Gerrards Cross War Memorial Building
Gerrards Cross
East Common
Buckinghamshire, England
SL9 7AD
Lutyens’s only war‑memorial building was the conversion of the former vicarage stables at Gerrards Cross into a community centre, carried out for about £3,500 at the instigation of the vicar, Revd John Matthew Glubb, and opened as a functional commemorative facility by Earl Carrington in October 1922.
Description
The discussion about whether a local war memorial should have a purely commemorative function or be of a practical purpose instead was a common point of discussion in towns and villages throughout the country. While many opted for a conventional memorial, a significant number of communities chose to have a building such as a village hall or, if greater funds were available, a cottage hospital.
Lutyens designed only one such building, where he adapted the stables adjoining the vicarage in Gerrards Cross for a community centre at the suggestion of the vicar, Revd John Matthew Glubb.
The conversion cost c£3,500 and the centre was opened on 14 October 1922 by Earl Carrington, the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. (Contributor: Tim Skelton)
Bibliography
, Pevsner, N., Brandwood, G.K. and Williamson, E. (2003) Buckinghamshire. Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England.. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
Gliddon, G. and Skelton, T.J. (2008) Lutyens and the Great War. London: Frances Lincoln.
