Edgware Station Road

Station Road

Station Road and Hale Lane have existed since 1597. Station Road officially changed its name from Church Lane early in 1931.

  • the road originally takes its name from St Margaret's Church
  • there has been a church in Edgware since the 13th century, but only the tower of the medieval building remains, and dates from the 14th century
  • by the mid 18th century the church was in such a bad way that the congregation were too frightened to attend church, and it was largely rebuilt in 1763 - 64, in 1845, and again in 1928
  • in 1907 the church had to be closed because the crypt was flooded, and the interred coffins were floating in the water
  • at the western end of the graveyard is Truth Hall built in 1833 as a church school, it has now become the church hall

Railway Hotel

In 1867 the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway opened a single tracked service running to Finsbury Park, but there was little building as a consequence. The population of Edgware actually declined between 1851 and 1871 from 755 to 665

  • the Railway Hotel was established by 1874, but the original building was demolished in 1930
  • the building that we see today, in a style nicknamed 'Pub Tudor', looks as if it dates from the time of Elizabeth I, but actually the present building was opened in 1932
  • Edgware Primary School was built in 1895 for 340 children, and replaced several other older schools

20th century development

When the trams started in 1904 Edgware did not see much house building as a consequence. Chilton and Manns Roads were developed by George Mann. The houses in Garden City (designed by E. Appleton and dated 1910) are like those in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Much of the area around Station Road that we see today was built after the opening of the underground station in August 1924.

  • in 1914, 65 acres north of Station Road and west of Hale Lane, of what had been Pipers Green, became the Edgware Manor Estate, including Edgware Manor Crescent and Green Lanes
  • only after news in 1920 that the tube line was to be extended from Golders Green were houses built by George Cross
  • Rodger Molcolm Ltd built Old Rectory Gardens estate, with its Suntrap windows, in 1933

Date plaques on the shopping parades of Station Road give their ages: 1923, 1925, and in the case of the Quadrant built by Cowen and Cross, 1928

Ritz Cinema

The most impressive building in the original Station Road of this period was the Ritz Cinema on the corner of Manor Park road and Station road

  • the Ritz Cinema opened in May 1932
  • it was considered to be 'one of the best suburban houses'.
  • it was highly decorated in an art deco style, and even had a 'tea lounge'
  • a local newspaper wrote that the cinema would "establish Edgware as the pivotal centre of a large and increasing district"
  • the cinema changed names several times before being demolished late in 2001