Built in 1934, the houses at Barnfield were originally intended to form part of a ?Village of To-Morrow' (as the brochure originally produced by Wates described it). The plans for this development were presented at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition at Olympia in West London in 1934 and were greeted with great interest.

No. 4 Barnfield is a Wates ?Type 2' house which is described in the company's 1934 catalogue as ?typifying the advanced design demanded to-day". The catalogue goes on to state that ?Modernity, with the highest standards of comfort, finds expression in this House of the Times".

Although the entire ?Village of To-Morrow' (as originally envisioned) was never created, a fair number of these ?Houses of the Times' were erected for forward-thinking, wealthy clients. ?Architect-designed, the exterior presents an appearance of balance and proportion, with distinct charm", reads a further section of the catalogue. Today these attributes are still wonderfully apparent, particularly at No. 4, one of the only houses in the area to retain steel-framed (as opposed to wood or plastic) windows.

Wates was established in 1897 by Edward Wates as E. A. Wates Ltd. By the 1930s it was being run by Edward's three sons, all of whom had a keen interest in international developments in housing design. The company, based in Mitcham, worked closely with leading architects to design homes that broke new ground.

When the Second World War started, Wates put its knowledge of advanced building techniques to use by constructing aerodromes, factories and reinforced concrete barges and floating docks. Today Wates, operating as Wates Group Ltd, is still going strong (albeit without such emphasis on cutting-edge design).