Description

WILBURY ROAD
1.
5255
No 158
TL 2133 6/156
II*
2.
1905 by John A Brodie. One of the most significant of the early Letchworth
buildings both for its style and its construction. The flat roof and plain
surfaces suggest affinities with pioneering work of the International Style,
but the incipient classical detailing and fenestration link it to Art Nouveau
and in particular Garniers 'Cite Industrielle'; The building is radically
constructed using precast, reinforced concrete panels, floor and roofing elements,
with the joinery cast in-situ. Two storeys. One window with recessed one
window entrance bay. Conservatory extension on west side. Flat or slightly
pitched roof with tall, decorated red chimney pots. Bracketted cornice with
Greek fret frieze and blocking course. Architraved 2 and 3 light casement
windows with cornices and glazing bars; first floor with oriel window. Corner
entrance with flat roofed verandah carried on square column. The catalogue
of the 1905 Cheap Cottage Exhibition states "This system of building was originally
designed by Mr Brodie with the special object of providing a thoroughly sanitary
and economical building, suitable in every way for the housing of the poorest
classes displaced owing to the demolition of insanitary areas in Liverpool.
The benefits of the system can be most fully obtained where the work to be
carried out is on a considerable scale, and where approximate repetition in
size of slabs is possible." (Brodie was City Engineer of Liverpool). Graded
II*, as one of the earliest completely prefabricated systems in reinforced
concrete in this country and one of the earliest in existence for domestic
buildings.

Listing NGR: TL2187333701

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17554897

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)