Orchard Croft

A crescent of houses known as Orchard Croft was built between 1952 and 1953, designed by Frederick Gibberd as part of the Harlow Design Group. The buildings are constructed of brown brick, with the ground floor rendered and projecting concrete surrounds to the first-floor windows. They have low-pitched concrete pantiled roofs concealed behind parapets. These are three-storey houses, incorporating car-ports and glazed entrances. The windows have been partly replaced with UPVC frames, while others retain their original painted metal frames. Chimney stacks run along the ridge line. Together with numbers 3-12, Orchard Croft forms a crescent of houses facing south towards The Stow playing field. The overall design is striking and serves as an introduction to the neighbourhood shopping centre. It represents Gibberd’s most successful attempt at three-storey housing, deliberately drawing inspiration from 18th and early 19th century crescent forms.