- Whitgift Centre
Infobox Modern building
caption = Sainsbury's Square; includes aFoot Locker , Sainsbury's Central,River Island ,H&M , Boots, andHolland & Barrett
name = Whitgift Centre (Extension)
location_town =Croydon ,London
location_country = ENG
coordinates =
architect = Geddes Architects
client = Howard Holdings plc
engineer =
construction_start_date= 2009
completion_date = 2014
date_demolished =
cost =
structural_system =
style = |The Whitgift Centre is a large
shopping centre and office block inCroydon ,London , which officially opened in 1970. The centre will be expanded as part of theCroydon Vision 2020 scheme.The name comes from
John Whitgift , a formerArchbishop of Canterbury . The centre was built on the site of Whitgift Middle School, renamedTrinity School of John Whitgift in 1954, which moved to a new site at Shirley Park in 1965.The first shop to open was Boots on
17 October 1968 and the centre itself was officially opened in October 1970 by theDuchess of Kent . In the middle of the Whitgift Centre there was a Roman-themed pub called The Forum. In the 1990's, the centre was almost completely rebuilt to an atrium design, and the Forum pub was demolished.The shopping centre is on three storeys — the upper two are for retail and the basement provides vehicle access to any of the retail units with a 1-km network of service roads. It adjoins the major
Allders store, which has substantial frontage onto the Centre. The office accommodation consists of five tower blocks rising above the shopping centre. The other major shopping centre in Croydon is Centrale across North End, with Park Place due to begin development shortly.The freehold of the Centre is owned by the
Whitgift Foundation , a registered charity in England & Wales. [UK charity|312612|The Whitgift Foundation]References
External links
* [http://www.whitgiftshopping.co.uk/ Official web site]
* [http://www.whitgiftshopping.co.uk/history.php History]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
