Whipps Cross

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Colworth Road

Leytonstone High School for Girls. 1911. Swimming pool etc in 30s. Formerly the Leyton High School for Girls. The school stands on thesite of Forest Farm and was opened in 1911. The red brick buildingby W. Jacques Begun as a private school in 1884. 1911 by V K Jacques fl extensions of 1932 and 1957.                              

Eagle Pond. Was previously called ‘Snares Pond’. Anglers.  Trials for the stiffness of boats’ hulls by RSA after trying Peerless Pool - this was a bit bigger - in 1762,  more wind and a longer run of 105 yards

Copeland Road.

St Stephen, 1994 by APEC, a small church and housing for young people. There was a church on the site from 1877

Forest Glade

Victorian Houses

Hindu Templethe First Church of Christ Scientistoriginated in 1906 in a house on the corner of Whipps CrossRoad and Forest Glade. In 1937 a permanent brick building waserected 

Forest Place

Wallwood Estate.Home of William Cotton, Governor of the Bank of Englandand philanthropist who donated the site for St. John's ChurchLeytonstone.The character of the area began to change in the mid 19thCentury as the fields and commons gave way to buildings, and bythe 1860's the wealthier classes were moving out.The Wallwood Estate was sold for development in 1874 andplans were laid before the local Board in 1883. Building was delayed until the 1890's due to a boundarydispute with the adjoiningFillebrook Estate along what isnow Colworth Road, but by theturn of the century much of thecurrent housing and streetlayout was complete

Wallwood House, bought in 1817 by William Cotton 1786-1866, cordage manufacturer and later governor of the Bank of England. He was a founder of the National Society, treasurer of the Metropolis Churches Fund and paid for three East'    End churches, as well as contributing to the new St John Leytonstone. Demolished.

Forest Road

St.Andrew’s Church.In 1882 the Church of St.Andrew was established in aniron building in ColworthRoad/Forest Glade on a sitedonated by Sir Henry Cotton,son of William Cotton.The permanent stone and flintChurch was completed in 1893and served the city workersnow living in the originalWallwood Estate. By 1903 it was the best attended Churchin the area with total Sundaycongregations of over 1500people.  1887-92 by Sir Arthur Blomfield.  'The site was given by the Cotton family in memory of the energetic philanthropist and church builder William Cotton 1866 of Wallwood House, whose estate was developed as a superior suburb from 1875. stained glass windows in the aisles by Margaret Chilian, a pupil of Christopher Whall, her most important commission in England. Several were designed as First World War memorials. 

Church Room, 1904 by H.C. Smart. A nice Arts  doorway, the rest burnt out

Hollow pond Deepened by the unemployed 1905 used for sailing etc. 

St.Andrew’s Church hallErected in 1904 andenlarged in 1912 designed in a similar 'Arts and Crafts'style to the nearbyLeytonstone School andreplaced an earlierSunday School building.

Hainault Road

Elim Pentecostal Church from 1997, Built as St Catherine C.E., 1893

Baptist Church, 1926. Built for Baptists. Very modest. Red brick gable with round-arch

Hollybush Hill

High Stone is why it is called Leytonstone. Probably a milestone

Snaresbrook Crown Court. This has been used as law courts from the 1970s, but it was built as the Infant Orphan Asylum of 1827 and  later known as the Royal Wanstead School for 500 children. It was designed by  Gilbert Scott, then of Scon & Moffat, 1843.  It has been very much  altered after the school closed in 1971. There are more courts in a steel-framed building behind added by Mayell, Hart & Partners in 1972-4, with an underground link to the old buildings and more built in 1988 to  total twenty courtrooms.

Chapel , including a window by William Morris of London c. 1920.

Lea Bridge Road

Chestnut Walk

St.Andrew’s Road

Gospel hall from 1897, enlarged, from 1970 Church of God

The Drive.

Late Victorian and Edwardian houses around a green

Wallwood Road

International Pentecostal City Mission, 1901-2 by Clark Hallam, Mission of Stepney Green Tabernacle, for Primitive Methodists the church raised over a ground floor. 

Whipps Cross Road

 'Phip's wayside cross', set up by a member of the family of John Phyppe, named in local records of the late fourteenth century.  ‘Phyppys Crosse’  1517, ‘Fypps Chrosse’ 1537, ‘Phippes Cross’ 1572, ‘Whipps Cross’ 1636.  The name has nothing to do with a whipping post. 

133-5, 143 153-7 Assembly Row, after Assembly House.  the 18th Century, the scenic attractions of the Forest led to newbuilding in this part of Leyton parish which at that time was essentiallyrural in character. A row of about 12 'middle class' dwellings wasbuilt in 1767 along the south side of Whipps Cross Road, whichwas known as Assembly Row after the Assembly House whichstood at one end of it. This building acted as a venue for socialgatherings and public meetings, and was reputedly the venue fora gathering of London Merchants at the time of the Great Fire in1666. Later called Forest Place. Twelve two- and three-storey houses built 1767

Alfred Hitchcock Hotel,Originally two pairs of elegant lateVictorian villas overlooking the forest, these properties have nowbeen combined to form theHotel and public house. Examples of originalcast-iron work survives onentrance porches but internally very little survived thealterations.

Assembly Rooms site is now occupiedby an imposing 5 storey Victorian terrace overlooking the Forest. 

Whipps Cross Hospital, 1900-3 by Francis J. Sturdy, built as an infirmary for the West Ham Board of Guardians for the Leytonstone Workhouse, on 44 acres of grounds of the Forest House estate acquired in 1889. Now a confusing warren, but the original plan is still evident, a vast group of buildings designed for 762 patients laid out on a pavilion plan, with striking roofline grounds. It was completed in 1903 and when it opened the provided 672 beds in 24 wards in four symmetrical blocks with  tiered covered walkways and two massive towers. The buildings cost £186,000 to construct. By the end of the Great War in 1918 it had started to become a general hospital and the name was changed to Whipps Cross Hospital.  There is a central administrative block with a board room and chapel on the first floor with a fireplace from the demolished Forest House on the ground floor. Additions 1936-7 by W Lionel Jenkins, Borough Engineer, to house a further 500 patients.