Ernest Trobridge (1884-1942)
Ernest George Trobridge was born in Northern Ireland in 1884, his father was a landscape painter and a believer in Swedenborgianism. Swedenborgianism, also known as The New Church, is a Christian denomination developed by Emanuel Swedenborg in the 18th Century. Ernest trained as an architect in Belfast before moving to London in 1907. He started his practice designing churches, before moving onto houses in the North London region.
In 1915 he moved to Kingsbury with his wife, Jennie Pulsford and developed a house building system using green elm wood, thatched roofs and brick used only in fireplaces and chimneys, to counteract post war material shortages. The use of green elm wood allowed the house to be completed in only 8 weeks from felling, and weighed a fifth of a similar sized brick house.This design was well received and Trobridge subsequently purchased a tract of land in Kingsbury to build the Fern Dene estate. Originally planned to have 32 residences, after protracted disputes with Kingsbury Urban District Council, only 10 were built, including one for Trobridge. Trobridge also designed for individual clients, broadening his range of materials to include brick and tiles for either external tile hanging or roofing. These houses were largely in Colindale and Kingsbury, and can still be seen in Colindeep Lane, Buck Lane and Hayland Close in these areas.
As another war in Europe became more and more inevitable, Trobridge turned his mind to a modern version of the medieval castle, designing houses with a dual purpose garage/air raid shelter. These interesting designs were never built. Trobridge didn’t live to see the return of the troops of another world war, dying in 1942 after his strict vegetarianism stopped him taking the insulin that would have saved his life from Diabetes.
Featured Buildings: Highfort Court, Old St. Andrew Mansions, Slough Lane
In 1915 he moved to Kingsbury with his wife, Jennie Pulsford and developed a house building system using green elm wood, thatched roofs and brick used only in fireplaces and chimneys, to counteract post war material shortages. The use of green elm wood allowed the house to be completed in only 8 weeks from felling, and weighed a fifth of a similar sized brick house.This design was well received and Trobridge subsequently purchased a tract of land in Kingsbury to build the Fern Dene estate. Originally planned to have 32 residences, after protracted disputes with Kingsbury Urban District Council, only 10 were built, including one for Trobridge. Trobridge also designed for individual clients, broadening his range of materials to include brick and tiles for either external tile hanging or roofing. These houses were largely in Colindale and Kingsbury, and can still be seen in Colindeep Lane, Buck Lane and Hayland Close in these areas.
As another war in Europe became more and more inevitable, Trobridge turned his mind to a modern version of the medieval castle, designing houses with a dual purpose garage/air raid shelter. These interesting designs were never built. Trobridge didn’t live to see the return of the troops of another world war, dying in 1942 after his strict vegetarianism stopped him taking the insulin that would have saved his life from Diabetes.
Featured Buildings: Highfort Court, Old St. Andrew Mansions, Slough Lane