The Muswell Hill Record, 14 February 1908
It is gratifying to notice on all sides a distinct revival in the building trade, so far at least as Muswell Hill is concerned.
During the past six months building operations have had a set back; indeed owing to dear money and depressed business in the City some builders considered it wise to temporarily suspend the erection of new houses altogether.
Things have now, however, taken a turn for the better and the report which the Plans Committee submitted at this week’s Council meeting indicated that during this spring and summer the development of Muswell Hill is to proceed at a rate which will not only keep the local builders busy, but at the same time add appreciably to the volume of trade within the town. For instance Mr W J Collins had plans for forty-eight houses in Fortismere Avenue passed, while other plans submitted and approved will involve the erection of twelve dwelling houses in Connaught Gardens, a shop in Muswell Hill Road and two dwelling houses in Greenham Road.
A walk round Muswell Hill indicates that the area of our beautiful suburb is being steadily extended and consolidated. The development in progress near the Golf Links is on a very large scale and there are indications that Alexandra Park Road is to be an important shopping district in the not far distant future. It is not very long since the little iron church of St Andrew’s was built on ground actually used for the Golf Links, and in open country; now the handsome permanent church occupies quite a central position in a populous parish of elegant houses. The little stream which has its source in the springs which gave Muswell Hill its name and made it a place of pilgrimage in bye-gone centuries still ripples merrily, if not very clearly, within a few yards of some of the new shops and residential flats in Alexandra Park Road. But we fear its days – above ground, at least – are numbered.
In other parts of Muswell Hill, similar developments are in progress. Mr Edmondson is rapidly building choice villas on his Woodberry Crescent estate, while Mr W J Collins continues to develop the well-planned states at Fortismere and Brookfield. In Tetherdown Mr Deeks is building over a site which has long remained vacant; high class houses are being erected at Creighton Avenue and The Avenue as well as in the neighbourhood of Sutton Road,
Active building development of this kind is highly satisfactory to all who are interested in the progress of Muswell Hill, more especially as it is a development which is wisely supervised by a Borough Council anxious to maintain the select and beautiful characteristics of our suburb. The rapid way in which these new houses are being occupied is another proof that the fame of Muswell Hill as a choice and healthy place of residence has spread far beyond its borders.
