History
In 1894 John Henry Beeby, a wealthy coal merchant, commissioned the Kettering firm of architects Gotch and Saunders to design a house to be built on seven acres of land on the north side of Thorpe Road, and within half a mile of the coal sidings beside the Great Northern Railway's east coast main line. The house, designed by John Alfred Gotch, was completed in 1895. Beeby died in 1924, but his widow continued to live in the house until 1933, when she sold it to George Ralph Baker, a director of the engineering firm of Baker Perkins. On the Ordinance Survey map of 1901 the house is shown to consist of a main double-fronted range with canted bays to south elevation and semi-circular bays to the west, and with a narrower, presumably service, range to the east. By 1968 The Gables had become a maternity hospital, and had been extended to the east, but in 1970 the building was converted to use as a psychiatric day centre. The extension to the east seems to have been either remodelled or rebuilt in its present form at some time in the 1990s.
John Alfred Gotch (1852-1942) set up his first independent architectural practice in Kettering in 1878, and in 1887 entered into partnership with Charles Saunders; their successful association was to last until their joint retirement on 31st December 1937. Gotch was also an architectural historian, specialising in early modern English houses, and was the author of many books and articles on the subject, the most famous of which is perhaps 'Architecture of the Renaissance in England' (1891). From 1886-87 he was president of the Architectural Association, and was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects from1923-25.
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In 1894 John Henry Beeby, a wealthy coal merchant, commissioned the Kettering firm of architects Gotch and Saunders to design a house to be built on seven acres of land on the north side of Thorpe Road, and within half a mile of the coal sidings beside the Great Northern Railway's east coast main line. The house, designed by John Alfred Gotch, was completed in 1895. Beeby died in 1924, but his widow continued to live in the house until 1933, when she sold it to George Ralph Baker, a director of the engineering firm of Baker Perkins. On the Ordinance Survey map of 1901 the house is shown to consist of a main double-fronted range with canted bays to south elevation and semi-circular bays to the west, and with a narrower, presumably service, range to the east. By 1968 The Gables had become a maternity hospital, and had been extended to the east, but in 1970 the building was converted to use as a psychiatric day centre. The extension to the east seems to have been either remodelled or rebuilt in its present form at some time in the 1990s.
John Alfred Gotch (1852-1942) set up his first independent architectural practice in Kettering in 1878, and in 1887 entered into partnership with Charles Saunders; their successful association was to last until their joint retirement on 31st December 1937. Gotch was also an architectural historian, specialising in early modern English houses, and was the author of many books and articles on the subject, the most famous of which is perhaps 'Architecture of the Renaissance in England' (1891). From 1886-87 he was president of the Architectural Association, and was president of the Royal Institute of British Architects from1923-25.
Thanks for looking!!