The Park Estate

The Park Estate is a private residential housing estate to the west of Nottingham city centre, England, noted for its Victorian architecture, although many of the houses have been altered, extended or converted into flats. The estate uses gas street lighting; believed to be one of the largest networks in Europe.

The first domestic building in the park was built in 1809. Built opposite the castle gatehouse, the building served as the vicarage to St. Mary's Church.

Despite much opposition from locals, who regarded the area as public land, major development began in the 1822 under the 4th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne who engaged the architect John Jephson. In 1825 he was replaced by Peter Frederick Robinson who published a plan for the park in 1827. The first houses appeared on Park Terrace around 1829 and by 1832 some 40-50 had been completed.

Development continued under the 5th Duke, who appointed architect Thomas Chambers Hine in 1854 to design many of the houses and by 1859 houses were complete on Castle Grove, Lenton Road, Newcastle Drive and Clinton Terrace. Hine remained as the architect to the estate, even after the death of the 5th Duke in 1864, when the estate was managed by a trust. Many of the large villas were built for local wealthy industrialists and businessmen, who employed their own architects. The designs for all houses still had to be approved by Hine until he retired in 1891.

By 1918 the estate was largely completed with 355 houses. By the mid 1930s the larger houses were proving difficult to sell. Many of the remaining leases were very short. St Heliers, the former home of Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent, which had been unoccupied for 10 years, and was reported as being in good condition, was sold by auction by Walker, Walton and Hanson on 15 June 1932. Originally costing some £6,000, Herbert Weightman of Wilford, a jobbing builder, bought the property for £7 (equivalent to £438 in 2015). The ground rent payable to the Newcastle Estate Office was £116 per year (equivalent to £7,262 in 2015). There were understood to be covenants in place preventing its demolition, but it was pulled down in 1936.

...
Wikipedia