Details
SUNDERLAND
920-1/0/10031 GRAY ROAD
23-JAN-07 5
MOWBRAY ROAD
10
THE OAKS
2-15
(Formerly listed as:
THE OAKS
1-15)
GV II
Terrace of 16 houses. C. 1870. Garden wall bond brick with painted ashlar dressings and welsh slate roofs with brick chimneys.
PLAN: each house has two storeys and an attic and some have basements. There are two main reception rooms, 3-4 first floor bedrooms and several small attic rooms. Service rooms to rear.
EXTERIOR: Front (west) elevation: This terrace of 16 brick houses steps down a hill and No's 1-7 at the left are highest. The terrace is formed of paired houses, with three first floor windows and a canted bay and entrance below; those with basements have double height canted bays. The houses at either end of the terrace are larger; 5 Grey Road has a central entrance while that of 10 Mowbray Road has been blocked and converted to a window; both are flanked by canted bays, 3 or 4 first floor windows and two roof dormers. All have Sunderland-type panelled doors, which fold back to form panelled reveals to inner doors and fanlights. The doors are surrounded by imposing door cases with intricately carved pilasters featuring wreaths and foliage decoration, supporting corniced entablatures. These details are carried across to the canted bay windows at ground floor level, which display especially decorative carvings. The windows are mostly sliding sash with vertical glazing bars to give sidelights; some, including those at No 12, are modern replacements. The windows at first floor level are surrounded by stone architraves and have projecting stone sills. Most have round-headed dormer roof windows with curved roofs, many with traditional lead covering and timber architraves with a central keystone surmounted by a ball finial; there are some C20 replacements.
RIGHT RETURN: on Gray Road has a ground floor entrance with heavy door case, flanked by a double height canted bay to the right and two blind segmental headed windows to the left and two smaller segmental headed attic windows.
LEFT RETURN: on Mowbray Road: original ground floor entrance is blocked and converted to a window, flanked to the left by a canted bay and a blind window to the left. There are three first floor windows, one blind and two smaller segmental headed attic windows opening onto C20 balcony.
EXTERIOR: Rear (East) Elevation: plain with projecting rear bays and external chimney stacks. Window openings are mostly square headed, several with replacement C20 windows. There are tall round-headed stair windows whose original stained glass has mostly been replaced. No 5 Gray Road has a large Venetian stair window. No's 10 and 11 retain original coach houses, converted to garages.
INTERIOR: original features survive throughout the terrace although survival varies. Ground floors have plasterwork including ceiling roses, cornices and hall arches, and joinery including skirting boards, window surrounds and some shutters; carved decorations include foliate, fruit and scroll. There are mostly four panelled doors throughout and some good stone fireplaces. Staircases are open string of dog leg form with carved foliate balusters and spiral ends. First floors have some wooden fireplaces, plasterwork and carpentry including original ornate fitted cupboards with carved foliage, scrolls and flowers. The fireplaces mostly contain a variety of register grates of late Victorian/Edwardian style. The attic storeys are plainer with dormers and simple plaster cornicing, skirting and fireplaces. No 15 is the most complete and in addition to original features already described, and common to most of the interiors, it retains a number of friezes including a fine painted example in the dining room featuring double scroll decoration containing the portraits of several male and female figures. Much of the carpentry on the ground floor including doors and folding shutters, remain in their original unpainted state, as does the staircase. The ground floor retains fireplaces in both reception rooms of wood and marble, which have elaborate wooden overmantles incorporating mirrors.
SOURCES:
Corfe T, 1983, pp.14 - The Buildings of Sunderland 1814 -1914: Newcastle
Millburn G E & Miller S T, 1988, pp.61 - Sunderland: River, town and people.
Nikolaus Pevsner, Buildings of England. County Durham 2nd ed (1983), pp460.
HISTORY: This terrace forms part of a larger group of terraces, constructed to the south of Sunderland town centre during the early to mid Victorian period. They were intended to house the town's middle classes, which were expanding due to the growing importance of the town as an industrial centre. This expansion formed part of the first phase of development between the 1850's and 1870's. No 15 is the best documented, and trade directories show that it was occupied in 1876 by the ship owner Jennison Taylor. It was bought by a toy maker of the name of Crosby who sold the property to Margaret Bigham at the end of the C19; the Bigham family lived there throughout the C20 and Mr Andrew Bigham is still resident. Town directories and the Census record the presence of occupants at all houses in the terrace in 1871, and original deeds consulted at No 12 indicate a conveyance of land dated 1870.
Summary of Importance
The Oaks is a mid Victorian terrace of c. 1870, which is of special architectural interest for its overall high level of architectural quality, particularly visible in its key external features and for the survival of interiors of note. No 15 is particularly significant as a near-complete example of a Victorian town house. The terrace possesses group value as it forms part of a wider group of terraces of similar date, style and quality, built for wealthy Victorian industrialists in the town of Sunderland. This is enhanced by the contribution The Oaks makes to the planned ensemble of which it forms a part. The quality of composition, the exterior and interior detailing combined with relatively low levels of alteration mean that this terrace fully meets the criteria for listing in a national context.
Listing NGR: NZ4006056092
