Crittall Feature In Makeover For West London’s ‘Hollywood’

An art deco styled estate that set out to become a mini- Hollywood has been restored to its 1930s glory with the help of Crittall Windows.

Ealing Village, west London, was conceived as a means of attracting film stars working at nearby Ealing Studios which produced some of the UK’s most successful and best loved comedies between 1930 and the 1950s.

The estate, which is now Grade II listed, was designed by architects R Thomas and Partners and features an outdoor swimming pool, tennis court, clubhouse, bowling green and croquet lawn. Interiors were also quite sumptuous for the period with such advanced concepts as fitted kitchens.

However, many of the stars at which it was aimed preferred instead to be chauffeured to and from West End hotels, so it was mainly film crew that inhabited the apartments. The Dutch Colonial style buildings feature white-painted exteriors and, perhaps apocryphally, escaped the World War Two bombing that flattened the nearby railway because the German bombers mistook the estate for a hospital.

The estate did, however, lose its external gates and railings, melted down for the war effort and these features have now been restored as part of the refurbishment package. Also, good as new (in fact better) are the windows in the five apartment blocks.

The original Crittall Standard Metal windows, not having been galvanised, and single-glazed, had certainly passed the end of their useful life. They have been replaced with Crittall Homelight double-glazed windows and Corporate W20 doors have also been installed.

Now galvanised and dual colour polyester powder coated the new fenestration is finished in Buckingham Green externally and white internally, replicating the original appearance of this unique development.

www.crittall-windows.co.uk