Sir Frederick Gibberd, the architect of Heathrow airport, Liverpool’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Regent’s Park Mosque and many other projects throughout Great Britain, was appointed master-planner for Harlow New Town in 1946. He acquired the property in Marsh Lane in 1956 and from then until his death in 1984 he developed the site with commissioned sculptures and other works, most of which are still in situ today. Sir Frederick described the garden as "an art of space, like architecture and town design. The space, to be of recognisable design, must be contained and the plants and walls enclosing it then became part of the adjacent spaces.