J. Edmondson & Son
Although Edmondson built some of the most impressive houses and parades of shops in Muswell Hill, little is known about him compared to Collins. The head office was in Winclimore Hill and he had other offices in Sydenham, in South London, and at Leigh-on-Sea. The Archive at Southend-on-Sea has drawings of his houses in the neighbourhood.
At the turn of the century he bought The Limes and Fortis House estates to create a block of thirty acres at the top of Muswell Hill. On this he built the royal roads; Queens, and Princes Avenues, but not Kings Avenue He also bought the Elms estate,North Lodge and Wellfield, in Colney Hatch Louie.
On the Elms grounds he built the sweep of shops called the Exchange, on Muswell Hill roundabout and also Duke's Avenue. By combining The Elms estate and Wellfield, he was able to create Methuen Park and Wellfield Avenue. This is an impressive list.
The Limes had been the home of Mudie, the librarian, who ran the highly successful lending library which delivered books to towns and cities all over the British Empire and could make, or break a book. On any day in the year, Mudie's brass-bound book boxes were in vans and trains all over Britain and in the holds of ships on every ocean. Publishers walked in fear of Mudie's: if the library with its huge advance orders for popular novels would not stock a book, sales were doomed.
Some Muswell Hill Estates in 1894
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