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| Introduction:
Norwood Grove Mansion is currently owned by Croydon Council and is opened
for European Heritage Open Days, see the White House
1998 open day page for more details. "Norwood Grove Mansion"
was opened on Sunday 17th. September 2000 from 10:00 to 14:30 (open 4.5
hours, being closed to the public the other 8761.5 hours of the average
year) see
this Croydon press release.
Another excellent tour was provided on the hour, every hour, thanks to Croydon Heritage and from the start it was clear that many things had been prepared: the flower beds around the fountain were particularly good - the ageratum houstonianum were spectacular (see above). |
| Not only outside had been prepared and renovated, but also inside: in particular the Wedgwood coloured entrance hall had been repainted: see right. Our guide told us that the frieze you see above is based on one from the Parthenon - depicting gifts being brought to Greek Gods. We also learnt that the earliest recorded inhabitant of the house was a Hop Merchant, and that more recently a spring had be rediscovered 185 feet down a tunnel which started just behind the old kitchens (but they wouldn't let us investigate). |  |
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Anderson who originally came from humble background in the Shetlands and after marrying the daughter of the owner of a shipping company made his fortune during the 1840s in steam shipping (the speciality of the P&O) and was a great philanthropist, founding the Norwood Working Men's Institute. And of course his marks are on the lodge - including his hand and hammer insignia and the intertwined initials of Arthur Anderson and his wife. Nettlefold who subsequently improved the mansion, bought it in the 1880s for the sum of £7500. |
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| Covington lived
in the lodge and we were told that he first worked to secure the adjacent
house at the top of Streatham Common, purchased it and gave it to the LCC
(London County Council) who showed their gratitude by promptly demolishing
the house itself and then re-working the garden (that we now know as the
Rookery).
Not daunted Covington who lived in the Norwood Grove Lodge (of Anderson fame) then carried on to save Norwood Grove and the Mansion (and in recognition Croydon only demolished a part of the house - the Luftwaffe also helped them). |
Specialist ironwork from Scotland |
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Months round the rim of the fountain |
When the then Prince of Wales opened Norwood Grove to the public on a wet November day in 1926 he was supposed to plant a tree some way from the house, down the formal garden; but having made an overlong speech, and been issued with the official spade he soon gave up, stopped well short of the spot where it was intended that he should plant the cedar tree (his unofficially reported words were similar to those used by a relative of his to describe an attitude toward Bognor), and so the tree was planted nearer the house than intended. | ||
| By the year 1986 time, vandals and the odd hurricane had taken their toll and the old tree was dying and so a new tree was planted (by the then Mayor of Croydon I think), and the same spade that was used back in 1926 was taken out of the Council stores and used again (well that's one way to save money). | |||
| Anyway, armed with a wider angle lens than in 1998 I tried to take a picture of the magnificent clerestory-style roof in the Music Room, but some of the splendor was spoilt by massive wall heaters, surface trunking, electric lights, extractor fans, modern speakers and MFI cupboards and a fire exit sign, see right. |  |
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| BEFORE |
AFTER
In order to rediscover what it looked
like when it was first built, I used the new timeworm digital camera, set
it back to the 1890s, before electricity and the like was used here and
took the photo shown left which better illustrates the airy and classical
lines of the room as originally conceived. |
A
brief introduction to the history of Norwood Grove park and Mansion.
The
historical plaques on Norwood Grove Mansion.
Back
to the 1998 open day page for Norwood Grove Mansion.
Back
to Norwood Grove home page.