1920s Construction of Houses on Bidwell Hill

Construction of houses on Bidwell Hill at the junction with Bedford Road in the 1920s. The photograph was provided by John Souster.

A Google Earth image taken in 2017 can be viewed by clicking here

These houses were built by Arthur Cole Ltd (Later HC Janes Ltd) and an extract from the Bedfordshire archives (to see the full entry click here) is below:

"H.C. Janes Ltd. builders and contractors

The firm which later became H.C. Janes Ltd was founded by Arthur Cole, but the exact date is uncertain. According to a report prepared by Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co. solicitors in 1944 (JN352/1) the firm was then about sixty years old. However, it seems more likely that the firm was founded in the 1890s. A. Cole is listed as a private resident in the 1894 Kelly's directory, but in the commercial section of the 1898 edition there is the entry; "Arthur Cole, builder and carpenter & agent for English & foreign bees, 3, Edward St; workshops High Town Road".

Before 1914 A Cole was chiefly a jobbing builder, the only notable exception being a contract to build Limbury Baptist chapel in 1905-6. Around 1907 the decorating and plumbing side of the business was developed. During the First World War the firm built a new factory for Laporte Ltd. (built in 1915-6 and a second factory in 1919) in Conway Road, Luton and a foundry for T. Balmforth and Co. boiler makers, Pondwicks Road, Luton (built c.1916; this firm manufactured bomb casings during the war)

In 1920 the business became a limited company, Arthur Cole Ltd. (JN342-3) During the 1920s house-building became an increasingly important side of the business. Council housing estates were built by the firm at Houghton Regis, St. Ives and Berkhamstead in 1920-21.  In 1927 the firm became H.C. Janes Ltd when A. Cole retired.

From the late 1920s the firm was involved with increasingly large contracts for both individual buildings and housing estates (see JN483-489; JN483 includes a list of contracts undertaken, 1936-1941). Perhaps one of the most notable buildings was the Luton and Dunstable Hospital built in 1937-8."

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