Northaw Place

Northaw Place is a Grade II* listed former mansion house, later a school and children's home, in Northaw and Cuffley, Hertfordshire, England. Northaw Place was built circa 1690 by Sir George Hutchins, King's Serjeant and one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal (1690 – 1693). Cussans describes the Northaw estate as having once formed part of the manorial estate but it became detached from it in circa 1690 when Sir William Leman, second Baronet, and Lord of the Manor of Northaw, gave it to his daughter Sarah, on her marriage to Sir George Hutchins. It remained in private hands until the late 19th century, when it was converted into a school. It reverted to private ownership again in 1927, only to be purchased by Middlesex County Council after World War II and converted into a children's home. With the 1974 re-organisation of UK local government it passed to the London Borough of Haringey who used it as a Children's Assessment Centre until late 1979. In 1980 a planning application was made to convert Northaw Place (and its adjoining extensions to the west) to 10 dwellings (Ref: S6/0369/80). Permission was granted but the scheme was not implemented due to outstanding conditions of consent. A subsequent application to convert Northaw Place to offices was refused in 1982 (S6/0120/82). Another application was submitted in 1985 to convert Northaw Place to six dwellings (S6/0368/LB), and permission was granted. In 1986 Northaw Place was bought by Hitchins (Hatfield) Ltd, and a new planning application was submitted. This contained minor amendments from the previous application. As part of the conversion work the main house was divided from the stables / coach house to the west by the demolition of a link building. It has since been converted to residential accommodation.