Farnborough - RBL 69 [????-????]
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Submitted by annelisec on Fri, 2010-03-05 20:08
Current condition:
Demolished / No longer exists
On a 1924 map this lot's address was "508 Peak", and the house name was "Farnborough".
Origianal location of the German Swiss International School
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Photos that show this place
 1970 |
 1975 |
 1980 |
Comments
Farnborough
The 1912 map at www.gwulo.com/atom/21978 shows RBL 69 as a vacant lot, but the 1924 map at www.gwulo.com/atom/13018 has a building named Farnborough, Number 508 The Peak thereat, suggesting its construction was sometime between 1912 and 1924.
By zooming in on the following 1941 photo Farnborough can just about be identified from its two protruding, rounded tower-like, corners facing across Stubbs Road to the junction of Guildford Road, and shows it amidst the bombing of the area during the invasion.
Either it survived unscathed or was repaired post-war because, as Annelisec mentions at the head of this string, Farnborough was the first home of the German Swiss International School. Their website says;
"In 1969 GSIS first opened its doors to 73 students in a house at 1 Barker Road. In view of the growing student numbers, the school relocated some or all of its classes multiple times until 1975 when the school was able to open its first school building in Guildford Road."
The 1975 date corresponds to the year in which Maidestones photo above was taken. Whilst I can't see any definate evidence that the building was or wasn't still a school at the time the photo was taken, the wall of its front terrace seems to have been extended upwards to reduce the risk of falls down the large drop below which would be a sensible precaution for a school to take. The striped flag seen protruding above Farnborough could be a Stars & Stripes belonging to the US Consulate residence which I understand to have been immediately behind and above Farnborough.
Construction Date
Farnborough was described as a new house in a 1914 Government Gazette