please empty your brain below |
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Frederick Gibberd deserves wider fame given the number of significant buildings he designed beyond Harlow. The Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral is arresting externally and astonishing internally. Edmonton Green shopping centre much less so.
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Worth a visit in Spring for the snowdrops
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I hadn't realised how significant he was.
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We used to go here a lot when our kids were small - it's such an easy trip from Stratford. And as a big fan of postwar Catholic church architecture, and the optimism it represents, I love Gibberd's Liverpool Cathedral (aka Paddy's wigwam). I can remember when my children were small enough to find the fort exciting (they are all in their 20s now). We have a lot to thank that local landowner for.
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Nice to read something on Harlow.
I've always been a fan of the place. One of the better planned New Towns, even though the station was located two stops away from the town centre. It's also a sad illustration of insufficient investment over generations. But it does have a buzz. |
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I'm pretty sure Gibberd designed Heathrow's original Oceanic Terminal (check the RIBA website?), now less delightfully known as Terminal Three. Bring back the named terminals!
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The Gibberd House and Garden is still on my list because of its limited opening times. To make a day of it, Harlow Town itself has a good interactive map to navigate round all the town centre sculptures, and Gibberd's watercolour collection is in the town centre Art Gallery, which is open more often!
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There's a nice farm cafe just across the road for elevenses/lunch before a visit. There was quite a bit of heavy industry in the eastern part of Harlow - United Glass, Revertex, Harlow Chemicals, all now gone, replaced with drive-through McDonalds, retail parks and motor car dealers.
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Gibberd also designed the chapel at my teacher training college - a smaller version of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Thanks for rekindling happy memories!
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I have a feeling much of the garden isn't actually in Harlow -it's in Sheering parish, part of the district of Epping Forest...on the outskirts for a reason.
dg writes: it’s all in Harlow. |
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It's a brilliant placde for weddings. My daughter and her husband used it in 2019, and took the place over for three days -- one day doing to preparation and cooking, one for the party (though the legal bit was in Harlow register office) and a day to clear up.
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Edmonton Green shopping centre which Gibberd designed is an abomination. It still makes me mad that as a kid growing up in Edmonton I remember the lovely market and historic centre and they knocked it all down for that. Edmonton has never recovered.
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