Area Four
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Phoebe Merrick

Area Setting and Landscape Settlement Pattern Building Form & Materials Landscape and Townscape Boundary Features Streets and street furniture Conclusion Consultation Process

Buildings and materials
The majority of properties (120) are semi-detached; 117 are detached.
Four of the semi-detached properties have been converted into maisonettes. There are 18 terraced homes; nine are houses and nine are bungalows. The three blocks of 3-storey flats have 12 dwellings in each block.

Main Development - materials
The houses built in the 1970s and 1980s are mainly of red brick and demonstrate the style of the period, giving coherence to the area. All have 40-degree slope gable roofs with either concrete pantiles (the majority) or flat tiles. Apart from Mount Temple there are few exterior chimneys; most properties have ridge tile vents.

Several features add a degree of interest: two strings of bricks parallel to the roof at the gable end can be seen on many properties, particularly in the closes on the west of the estate. They sometimes match the red brickwork or lend a contrast in yellow or blue. Occasionally they have been painted over. A series of stepped bricks projecting from either side of the front walls immediately below roof level appear on the same properties.

About 15 per cent of houses in this section deviate from the red brick by being of either yellow or beige brick. Nursery Gardens was built at the same time, some of the houses here being distinguished by having red mortar.

Attempts to individualise homes show in the treatment of gable ends, which are sometimes rendered and/or painted. Two homes near Nursery Gardens feature horizontal wood inserts. Wills Way and Grays Close have a fair proportion of houses that are hung with tiles or shiplap.

The nine bungalows in and near Grays Close all have decorative shutters; two or three sport stone cladding or a crazy stone insert.

Fenestration

The 295 dwellings plus a small commercial site are on a plain some 20 metres above sea level. (see map)

There is a clear division between the two “halves” of the estate. The properties on the eastern half, mostly built up until the 1980s, have been laid out in a strong rectilinear pattern.

The difference between the two halves of the estate is very apparent from their window frames. In the eastern part just three homes out of 133 have brown frames. Of the 161 homes on the western part, 20 have converted to white from the original brown.

Doors
Some doors have been replaced. Even where this is obvious, it is interesting that many are in the same style as the original. There are 3-4 types of front door prevalent throughout the area.

Whilst the majority of doors are brown or white, a small minority (approximately 10-20 houses) have elected for more colour – green, blue, red, most commonly.

Flats
The south side of Tadburn Gardens contains three blocks of 3-storey flats, which date from 1965-1975. Two have roof slopes of 25 degrees, the other a 40-degree slope. They all have flat concrete tiles and gable ends. As well as raised ridge tile vents, there are some chimneys, 4 external and 2 internal. One block is all brick with individual balconies of horizontal boards protruding at the back; the other two blocks have their upper storeys in brick and the lower storey rendered. One of these has balconies of three horizontal boards at the front; the other has balconies of clear plastic sheeting at the back.

Older Houses
The 1920s houses in Tadburn Road contrast with the later dwellings. They are all semi-detached and typical of the period.
They have hipped roofs with 40-degree slopes and outshots with a 25-degree slope. Most have their original clay pantiles; half have a central chimney and the others an internal one. Many have seen changes over their 70-year history: some four are now arranged as maisonettes while others have extensions.

We see a variety of materials and treatment including part red brick, part beige brick, (some painted), part cement, part rendered and part pebble-dash. All have bay windows to ground. All have white frames, some wood and some plastic. All have scalloped lead flashing beneath at least one window.

Tadburn Close

Of the houses in Tadburn Close and the adjacent three houses in Tadburn Road, all brick-built around 1960, five have hipped roofs and two gabled with flat clay or concrete pantiles. Two are tile hung. Half the window frames are wood and half plastic. Two have bay windows to the ground in either brown or white.

Tadburn Cottages

Fifty-degree half-hipped roofs are seen on the two 1930s cottages (Nos.1 & 2) facing Botley Road with clay pantiles and central chimneys. They have an interesting combination of painted brickwork and rustic timber gable ends. Both have white plastic window frames.

Garages
Almost every house in this area has a purpose-built garage either attached or alongside the property. The majority of these are single garages, with standard up-and-over metal doors. There are approximately 30 double garages most of which are concentrated in Mount Temple and Wills Way. There are several blocks of garages in the area, e.g Reynolds Court and James Court, set to the side or behind the flats, and David Court built over its garages, which are not visible from the front of the property. There are further smaller blocks of garages to the rear of some of the houses on the eastern flank of the area, and some to the bungalows in Grays Close. All the houses in Tadburn Close are provided with garages. Sixteen of the original 24 houses in Tadburn Road have a garage.

Architectural changes

It is clear that a number of houses have been enlarged, a few by adding rooms to the front and some to the side. Most of the brick-built extensions fit in well with the existing design. The most common form of extension is the glass conservatory, most often built to the rear of properties and therefore not usually visible from the road.

Design Guidelines

	New buildings should complement the height and style of the current development.
	Brick is the preferred material and should blend with existing colours. Other materials such as shiplap and cladding are acceptable where sympathetic.
	Roof tiles should follow existing colour and material.
	Extensions should reflect existing design features of the original building.