Mills Chody - solicitors LLP

 

History of the firm

Mills Chody was established in 1989 with the merger of Chody & Co and the Kenton branch of Mills Curry & Gaskell. Chody & Co was itself founded in Kenton in the 1950’s whilst Mills Curry & Gaskell was established by the partnership formed in the 1890’s between three solicitors Mr Mills, Mr Curry and Mr Gaskell.

The Kenton Office of Mills Chody is situated in the former Head office of F & C Costin Ltd who were responsible for a large part of the development of Kenton and Harrow’s residential housing in the 1930’s. Following the extension of the Metropolitan line to the western suburbs of London, former fields and orchards were acquired from Middlesex farmers and estate-owners such as Christ Church College and the Rushout estates (by then owned by Captain Spencer-Churchill) and were laid out and developed for residential purposes after the advent of the L. & N.W.R. and Metropolitan lines.

In Kenton, and in other parts of Harrow such as Harrow Weald and Hatch End, as well as further afield in Ruilsip and Eastcote, Costin constructed high quality housing incorporating elements of design from the Arts and Crafts movement, whilst in North Wembley their archrivals Comben and Wakelin built Mock Tudor

The head office of F & C Costin at 226-228 Kenton Road was purpose built as offices but constructed so as to resemble their trademark design of a pair of semi detached houses. Costin’s offered a broad range of elevation treatments which give each dwellinghouse their individuality and continues to enhance the character of the area. The office doubled as a showroom for their customers and so, at the back of the building, the windows each depict a different style of glazing. One can imagine a Costin salesman from the 1930’s taking potential purchasers to the area which now forms our staff and customer car park and inviting them to select the design of their fenestration and glazing from amongst the examples of high quality leaded light windows on display in situ.

The Hatch End office of Mills Chody is situated in the same offices formerly used by one branch of the founder firm Mills Curry & Gaskell. The then senior partner of the firm was one Mr H Hodge, father of one of the two founding partners of the current incarnation of the firm, which still carries on the legal tradition.