28, VINCENT SQUARE (See details for further address information)

Detached house, formerly the end unit of a terrace of four and part of a group of 26. Dated 1929, designed by the Air Ministry's Directorate of Works and Buildings. The house is rendered brickwork with a plain tile roof, and is located at the east side of Vincent Square towards the south end.

The plan comprises a single dwelling entered to the right, with living, dining and kitchen on the ground floor, and three bedrooms above. Originally there were four open fireplaces, two on each floor, positioned on the party wall to the left. The house has gabled ends with face gables above windows to both front and rear.

The exterior features wood casement windows with one horizontal glazing-bar, set in plain reveals with concrete sub-sills. At first floor level, centred within the gable, are a 3-light window above a 4-light window, both set within a square bay with plain cheeks and hipped roof. To the right is a panelled door with a part-glazed upper part, set between plain pilasters with concrete consoles carrying a flat hood with bold rolled edge on a bed-mould. The gabled ends are plain; that to the left features a large ridge stack with deep stepped capping. The rear elevation has a 2-light casement to the gable and a smaller 2-light casement at the eaves, with a 3-light window, door and small side-light to the ground floor.

The interior was not inspected; the houses were restored by a Housing Association as part of the renovation of the entire Square.

This house forms part of the best preserved group of married quarters, typically designed on Garden City principles and predating the post-1934 Expansion Period of the RAF. The group of 26 houses was planned as an elongated square around a central grassed area, originally comprising 32 houses before six were demolished following the 1940 raids. Land for the new married quarters was purchased in 1923-5. Biggin Hill acquired a reputation as the most famous fighter station in the world, primarily through its association with the Battle of Britain, the first time in history that a nation retained its freedom and independence through air power. The station was developed as a key fighter station in the inter-war period, playing a critical role in the development of the radar-based air defence system that proved vital during the Second World War. Of all sites involved in the Battle of Britain, few have greater resonance in the popular imagination than the sector airfields of 11 Group, which occupied the front line. Commanded by Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park from his underground headquarters at RAF Uxbridge, the nerve centre sector stations at Northolt, North Weald, Biggin Hill, Tangmere, Debden and Hornchurch sustained some of the most intense attacks, particularly between 24 August and 6 September 1940, when these airfields and aircraft factories became the Luftwaffe's prime targets.