31-37, FARM ROAD

Reasons for Designation

Nos. 31-37 Farm Road has been designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Although architecturally modest, these are substantially unaltered and increasingly rare examples of early C20 philanthropic housing, erected by the shoe manufacturers, C & J Clark for some of their workers * They are of historical significance as an interesting and innovative example of the conversion of World War I army huts to domestic properties, the plans of which survive * These bungalows retain their plan form and original features including doors, windows, and some fireplaces * They form a cogent grouping with the adjacent Nos. 25-29 Farm Road, a group of three similar attached bungalows of the same period

Details

STREET

1069/0/10008 FARM ROAD 24-APR-08 31-37

GV II Group of four attached bungalows, formerly workers' housing. Erected circa 1921 for C & J Clark of Street.

MATERIALS: Erected on pre-prepared bases with services provided. Timber-framed clad in prefabricated horizontal tongue and groove weatherboarding. Gabled roof of `zig zag' tiles, probably asbestos. Two gable stacks and two ridge stacks, all of red brick. Timber casement windows throughout.

PLAN: Single storey. Mirror-image roughly square plans to each dwelling with a projecting single bay at right angles to the rear which contains the bathroom and a former coal shed.

EXTERIOR: The principal elevation faces north east onto Farm Road. Each bungalow has a central entrance door beneath a sloping porch canopy with tiled roof and supported on timber struts. Most of the doors are original with small glazed window to upper part. Either side of the entrance each bungalow has a two-light casement window. The end gables, aligned north west and south east, each comprise two-light casement windows. The rear, garden elevation of each bungalow has a pair of similar casement windows. The projecting single bay is built in matching materials but the roof height is slightly lower. From right to left it has a doorway that provides access into the bungalow, a timber window, and a further doorway that leads into the coal shed. There is a small window in the end wall.

INTERIOR: Each bungalow retains its original plan form and room layout with many original features. No. 37 retains historic joinery, including doors, architraves and windows, and fireplaces with tiled surrounds to the kitchen and sitting rooms. Nos. 31-35 were not inspected internally.

SUBSIDIARY: Each plot retains a low timber fence and gate to the front gardens.

HISTORY: The Clark brothers, Cyrus and James, founded C & J Clark, the shoe manufacturers, in Street in 1825 and the business quickly became a success and expanded rapidly. The first factory building appeared in 1829 although outwork continued to be done long afterwards. Much of the profits from the business were provided for the development of the town. The Quaker background of the firm ensured a concern for the welfare and moral standards of workers and their families. It was this concern that led to the construction of worker housing and buildings to cater for the spiritual, moral and educational needs of the workforce. Clarks unobtrusively created a company town, building houses from the mid-C19 onwards.

Prohibitive costs in the immediate post-World War I period prevented large scale building undertakings by those not eligible for government subsidies, and building work was largely limited to factory extensions and community projects, mostly financed by the Clark family. However, shortly after the War, two rows of prefabricated bungalows, including Nos. 31-37, were erected in Farm Road, Street. Dated plans (January 1921) survive and describe these three properties as `cottages converted from army huts'. A local authority valuation list of 1922 lists the tenants at that time.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: Nos. 31-37 Farm Road is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Although architecturally modest, these are substantially unaltered and increasingly rare examples of early C20 philanthropic housing, erected by the shoe manufacturers, C & J Clark for some of their workers * They are of historical significance as an interesting and innovative example of the conversion of World War I army huts to domestic properties, the plans of which survive * These bungalows retain their plan form and original features including doors, windows, and some fireplaces * They form a cogent grouping with the adjacent Nos. 25-29 Farm Road, a group of three similar attached bungalows of the same period

SOURCES: S C Robertson, `The Clark Family and their contribution to the development of Street, 1883-1939' (1973), vol. 1 and 2 M McGarvie, `The Book of Street - A History from the Earliest Times to 1925' (1987) J Becket, `The Victoria County Histories of England - Glastonbury and Street' (2006), vol. IX, pp 257-60

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

504229

Legacy System:

LBS

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