This year marks the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Grade II-listed house and garden at Marsh Lane, Harlow, by the architect Sir Frederick Gibberd and his wife. He is remembered for designing Liverpool’s Catholic Cathedral, dedicated to Christ the King, and for his work in drawing up the masterplan for Harlow in 1947.
Harlow was one of eight new towns created beyond the London Green Belt under the New Towns Act 1946 to help alleviate housing shortages following the Second World War. The country’s leading post-war architects accepted Gibberd’s invitation to design buildings in the town, which was notable for including Britain’s first dedicated cycling paths, the first pedestrian shopping precincts, and the first modern residential tower block.
Gibberd and his wife lived ‘on site’ as the new town took shape, having bought a plot of land on the eastern side of Harlow. There they built ‘The House’ and developed its surrounding nine-acre garden, creating several plant- and sculpture-filled outdoor ‘rooms’ immediately around their home, with the planting gradually becoming more naturalistic as the land slopes towards the Pincey Brook, which forms the site’s northern boundary.
