 and were of the more 'upmarket' type, freehold with 'oak panelled dining rooms' and as many as 5 bedrooms. Needless to say your £70 down and £2000 investment would now set you back over a million pounds! The 'descriptive brochure' seen here was produced in several editions as late as 1939.
Live in Edgware! : advert issued by A W Curton Ltd., Edgware, Middlesex, 1934
Seen in a small promotional book entitled "London Suburbs Old and New", full of 'useful knowledge for health and home' edited by Frank Green and Sr S Wolff, this edition issued in 1934. The guide has an amazing range of advice and information and this included descriptions of various suburban locations, complete with relevant adverts by local developers.
In North London, like so many other locations in Middlesex, the arrival of the railway especially the 'Tube' and Metropolitan, had a dramatic effect on once rural villages as London expanded. Already in place in Victorian and Edwardian times this expansion reached new heights in the inter-war period when "Metroland", as coined by John Betjeman as well as the marketing people at the Met Railway, became reality. Tens of thousands of houses constructed by a multiplicity of often local developers were built and advertised with claims as to construction, features and layout and location - often pushing proximity to the station or bus route. Many were offered with 'attractive' mortgage or purchase arrangements allowing the new and growing middle class of office workers and such to 'buy their own little suburban home'.
Edgware had been the terminus of a rather wndering branch line from Kings Cross station opened by the Great Northern Railway as early as 1867 and that closed, as part of a modernisation project by London Transport that was curtailed after the way, in 1939. The electric tram reached the village in the Edwardian era but the real spur to growth was the arrival of the extension of the Underground line from Golders Green in 1924.
A E Curton were one such builder and developer. The houses seen here in Edgwarebury Lane, were under development by 1935 and were of the more 'upmarket' type, freehold with 'oak panelled dining rooms' and as many as 5 bedrooms. Needless to say your £70 down and £2000 investment would now set you back over a million pounds! The 'descriptive brochure' seen here was produced in several editions as late as 1939.