Sir Malcolm Stewart Trust Homes, seven lamp standards and wrought-iron railings, Stewartby, Bedford

Summary

Bungalows built in 1955-6 for retired workers of the London Brick Company to the designs of Sir Albert Richardson with E A S Houfe.

Description

24 bungalows, divided evenly between two courtyards, built in 1955-6 to the designs of Sir Albert Richardson working with his son-in-law, E A S Houfe.
MATERIALS: principally built of mass-produced red Fletton bricks, manufactured by the neighbouring London Brick Company. The bricks, laid in a stretcher bond, are unusually narrow, being two inches high by nine inches long and have a finely-grooved textured facing giving a coarse, rustic appearance. The timber-framed sash windows are under rubbed-brick voussoirs, distinguished by the use of darker Williamson and Cliffe Stamford bricks. The roof is laid with clay, plain tiles, with ridge tiles to the hipped corners. Oak doors with brass and copper fixtures feature throughout.
PLAN: a wide, central avenue divides the sets of bungalows into two symmetrical, open-cornered courtyards (each formed of four distinct terrace sections) set around central greens. These radiate out from the curve of the pre-existing road (The Crescent) to the north of the estate, both courtyards tapering outwards to the south. In terms of arrangement, the two terraced sections of each courtyard closest to The Crescent (north) and on the outer edges (those furthest east and west) front onto the street, whilst the remaining sections (the two sections flanking the central avenue and those furthest south) have entrances which open onto the courtyard.
The 24 homes comprise standardised single and double-occupancy bungalows. The eight single bungalows are grouped as pairs of four, positioned on the outer edge of both courtyards (that is, the far east and west sides of the site), whilst the remaining sixteen double bungalows, of very generous scale, fill in the remaining three sides of both courtyards. The single bungalows consist of a central entrance lobby which gives access a separate toilet and bathroom, a bedroom to one side, whilst the opposing side contains a living area (or lounge). Each home’s living area is served by a utility compartment and a small kitchen/diner, both set against the far wall of the bungalow, these divided by a centrally-placed side door, opening either to a passageway or the end of a terrace depending upon its position in the courtyard. The double bungalows also consist of a central entrance, this opening to a long corridor which gives access to a kitchen/diner, a separate toilet and bathroom, two bedrooms and a living area. The kitchen/diner in the double bungalows have a central side door leading to a small lobby which is flanked by a small storeroom and utility area, the external door here also opening either to a passageway or the end of a terrace depending upon its position in the courtyard.
EXTERIOR: the two identical courtyards are designed in a consistent Neo-Georgian style with subtly distinct treatment and features to the separate terraces of bungalows. Each terrace has a continuous roofline, punctuated by brick chimneys, with double-hipped ends and a slight sweep down to the overhanging eaves. The main door to each of the bungalows is of oak with fielded panels and a moulded and corniced door surround, all with an affixed house number and door knocker (these specifically designed by Richardson). On the outer terraces of both courtyards (far west and east sides) the doors have margin windows inset within the upper-portions of the surround.
The front doors divide 6/6 sash windows, either five or six to each elevation of the double bungalows and two or three windows to the single types. The rear elevations are generally plainer, occupied by 6/6 sash windows, interrupted by passageway entrances between the separate bungalows, marked out by their flanking brick piers and gauged relieving brick arches above. The southernmost pair of terraces’ feature canted bays to the rear with sash windows and margin lights, these with a cornice and moulded details to the mullions. The end sections of each of the terraces have central, part-glazed doors, flanked by brick piers and set under gauged brick arches; this arrangement in common with the passageway entrances.
INTERIOR: only no. 21 inspected (single bedroom type, now the Bursar’s office). Interiors of the bungalows were of standard design. Many of the homes apparently retain their original room arrangements and certain fittings. Original features noted include internal panelled doors with brass fixtures, picture rails, a small and simple fireplace to the bedroom and a larger type with timber surround in the living room featuring tiles with flying duck designs. Where such original fittings survive these contribute to the special interest. Fireplaces are now blocked with modern heaters fitted.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: a set of seven original lampstandards designed by Richardson occupy each of the open corners of each of the courtyards except for that adjacent to nos. 13 and 24. These consist of a glazed, copper lamp case set on a tapering timber post and concrete base. Simple wrought-iron railings and hard-standings, including steps up to the central greens, are original work in the main, though access ramps, new steps, railings and low-set brick walls have been added in certain areas, notably in the south-east corner, between nos. 20 and 21.

History

Stewartby was laid out as a model garden village in 1926, adjoining the historic hamlet of Wootton Pillinge (around six miles south-west of Bedford), to provide housing and amenities for the workforce of the London Brick Company (LBC), known prior to 1936 as London Brick Company and Forders Limited. It was founded by Sir (Percy) Malcolm Stewart (1872-1951) and largely built by F W Walker, architect to the LBC. The company arose as the result of a series of amalgamations led by Sir Malcolm’s father, Sir Halley Stewart (1838-1937), who had taken over the brickworks of B J Forder and Son, founded in 1897 at Wooton Pillinge. The first houses of the model village were occupied in Churchill Close in 1928, and in 1929 a war memorial hall, which remains the most prominent building in the village, was built to the designs of E Vincent Harris in memory of local villagers who fell in the First World War. As the brickworks expanded, becoming the largest in the world by 1936, so Walker built more housing and in 1937 a school was completed to the designs of the architect Oswald Milne (1881-1968). At this time the village, incorporating Wootton Pillinge, and Wootton Broadmead and part of Kempston, became a civil parish, taking on the name Stewartby.

The family name was given to the village by Malcolm Stewart, the descendant of a strong Congregationalist family, who was noted for introducing welfare, holidays with pay and pension schemes for his employees. He had also promoted consultation and profit sharing amongst the workforce and, in 1934, gave over land at Potton in Bedfordshire to the Land Settlement Scheme to retrain long-term unemployed industrial workers as agricultural smallholders. Stewart’s tenure at the LBC was notable for the series of socially conscientious projects he initiated and, as his obituary in 1951 in the Bedford Times summarised, the provision of ‘social facilities [for workers] were for many years one of Sir Malcolm's first considerations’. The Sir Malcolm Stewart Trust Houses, built 1955-6, along with the central common room, thus constitute the last phase of several decades of charitable building by a significant manufacturer and philanthropist in the mould of W H Lever and George Cadbury.

The charitable trust responsible for Sir Malcolm Stewart Trust Houses was founded in 1945 with the stated purpose of providing ‘housing for old servants of the company, or their descendants, whose declining years might be made more comfortable if they were relieved of some of the expense of maintaining a household’. The first housing was built only after Stewart’s death, perhaps because of the restrictions on private building caused by building licences until 1954, or possibly because other housing in the village took precedence. The first 24 bungalows and the common room were built in 1955-6 and opened by Stewart’s widow, Lady Beatrice Stewart, on 23 May 1956. The housing was reserved for workers at the brickworks with fifty years or more service, who were entitled to a bungalow free of rent and rates for the duration of their tenure.

The architect of the common room and housing was Sir Albert Richardson (1880-1964), a significant figure who became president of the Royal Academy in 1955, working with his son-in-law, E A S Houfe. By the 1950s Richardson was the most prominent architect working in a traditional style, known also for editing the Architects’ Journal and writing several books on classical architecture and other related subjects. Richardson was responsible for restoring churches by Wren and Hawksmoor in London after the war and for new buildings in the City, notably Bracken House, built in 1959, which in 1987 became the first post-war listed building (Grade II*; NHLE, 1262582). Other listed buildings designed principally by Richardson include 1-8 Hugh Street, on the Duchy of Cornwall estate, Isles of Scilly, built c1926 (Grade II; NHLE, 1328825), St Margaret’s House in Westminster, built c1929-31 (Grade II; NHLE, 1249911), The Jockey Club in Newmarket, built c1933 (Grade II; NHLE, 1285869), Holy Cross New Church in Ealing, built 1939 (Grade II*; NHLE, 1079417) and Clareville House, designed 1955 and built 1961-3 (Grade II; NHLE, 1251179). These examples are in addition to numerous restoration projects undertaken by Richardson, many of which are listed buildings in their own right.

Over the course of his career Richardson’s work was principally focussed on churches, country houses or major public buildings, though a set of pensioners’ bungalows for the Pond Estate in Greenwich, built in 1953-4, have particular similarities with the homes at Stewartby. These are rather smaller than the Sir Malcolm Stewart Trust examples, but feature a closely related assemblage of sashes and small porthole windows which pre-empt the Stewartby designs. On a personal level, Richardson had a particular local connection to the work at Stewartby, living from 1919 through until his death in 1964 in neighbouring Ampthill, located less than three miles to the south of the village.

At Stewartby, the initial group of single-storey houses formed a symmetrical plan of two courtyards set either side of a central axis that led to the common room. In 1964 a second phase of 36 bungalows were built by the surveyor to the trust, with designs which closely followed those of Richardson, creating a crescent around the earlier housing. These were followed by eighteen more homes which formed a separate courtyard to the east in 1970. In 1978 a final eight homes were added to form Stewartby Way, situated on the south-east side of the estate.

The housing is open to non-employees over 55 years old and several houses have now been sold to private buyers. All households continue to have access to the common room for community activities and also benefit from a warden, various on-site services and groundskeepers responsible for maintaining the landscaping of the estate, which are supported by an annual service charge paid by all incoming residents who arrived after July 2010. In 2016 it remains the case that many residents of the estate are former employees of the London Brick Company, though the plant at Stewartby last operated under this name in 1993 (having been taken over by the Hanson Trust shortly prior to this). The brickworks continued to operate for a further 15 years with production finally ending in 2008. In January 2008 two kilns and four of the chimneys at the Stewartby brickworks were listed Grade II (NHLE, 1392357).

Reasons for Listing

The Sir Malcolm Stewart Trust Houses, constructed in 1955-6, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architect: Sir Albert Richardson was a nationally renowned figure who, by the 1950s, had become the most prominent architect working in a traditional style in England;
* Architectural interest: for the compositional and harmonious neo-Georgian design of the individual bungalows and their good quality detailing, and thoughtful planning around spacious central greens;
* Degree of survival: the bungalows remain little altered externally and internally, retaining original doors with detailed fixtures, sash windows and lamp standards to the corners of the courtyards;
* Historic interest: the estate constitutes the last and best preserved phase of several decades of charitable building by Sir Malcolm Stewart, a significant manufacturer and philanthropist;
* Group value: for the intrinsic relationship with the Grade II listed Stewartby Brickworks kilns and chimneys, part of what was by the 1930s the largest brick manufacturer in the world. Of particular interest is the relationship with the common room, the centrepiece of Richardson’s estate design, which is also recommended for listing.

External Links

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