A Topper

 Thomas Smith, the owner of the printing firm of the same name which launched into the locality, opened his works (now Morrison's) and forever is associated with naming the district after the Fleet Street district from which the business derived.  Thus we know Fleetville.

Two blocks of nearby land had remained undeveloped at Thomas' death in 1904, and it was left for Smith's sons to manage.  One was land between Royal Road and Tess Road (now Woodstock Road South).  On the latter corner, where is still the Post Office, was – for a fleeting moment – a little cinema; but that is another story, told in detail on the accompanying website.

When Dr Frederick Smythe first arrived he occupied 209 Hatfield Road. In 1930
the property included ground floor rooms, one of which may have been a
waiting room and consulting room.

On the other corner was an impressive brick detached house constructed soon after 1930. In that year arrived "the local doctor".  He was Dr Frederick Smythe, in the terminology of the day physician and surgeon.  He took up residence in Bycullah Terrace, and presumably had his consulting room there, on the ground floor.  Today, the premises is EHS, between Simmons and the Convenience Shop.

The Hatfield Road elevation of Fleet House, although its address has always been in Royal 
Road.

The Royal Road elevation, originally the front, as indicated by the newer brickwork which
had been the porched front door when first built.  On the far left is the slimline detached
house constructed in the garden of Fleet House.

Dr Smythe lost little time in purchasing a plot of land from the Smith estate, the afore-mentioned location on the corner of Royal Road and Hatfield Road, and had the brick detached house constructed for his consulting room and domestic accommodation.  There was even space for a small garden and a pleasant green space behind the boundary wall. The front garden is today far more enclosed by foliage than the managed beds of the early post-war period. Whether Dr Smythe named his property or whether it was applied later I'm not certain, but it was certainly known as Fleet House; why not, for it was in Fleetville?

There came a time after World War Two, when circumstances changed.  From a single household it became two households with its division into a ground floor flat and one on the first floor accessed via an external stairway.  Further, on the garden in Royal Road was built a slim detached house with an equally slim driveway for a car.  Thus there were three households on the same original plot.

The elevations and plans appearing on St Albans District Council's planning web portal to indicate
what was was proposed in 2023.
COURTESY ST ALBANS DISTRICT COUNCIL

For those of us who have walked along Hatfield Road recently we have noticed a board heralding imminent works.  With some surprise the lovely house quickly lost its roof, not in a storm but by careful removal.

The arrival of two prefabricated sections which were lifted on the original decapitated building
to form a new upper floor and a third flat for the site.
COURTESY VIC FOSTER

The road has re-opened the traffic cleared and work continues to enable a fourth household to
occupy this corner plot in Fleetville.
COURTESY VIC FOSTER

And on a day in late September 2024 there arrived a crane and a lengthy low loader which reversed into Royal Road – and not without creating some congestion.  Aboard the vehicles were sections of a third floor to Fleet House, pre-built timber sections, lifted into position.  Thus Fleet House, in one day, changed from a two floor house with a pitched roof into a box of three floors of not much greater height.  Access to first and the new second floor flats are both external.

We wish the new inhabitants well, as they enjoy their view over the recreation ground – and Morrisons!