Harrow and Wealdstone Station
Archery Close
Wealdstone Little Laundry site. It was run by Miss Jayne who ran women’s recruitment into munitions work in the Great War. She also introduced American laundry technology into England. The laundry was eventually taken over by Advance. He site is now housing
Barons Mead
Built on the site of a depot and warehouse based in Marlborough road
Byron Road
18 Harrow East Labour Party office in interesting art deco building.
18v London Kalibari in the early 1980’s a group of first generation Hindu Bengalis had no suitable facilities that met the social, cultural and spiritual needs of their community. This led to the London Kalibari organisation. In 2012, London Kalibari obtained this property for us to put our Kali, The Kalibari is kept closed except during Opening Times
10-16 Wealdstone Joinery Works. This site was originally from 1913 Westerdick’s Joinery but they moved to Greenhill in 1920 having successfully made side cars for the military during the Great War.. It then became the Wealdstone Joinery and said to have been one of the largest such works in Europe. This large building dates from the 1930s.A lease on it was advertised in the early 1990. Most recently been Bridgen House and is now pending conversion into flats.
54-56 flats on the site of Belmont Cottage, described as one of the oldest buildings in the area and demolished 1996.
The Star Music Hall was operating here 1908-09. It also screened films, as the Star Cinema. Unclear exactly where this was.
Canning Road
Premier House offices bock with rental offices. Built in the 1970s on an old garage site
14 -16 passage leading to workshop accommodation at the back of shops
24 modern flats on what was workshops and flats
68 Gange Children’s Centre
73 workshops to the rear of a purpose built location among housing. Dates from the 1890s
93 hostel accommodation on what was previously a small works site
Cecil Road
Wall. The west side of the southern end of the road is bounded by a long brick wall. It is unclear if this is listed. It ran alongside what was the railway coal yard, sidings and goods area and was presumably built by the railway company.
Electric sub station
Christchurch Avenue
Byron Recreation Ground was laid out around 1902. Originally there was a pavilion and a bandstand, but they have gone. There are tarmac perimeter paths as well as trees, shrubberies and some formal beds
Swimming bath. This dated from the 1930s. When the Harrow Leisure Centre was built the pool was retained and was part of the complex, but over the years fell into disuse. It was finally removed in 2007.
Harrow Leisure Centre. Opened in 1977. It has a sports hall, swimming pool, health and fitness suite, gym, studio, and squash courts.etc etc etc. designed by the Borough’s Architect’s Department. It is a large box containing a swimming pool and games courts. There are big sheds behind.
Harrow Skate Park. This is one of the country's oldest remaining skate parks. It is a major centre for British skateboarding and visitors come from all over the country. It was designed by Adrian Rolt of G-Force based on the keyhole pool at Skateboard Haven in Spring Valley California and built by Skate Park Construction The feature pit is also notable. Built as a commercial enterprise but it became unviable so the Council agreed to take it over and open it for free. In 2003 it was refurbished at a cost of £60,000. It is well used by skate board, mountain bike, roller skaters and scooter riders and is of international importance.
Ferndale Terrace
Road leading to a number of industrial premises, the end of which is now gated. It once ran down to the railway and dates from at least the 1920s. It is on the line of an old field path
Bastian and Allen. They made electrode boilers from 1949 in the old Reno toy factory. Became part of Cowen in 1960
Cogswell and Harrison, gun smiths. In 1886 Edward Harrison leases a factory at Ferndale Estate the site included enough ground for a test range and it was here that in 1888) the firm first offered live pigeon and starling shooting, on which substantial betting took place. In 1894 the Harrow factory burned down but the land continued to be used as a shooting range.
Forward Drive
The road leads to a series of trading estates and then the council depot. It is partly built on a line of the Stanmore railway and before that was removed it constrained the size of the site and did not allow entry from Christchurch Avenue as now.
Greenhill Sewage Farm. This was built in green fields – basically the site now of the council depot but then in the space created between the two railway lines. It may have been the works built by Harrow-on-the-Hill local authority in 1852. By the 1930s this area had been cleared and the space used for allotments. A sewage works to the east had been built by Wealdstone Urban District Council (this was in the area covered by the square to the east)
Harrow Council Central Depot and civic amenity site. This on the site of what was the Greenhill sewage works and seems to have been operational in the 1950s. There was probably a refuse destructor on this site erected by Wealdstone UDC possibly in the 1890s
Trading estates, the area between what was the railway and refuse depot is now a trading estate with a wide range of companies
Bakkavor Pizza. Warehouse and distribution centre. Agust and Lydur Gudmundsson founded Bakkavor in Iceland to manufacture and export seafood. They named the company after the street in which they grew up. They expanded into Scandinavia and then the rest of world, controlling the supply chain for cod and lumpfish roe. They took over lots of other companies and this Harrow depot is just one of many,
Levolux. Founded in 1984 this is a firm Specialising in Solar Shading, Screening, Balconies and Balustrading
Frognal Avenue
29-31 small trading estate, plumbers, motor mechanics. Connects to other units entered from Station Road and at the rear of properties
George Gange Way
This is a high level road opened in the 1990s which carries the A409 away from Wealdstone High Street. For much of its length it is essentially a flyover. George Gange, the first Labour councillor on Harrow Council's forerunner, Wealdstone Urban District Council, was similarly honoured
Gordon Road
The Gym. On this site in 1914 was a tin tabernacle used as a Mission Hall, and later by the Primitive Methodists. It was later taken over by the YMCA. The current building is presumably that which replaced the tin hut as the YMCA centre. At some point in the early 1960s this was sold to what was then the Popular Stores and seems now to have devolved to ASDA. .It appears to operate as a Gym –although it was until recently a Quality Cafe.
At the rear of these buildings was in the 1930s a structure described as an ‘Employment Exchange’
Grant Road
Flats on the site of what was the Wealdstone Centre – consisting of a library, youth centre, etc. The Centre itself had been built on the site of an earlier library and schools.
Wealdstone Schools. This was a National School built 1869 in village school style. Later it was a Youth and Community Centre old school.
Library. Built 1960 by Middlesex County Council. 2 storey brick building. Demolished and replaced, and its replacement since demolished.
Hailsham Drive
Road running north alongside the railway on the site of the David Allen print works, later HMSO. The industrial estate at the end is in the square to the west
Esterline. Development/manufacture military communication equipment
Microlease. The business dates from the 198s and was originally on the local Whitefriars Industrial Estate. The lease electronic measurement equipment
Air Ministry Citadel. This was underground at the rear of the HMSO Printing Works. It was known as Z or the Stationery Office Annexe. When the HMSO works closed, Kodak brought the site for expansion of their adjoining complex and the surface office block was demolished in 1996.
Harrow Crown Court. Built 1989 and used for hearing criminal cases.
Headstone Drive
1 Holy Trinity church. This was built in 1882 to serve the expanding population. It was built on land donated by Christ Church, Oxford. The building is stone with brick dressings in the Gothic style by Roumieu & Aitchison. In 1977 the church was reordered and the original chancel became a separate space while the nave became the worship area. This is a flexible sae and can be used for parties and meetings. There are two war memorial windows.
Hall. In 1967 the hall was replaced with shops by A J Watkins. They include an entrance to the church and to first story halls
David Allen. Print works. This is now the site of Hailsham drive and lies alongside the railway. The firm moved here in the 1890s from Belfast and built this large works plus a power house with a prominent local chimney. They were requisitioned by the Government in the Great War and subsequently became Her Majesty’s Stationary office print works. This closed in the 1980s. The site is now the Crown Court
23 Wealdstone Ex Servicemen’s club. Closed 2010
Herga Road
12-22 INGENY Interphone House security systems and building technology integrator. The building was previously Pickford’s Depository
Steps – these went from alongside the depository to The Bridge. It is the line of an old footpath.
High Street
15-18 Iowa Tavern. Demolished in the 1960s when it was complete with a spittoon. It was replaced with a Sainsbury’s, which has since been replaced by another Sainsbury’s in a development called Alderbrook.
19 Queens’s Arms. This was a Taylor Walker pub and then Punch Taverns. Now demolished
32 this was a Wetherspoons pub called The Sarson Stone. Now a betting shop
36 Lloyds Bank : Built in 1907 by Horace Field & Simmonds. It is a good building in Baroque style. Note the bees and bee hive
Wealdstone Centre. Council offices and Library in a substantial building;
72 Boots. Site of Garraway’s cab yard in the early 20th
74 Poundland. This is on the site of a demolished pub – The Case is Altered. This had been a nightclub, and then a Chinese restaurant before being derelict for many years
55 Police Station . Site of picturesque cottages demolished for the court house. The police station with an entrance on the right for the police. Also a magistrates' court – entered on the left - which for a while was used as a library. It was built in 1908-9 by J Dixon Butler in Free Tudor style. It has been empty since 2015 and is currently boarded having been squatted.
Baptist Church. Baptists had met in various rooms in Wealdstone from 1875 and built a corrugated iron tin tabernacle hall in the High Street around 1900. It was on land which they had bought. A permanent church was built in 1905. In red terracotta designed by John Wills & Son in 1905. New halls were added at the back in 1930
Locket Road
1 office block for FVS CCTV specialists.
Marlborough Hill
1 Higgins Mechanical Services, firm founded in Harrow in 1980 but with many other branches now
1 Health Aid. Nutritionally balanced supplements
Marlborough Primary School. The school was rebuilt, opened 2016. It originated in the early 1970s/late 1960s and was built on the site of older houses.
Masons Avenue
8 Barretts Railway Bar. This is an Irish pub with a green carpet and green seating. Might be closed.
11-13 Station House. The House of Joy for all Nations. This is part of the Redeemed Church of God.
36 hall. This hall was registered from 1932 until 1934 by the Brotherhood Movement. The site however continues to be shown on maps as ‘Brotherhood Hall’ until taken over by Hindu groups in the 1990s.
Sree Ayyappa Seva Sangam. This is in what was the Brotherhood Hall. This began when Swamiji Sreedharan had the idea of building a proper temple in London for Ayyappa devotees. At first there was only a make shift temple in a thatched shed but later members and trustees, had a temple designed in typical Kerala style conforming to the traditional Shastraic stipulations completed in 2008. Later a Navagraha shrine was added, and more in 2010. There is an auditorium on the ground floor for spiritual and cultural programmes, marriages and discourses in the “Koothambalam” style of Kerala temples
Wealdstone Evangelical Church. The congregation met in a wooden building in Wealdstone from 1921 and then opened this brick building in 1928
Ingall, Parsons, Clive & Co., Coffin factory was at the end of the road from 1900 it employed 70 men in 1900 and continued to make coffins until the beginning of the Second World War. Later used for storage by Schweppes
Milton Road
1 Samanvaya Parivar. Centre to advance the Hindu religion and in particular the teachings of Swami Shree Satyamitranand.
Employment Exchange. Present here in the 1960s
Oxford Road
Side road with ‘works’ all down the south side since the 1930s.
Palmerston Centre. Harrow and Hillingdon Posture and Mobility Services
Palmerston Road
Roads called after prime ministers were described as Harrow Park Estate in 1884. The road is lined with ‘works’ from the start but has been changed by the construction of George Gange Way and Gladstone Road
22 Baptist church. This maybe the church said to be built in 1905
22 Salvation Army hall. This was in a former Baptist chapel from 1921.
30 Fire Station. Demolished 1960s. It was a Middlesex Fire Brigade Station replaced by Stanmore when Middlesex was merged into the Greater London Council.
59 A hall was acquired nearby for young people in 1927 but in 1965 it was too small.
22 The International Siddhashram Shakti Centre. This appears to be in what was the Salvation Army hall
Peel Road
Continental College School 1890s. This stood between Peel and Palmerstone Roads and was then the only building in them.
34-36 Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This originates from 1939 but appears to have been rebuilt since
Council Chamber and Offices. Wealdstone was an urban district 1895-1934 and it is assumed these were the offices on the site covered by 29-49 for the Urban District to be replaced by the Harrow Civic Centre in the 1970s. There was a works depot and fire station to the rear. The site is now flats
60 Spice Klub with outside Shisha lounge. This was the Royal Oak Pub built 1931, a Taylor Walker back street local. Sold by M&B in 2007 and has been an Indian restaurant. Previously Everest Lounge and before that White Mughals
Tagore Close – this is on the site of a council mortuary and disinfection station built in the 1960s.
55 Express Dairy Depot This site is now flats
Railway Approach
Railway Hotel. Built at the same time as the railway. It was a three-storey brick building. It was demolished in 2002 having closed in 1999 following a fire. It was a Watney pub. One of the venues of performances by 'The Who' and many others.
32 KTM Nightclub. This was once the Labour Hall which leases it to the club.
33 Wealdstone Social Club: 1930s art deco building. This is now closed and sold for development.
Rosslyn Crescent
Jasper Centre. This is the old Magistrate’s Court: by W T Curtis, Middlesex County Architects Department 1931-4...Hindu Community and Business Centre. It includes a grand Haveli of Shree Nathji together and the first ever Shudh Pushtimargiya Haveli in London. It is named Shrinathdham National Haveli & Community Centre UK.
Reno Works. From Glasgow in the 1890s 1914 they were Manufacturers of sporting guns, specialist in unfitting. Specialities: high-class sporting guns, later under W. Horton (Toys and Games) Manufacturers of indoor and garden games. Also in the 1930s Nordac Chemical Co. and W.H.Reynolds after whom the works was named – issuing recordings from Asian sources
Hamilton Brush Works. This was also the Star Brush Co. “world's leading brush company”. This is now the site of he Phoenix Business Centre
Icone House. Swiss pack packaging manufacturing
31 Edward J. Wood. Specialises in the printing and production of folding cartons. Established in 1922,
Station Road
Harrow Civic Centre. This is on the site of schools. This was a major undertaking, seeking to centralise council functions and create a new civic identity. There was a national competition in 1964 won Eric G. Broughton with an office block, committee rooms and a council chamber, a public library, a staff building and a hall and theatre block and provision for a sixth block. The first phase omitting the hall and theatre block was completed by 1973. The blocks had a reinforced-concrete frame. The second phase was never built. There is a six-storey office block around a landscaped courtyard joined to the council chamber by a glazed bridge with a glass screen by Whitefriars Glass. There is a two-storey library behind with a water feature in front of it. In front of the office block is a long pond crossed by bridges and some other planting. The council chamber has light-coloured wood on the walls with a beige colour scheme and lighting, and a metal coat of arms in the chamber itself. Also the 'Kodak Mural', a composite of hundreds of small photographic images, on the upper stair landing. There are several commemorative sculptures on the site.
Bridge Primary School. This school was on the site of the Civic Centres. It was opened by the Harrow School Board in Wealdstone in 1902. It was closed in 1966.
34 Harrow Central Mosque and Masood Islamic Centre: The mosque was established in 1980 and from 1985 occupied a converted house on Station Road, Harrow. It later expanded to occupy the house next door but was far too small to service Harrow’s Muslim community. As a result a new mosque has been built adjacent to the old mosque. T opened in 2011 adjacent to Harrow Civic Centre and a short distance south of Wealdstone town centre. There are prayer halls, meeting rooms, library, mortuary, IT centre, a commercial kitchen and retail units. The architects are PA Architects, and Harshad C Patel as the lead architect.
The Bridge
A 409.In the early 1960s, as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification, the bridge here was rebuilt with an easier gradient and clearance over the tracks to allow for overhead cabling.
Harrow and Wealdstone station. Opened in 1837 it lies between Headstone Lane and Kenton on London Overground’s line into Euston. It is the terminus of the Bakerloo Line from Kenton. There are also main line trains into Euston. It was opened as ‘Harrow Station by the London and Birmingham Railway. The station buildings on the south west side of the station are the older part of the station and by the original main line tracks. A new, larger, station building was built on this Wealdstone side of the station. A pedestrian bridge links all the platforms with continuous glazing but which originally had a barrier between the two sides. Mal lifts which were removed in the early 1970s, leaving two parcels elevators for the remaining postal traffic. Wealdstone was added to the name in 1897. In 1917 it began to be served by the Bakerloo Line a running on the newly electrified local tracks. It was the terminus of the line to Stanmore. The station is likely to be used for Crossrail. The station buildings are nationally listed. On 8 October 1952, Britain's worst train crash happened here with 112 people were killed and 340 injured. A memorial plaque is on the main entrance. The ‘angel of platform 4‘– US nurse Abby Sweetwine changed emergency procedures and triage for future accidents through her actions during the aftermath of the crash.
Stanmore Branch line. This was opened in 1890 by the London & North Western Railway. it was promoted by Frederick Gordon, a hotel owner who had purchased Bentley Priory a few years earlier It ran 2.12 miles north-east Stanmore.. In 1932 Belmont Station was built as an intermediate halt. It was single track only and closed to passengers in 1952 Freight traffic, bananas, continued until 1964. On the parapet at Harrow and Wealdstone is the name of the old London and North Western Railway Harrow and Stanmore branch line and Platform 1 has their ticket office in cream brick,
Wealdstone Time Line and Memorial: this is the work of local youth organisations and includes a memorial for those killed in the rail crash of 8 October 1952.
Wealdstone Brook runs under the road and the station
Wolseley Road
Wealdstone Baptist Church. Hall
Sources
AIM25. Web site
Bowlt. Harrow Past
British History Online Middlesex. Web site
Cinema Theatres Association Newsletter
Clunn. The Face of London
Cooper. Harrow Walkabout
Double Gun Shop.web site
Field. London Place Names,
Grace’s Guide. Web site
Harrow A to Z. Web site
Harrow Mosque, Web site
Historic England. Web site
London Borough of Harrow. Web site
London Encyclopaedia
London Gardens online. Web site
Middlesex Churches
Pevsner and Cherry. North West London,
Science Museum. Web site
Subterraanea Britannica. Web site
Thames Basin Archaeology of Industry, Report
Walford. Village London
Walter. Harrow Then and Now
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