In 1913, a Society called the Worcester Tenants Ltd, bought eleven acres of land from Christ Church, Oxford, just off Tolladine Road, on the south side which then, apart from the Railway works was in completely rural meadows and hills. The proposal was to build a Garden Suburb. Garden settlements were not new to Worcester, for we had Boughton Fields and Comer Gardens, but those had been almost unplanned, with houses like others to be seen in the town. This venture was in line with Garden suburb developments that had occured in late Victorian times.
It was not a charitable venture, but a sound financial one. It was proposed to put up five locks of houses of different styles, and rents. Some were larger than others, and all had a bath. Only one pair had been completed when the 1914 War broke out. All building stopped on the site, but the scheme continued after the War. Sadly however, the enthusiasm for the scheme had gone. The architect was Colonel A.V Rowe, a pioneer of the garden city movement. He built other houses in the same half-timbered style, including one for himself, Saints Hill, at the end of Northwick Close.