Gerrards Cross War Memorial Building

Catalogue No. C0318
Date 1922

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.

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