Crittall Windows
 | This article needs more citations. (April 2009) |
| Type | Limited company |
|---|---|
| Industry | specialised construction activities  |
| Founded | 1889 |
| Founder | Francis Berrington Crittall |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Steel-framed windows |
| Website | crittall-windows |
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Crittall Windows Ltd is an English manufacturer of steel-framed windows, today based in Witham, Essex, close to its historic roots in the county. Its products have been used in thousands of buildings across the United Kingdom, including the Houses of Parliament and Tower of London, and are features particularly associated with the Art Deco and Modernist movements in early 20th-century architecture.[1]
Early history
[edit]
The origins of the company date back to 1849, when Francis Berrington Crittall bought the Bank Street ironmongery in Braintree, Essex. However, it was not until 1884 that the company – by this time run by the founder's son Francis Henry Crittall (1860–1935) – began to manufacture metal windows. Five years later (1889), the Crittall Manufacturing Company Ltd was incorporated. At this time the firm's output in a two-year period was 20 tonnes. In 1880 the company employed 11 men, by the 1890s this figure was 34, by 1918, 500.[2]
In 1907, Crittall bought the so-called Fenestra joint patent from the German company Fenestra in Düsseldorf. In the same year, Crittall began to operate the Detroit Steel Product Co, the first steel window factory in the United States. The company's windows were used in numerous buildings in North America and other parts of Europe, and were a feature of the RMS Titanic.[3][4]
During the First World War, Crittall's factories were used in munitions production, but postwar the company returned to steel window manufacture. It formed a manufacturing agreement with Belgian firm Braat in 1918 and opened a works in Witham, Essex in 1919, partly to supply standard metal windows for the UK government's housing scheme.
The 1920s saw operations established in South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and in Washington, DC, in the US, followed by a company in Shanghai, China in 1931. The company also had a factory at Foots Cray, Kent, on a junction still known as "Crittall's Corner".[5]
Amid this corporate expansion, the company started a model village at Silver End in Essex in 1926. The name most associated with the company at this time is that of W. F. Crittall, known as Mr Pink, who as both director and designer was responsible for the development of the steel windows and who was closely associated with the modern architectural movement that such windows are associated with.[6]
In 1939, Crittall built its first galvanising plant at Witham, shortly before it once again became engaged in munitions production during the Second World War.
Post-war history
[edit]During the 1940s and 1950s, Crittall began to manufacture aluminium windows and curtain walling, and in the 1960s was instrumental in the development of pressure chamber weather performance testing standards that are still used in the UK today. Its foray into aluminium windows began in 1947 when Crittall-Luxfer Aluminium Windows Ltd was formed after acquisition of Luxfer Ltd, based at Colwick, Nottinghamshire; it disposed of the business in 1962.[7]
The post-war period saw Crittall undergo several major corporate changes. In 1965, it merged with Henry Hope & Sons Ltd to form Crittall Hope – a firm that was then taken over in 1968 by Slater Walker Securities. Six years later, in 1974, Crittall-Hope was acquired by Norcros Ltd, and Crittall Windows Limited Braintree and Witham was formed.
In 1990, Crittall moved to new premises in Braintree. Five years later, it was acquired by Apax Venture Capital, and then sold two years later (1997) to Marmon Corporation of Chicago. In 2002, the company was acquired by Laurel Holdings, and was then the subject of a management buy-out in 2004. In 2007, the company opened a new factory and head office in Witham. In April 2017, Crittall acquired Fendor, a manufacturer of blast-resistant and high-security glazing based in Washington, Tyne and Wear, forming Crittall Fendor.[8]
Notable buildings worldwide using Crittall windows
[edit]Asia
[edit]- Asia Insurance Building, Singapore
- Capitol Theatre, Singapore
- St. John's College, Hong Kong
United Kingdom
[edit]- 10 Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London[9]
- Appleby Lodge, Manchester[10]
- Astoria (a houseboat built in 1911 for impresario Fred Karno, and used since the 1980s as a recording studio by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd)[11]
- BBC Television Centre, White City, London[12][13]
- Belvedere Court, Finchley, London[14]
- BISF houses, various locations
- Broadcasting House, Belfast[15]
- Coventry Cathedral – the Great West Wall window
- Dolphin Square, Pimlico, London[16]
- Dover House Estate, Roehampton, London[17]
- Ealing Village, Ealing, London[18]
- Elterwater Hostel, Cumbria
- Hewett Academy, Norwich, Norfolk (some elements of 1954 building)
- Hoover Building, Perivale, London[19]
- Houses of Parliament, London
- Marine Court, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex[20]
- MCC building, Lord's Cricket Ground, London
- Mercat Cross, Glasgow
- Museum of the Home, London
- Princes House, Brighton[21]
- Public Record Office, London
- Ravelston Garden – Art Deco residential flats, Edinburgh
- Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
- Ritz Cinema, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire[22]
- Silver End village, Essex[23][24]
- Snowdon summit building (1935–2006, designed by Clough Williams-Ellis)
- Southampton Civic Centre Clock Tower, Southampton
- Temperate House, Kew Gardens
- Tower Bridge, London
- Tower of London
United States
[edit]Association with Braintree Town
[edit]The company had a long historical association with Braintree Town F.C. The club was originally formed in 1898 and accepted into the North Essex League as Manor Works F.C., the company's works team. The club's nickname "The Iron" also comes from this source, reflecting the company's metal window frames.[25] The club's crest reflects its origins and shows the factory of the old Crittall Garage which overlooked the club's Cressing Road ground before being demolished in 2005.
In 1921 the club changed its name to Crittall Athletic F.C. and soon afterwards moved to a new stadium which has been their home since.[25] Around 1968 the club changed name once again, this time to Braintree & Crittall Athletic F.C., but when links with Crittall ended in 1981 they became Braintree Town F.C..[25]
References
[edit]- ↑ JAMES STEVENS CURL. "Crittall windows." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 2 April 2009
- ↑ King, Susan, Silver End: a place to work and play
- ↑ p.70, Crittall, Ariel and Blake, David (1989) Window Vision: Story of the Crittall Family v. 2: Crittall, 1849–1989, Crittall Windows. ISBN 978-0-9515585-0-8
- ↑ "A history of Crittall windows". Homes and Antiques. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- ↑ "Origins of street and place names in Bexley Archived 2013-12-22 at the Wayback Machine" London Borough of Bexley. Retrieved: 23 August 2015.
- ↑ Carpenter, Robin (2007) Mr Pink, the architectural legacy of WF Crittall, Essex County Council, Chelmsford ISBN 978-1-84194-075-5
- ↑ "Luxfer". Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Retrieved 4 September 2026.
- ↑ "Acquisition for Titanic window manufacturer". Insider Media. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- ↑ "5 bedroom property for sale in Dorchester Drive, London, SE24 – £1,750,000". Hamptons. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
- ↑ Harwood, Elain (2019). "Appleby Lodge". Art Deco Britain: Buildings of the interwar years. Pavilion Books. pp. 46–47. ISBN 978-1849946537.
- ↑ "David Gilmour: Wider Horizons". 14 November 2015. BBC. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
{{cite episode}}: Missing or empty|series=(help) - ↑ "Crittall Windows Archive". Braintree Museum. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- ↑ Riley-Smith, Alice (10 March 2021). "Sophie Ashby and Charlie Casely-Hayford's flat in west London's former-BBC building". House & Garden. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- ↑ Historic England. "Belvedere Court with Walls and Gatepiers to South (1387706)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
- ↑ Colman, Andrew. BROADCASTING HOUSE John Reith’s gift to Belfast (PDF). Belfast: BBC Northern Ireland. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- ↑ Gourvish, Terry (2014) [2005]. Dolphin Square: the history of a unique building. London: A&C Black. ISBN 9781472911094. OCLC 884550799., p.53.
- ↑ "Dover House Estate Conservation Area". Wandsworth Council. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- ↑ Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). London 3: North West. Pevsner Buildings of England. New Haven, US and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-09652-1. OCLC 844442257.
- ↑ "Spring clean: Interrobang completes renovation of Hoover factory". Architects Journal. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
- ↑ "Marine Court, Non Civil Parish - 1379435". Historic England. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- ↑ "Princes House, Brighton, England". Crittall Windows Ltd. 2015. Archived from the original on 29 August 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- ↑ Historic England. "The Ritz Cinema (1392330)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
- ↑ "Twenty-four semi-detached houses and terrace of eight houses". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 20 November 2008.
- ↑ Glancey, Jonathan (1998). "Silver End Housing Estate". C20th Architecture: The Structures that Shaped the Century. Carlton Books. ISBN 0-87951-912-6.
- 1 2 3 Blakeman, M (2010) The Official History of the Eastern Counties Football League 1935–2010, Volume II ISBN 978-1-908037-02-2
External links
[edit]
- Crittall Company website
- Wrought Iron and Steel Windows Introduction to the history and conservation of wrought iron and steel windows including advice on repair versus replacement.
- Documents and clippings about Crittall Windows in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- A German article about the Düsseldorf company branch "Fenestra Crittall": Daniel Lohmann, Stahlfenster von Fenestra-Crittall in den Bauten der Verseidag Krefeld. Bedeutung und Erhalt.