Details
WIGAN
SD50NE SWINLEY LANE
24-1/2/83 (West side)
08/05/92 Nos.13-23 (Odd)
with attached boundary wall
II
Includes: No.39 WALKDEN AVENUE EAST.
Block of 7 town houses. 1897. By WEV Crompton, slightly
altered. Mostly red brick in Flemish bond with terracotta
dressings, and some close-studded timber-framing and render;
slate roof with red ridge tiles. A conventional C19
double-depth plan in which all the houses are single-fronted
with back extensions, but successfully disguised by the
design. "Free style" combining C16 vernacular and Queen Anne
elements.
EXTERIOR: 2 and a half storeys over cellars, a 14-window range
of vigorously varied design implying early C18 alterations to
a C16 timber-framed range: Nos 19 and 21 designed to appear as
a timber-framed hall-range, and Nos 17 and 23 as added or
remodelled cross-wings to it, with Nos 13 and 15 to the left
combining both implied periods of building, and No.39 Walkden
Avenue East an addition at the right-hand end.
The principal features being as follows: No.13: a pentagonal
2-storey flat-roofed oriel at the corner, with 12-pane sashed
windows on both floors, an extruded chimney stack abutting
this with offsets at 1st floor and tapered above eaves level;
and, in the left return wall, a 2-and a half-storey gabled bay
with close-studding at 1st floor and attic level, the latter
jettied and containing a 3-light small-paned casement. No.15:
a 2-and a half-storey gabled facade with small canted bay
window at ground floor, a 2-light window above and a jettied
gable with studding containing a 3-light casement (all these
windows now with C20 UPVC glazing).
Nos 17 and 23: Queen Anne style, brick, 2 and a half storeys,
with gable copings and kneelers with ball finials, 12-pane
sashed windows with exposed boxes and flat-arched heads with
terracotta keystones (2 at ground floor and 3 at 1st floor,
and a coupled pair at ground floor and 2 pairs at 1st floor,
respectively), and Venetian windows to the attics (small-paned
at No.23 but altered at No.17).
Nos 19 and 21: tripartite sashed windows at ground floor, a
monopitched roof to this, a set-back studded 1st floor with
2-light casements in the centre and splayed 3-light sashed
oriel windows in the angles to left and right respectively
(all these windows small-paned), and wide cyma-shaped eyebrow
dormers in the roof.
No.39 Walkden Avenue East: set back, Queen Anne style, brick
with pebble-dashed render at 1st floor, a set-back 2-storey
porch under carried-down roof, 12-pane sashed windows except
for a rectangular bay window set diagonally through the
right-hand corner at ground floor and, in the right-hand
return wall, a rectangular 2-storey bay window breaking the
eaves, with tripartite small-paned windows on both floors
(sashed at ground floor, fixed at 1st floor but with an
opening pane in each light except the centre which has C20
joinery).
All have square-headed doorways, all except Nos 19 and 21 with
flat-arched heads and keystones, and all (except No.15 which
is UPVC) with 3-pane overlights, moulded wooden surrounds and
lintels, and fielded-panel doors (but those at Nos 17 and 21
with stained glass in the upper portions). Rear-access lobbies
between Nos 15 and 17, and Nos 19 and 21, with moulded
surrounds and barred gates. Roof with oversailing eaves on
slender iron brackets; tapered and corniced chimneys.
Rear: back-extensions, mostly coupled, under carried-down
roofs with tall multiple-flue chimney stacks rising through.
INTERIORS: not inspected except No.39 Walkden Avenue East,
which retains many original architect-designed features and
fittings (e.g. staircase, fireplaces, door furnishings).
A relatively early work by a local architect who was
subsequently successful in London and the Home Counties.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: boundary wall to front and sides of plot,
of brick with moulded terracotta coping, approximately 1m high
with rectangular piers, the returned sides ramped up to the
rear wall.
Listing NGR: SD5827906643
