Saturday 19 May 2018

TWENTY FOUR PICTURES: Deerswood Court

Built during 1961 & 1962 on the site of the 15th century Deerswood House, which was demolished during the 1950's, Deerswood Court is one of the more surprising choices to benefit from a local listing. One can't help but think that the recognition of the site has come a few years too late and it is the historic Deerswood House that should have been listed and preserved some 60 years ago! Maybe someone lurking somewhere in the depths of the Town Hall sees the local listing of the flats as some kind of penance for the wanton destruction of a 500 year old house.

Deerswood Court contains 99 flats, set out in 3 storey blocks with 16 different variations of internal layout. This is an unusual example of New Town social housing Crawley, which was largely made up of 2 storey houses and maisonettes. The buildings are set out in an 'S' shape clustered around two leafy courtyards, which made use of pre-existing trees, linked with pedestrian footpaths, with vehicular access and garages set to the west.




























All photos by Ian Mulcahy. E-mail crawleyoldtown@gmail.com