Acton Green Conservation area
Location
The conservation area
includes the western part of Acton Green Common and those properties
surrounding the open space. It includes the length of Acton Lane from the railway
bridge at Chiswick Park station to the junction with Beaconsfield Road, an area
to the north between Beaconsfield Road and the continuation of Acton Lane, and
then along South Parade as far as Esmond Road. The southern boundary is formed
by the railway embankment.
Designation details
The conservation area was
designated in 1982. The designation report stated that: ‘This area adjoins the
internationally known Bedford Park conservation area and includes the part of
Acton Green not included in that conservation area. Although the buildings
surrounding the Green are not of the same architectural quality as the Bedford
Park buildings, they do have a distinctive character which contributes to the
visual amenity of the locality, resulting in an environment of considerable
potential. St Albans Church forms the focal point of the area which has already
suffered from unsympathetic developments, and protection is required to enable
the regeneration and upgrading of the properties to ensure the realisation of the
environmental potential’.
History
Once an outlying hamlet,
Acton Green became a parish with the building of St Alban’s Church in 1877/8.
In 1642 the area of Acton Green formed part of the field of the battle of
Brentford, when a Royalist assault on London led by Prince Rupert was repulsed
by the Parliamentarians. Acton Lane was originally called Broomcroft Lane, and
a house of the same name (demolished circa 1870) stood on its west side
immediately south of Antrobus Road. One of its noted residents was the
magistrate Sir John Fielding (half brother of Henry Fielding the novelist) and
the instigator in the 1750s of the Bow Street Runners which paved the way for
the setting up of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel in 1829. The
present day Acton Green Common, a public open space, is all that remains of the
ancient common.
Special interest
The Common, with its mature
trees, and the railway embankment behind it, are the dominant features of the
area. St Albans church is the major landmark and focal point. The best part of
Hardwicke Road, which runs along part of the south side of the common, is at
its eastern end where there is a well preserved terrace of Victorian cottages
with stucco door and windows surrounds. The west side of Acton Lane is lined with
three storey red brick terraced houses with a variety of ornate gables.
Fairlawn Court is a four storey block of red brick mansion flats with well
trimmed privet hedges on the street frontage. Just outside the conservation
area, but prominently seen from the corner of the green, is Chiswick Green
Studios, a modish conversion of industrial buildings into loft apartments.
South Parade commences where the road turns to the east, isolating a small area
of the green. Closing the space on the north side is a short terrace of
two-storey houses, but on the corner with Beaconsfield Road is the elaborately
decorated Duke of Sussex public house of 1898, stuccoed and tile hung with
three large half timbered gables and oriel bay windows at first and second
floors. The pub is a strong corner feature but the opposite corner is occupied
by a garage and then comes a row of shops, all of which detract from the
appearance of the area partly due to forecourt activities and signage. To the
east of Rusthall Avenue, however, the appearance changes and South Parade takes
on the character of the Bedford Park area. Rusthall Mansions is a three-storey
block of flats in red brick, an articulated frontage of three bays with white
stucco bands and heavy profiled cornice. The Vicarage matches the church in its
use of red brick with stone window mullions and surrounds. Between Ramillies
and Esmond Roads is a four-storey mansion block in red brick, the upper floors
rendered. The block is notable for its distinctive corner treatment which form
important features in the townscape. The view from the narrow part of the green
when looking west screens out both the embankment and the large bulk of the
church, the curve of South Parade being defined and enclosed by the large plane
trees in the footpath, giving the appearance of a much larger open space than
the reality. The church of St Alban, described in Pevsner as a ‘large raw red
basilica on the edge of the green’ dominates the open space when viewed from
the south, although its visual impact on the street scene is muted by the large
mature trees which screen it from view. The view of the church from the green
is unfortunately obscured by the temporary church hall and club buildings (the
latter in green painted corrugated iron).The part of the green at the South
Parade / Beaconsfield Road junction suffers from excessive street clutter and
on the common itself the yellow brick shelter, covered with graffiti, is poorly
located and in the wrong materials. The conservation area includes the modern
Beaconsfield Road development to the north of the green, although this has
little connection with the rest of the conservation area and is, at best,
described as a neutral area.
Listed buildings
St Alban (grade II) 1887-8
by E. Monson.
Duke of Sussex (grade II)
1898 by Shoebridge and Rising.