| Description | [In 1888 E J S Jesse purchased the Elm Lodge estate, which consisted of a residence of that name and its grounds, on land between Tilehurst Road and Oxford Road, Reading. The grounds were laid out as a building estate with new streets, c.1880s-1900s, in collaboration with architect G W Webb and estate agent W R Nicholas, while Elm Lodge itself was demolished [in the early 1900s]. H Payne of Wantage Road later became the agent, and by 1906 Messrs Lloyd & Savage were the estate architects. By 1902 the Elm Lodge Building Estate had its own gravel pits in Kensington Road, Tilehurst Road and Wantage Road, used for their own purposes and to supply others. The new streets included Richmond Road, Kensington Road, Cranbury Road, Belmont Road, Elm Park Road (including the site of Reading Football Club) and Albany Road, and the estate also included parts of Gloucester Road and Prince of Wales Avenue. The individual houses or building plots were then sold off piecemeal in a series of auctions. The estate was augmented by the purchase of the adjacent Grovelands Estate in 1889. Later additions included houses in Connaught Road, part of Grovelands Road East, Wantage Road, Kent Road, Norfolk Road, Rutland Road, Suffolk Road, and Wilton Road. It was later known as the Elm Park estate.] |