Eighty years of change to Jarvis Houses in West Common /Jarvis West Common Houses -changes over eighty years

Compare - and contrast

4-12 West Common Way

In 2016 Jean Gardner undertook the challenge of tracing as many as possible of the houses photographed by Jim Jarvis soon after they were built on the new West Common estate in the 1930s.  She noted the alterations and in 2017 she set out to re-photograph these houses, as closely as possible from the same viewpoint.  However many are now concealed by trees and hedges and we have chosen images that identify key features of the original house design.  Jim Jarvis photographed other houses, many of which remained unidentified – please help if you can.


4-12 West Common Way

Comments about this page

  • We moved to Harpenden in 1959 and lived at 12 West Common Way (the last house in the black and white picture at the beginning of this article). At that time the area beyond The Uplands was just fields. I well remember the winter of 1963, the snow was so high we were marooned for a few days until the road was cleared! A few welcome days off school in St Albans followed. It was our family home until 1981.

    By Tony Redford (23/01/2023)
  • When I remember 33 it was as the original with no extension, however I don’t remember the vertical tiles at the left and right hand ends as the photo shows. The walls of the house were all white, there was a sun lounge at rear, the garden was also beautiful typical Engish with roses and an amazing border of dahlias. I think my grandpa moved out during the early 70s and bought a new bugalow in Amenbury Lane’

    By Martyn Cozens (28/03/2022)
  • My Grandpa (G.Cozens) lived at 33 West Common Way. He was a director of Commer vehicles in Luton. I loved going there when I was a kid in the 1960’s.
    Ed: Do you remember the house as it was in Jim Jarvis’s photo?

    By Martyn Cozens (08/03/2022)

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