Water Board Cottages and Buildings Attached at Rear

The Water Board Cottages and buildings attached at the rear are mid-19th century houses built for the Durham Water Company, which was established in 1847 and operational by 1849. They are constructed from coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings and feature a Welsh slate roof. The building is designed in an L-plan and consists of two storeys, with two houses each having three bays, and a right extension that is one storey with one bay. There is also a rear wing that is two storeys and four bays.

The cottages exhibit an Italianate style, with doors located in the third and fifth bays, each featuring three-paned overlights set in enclosed porches. The first door is flush, while the second is a four-panel door. The windows have bracketed sills and are mostly paired margined sashes, with some single renewed sashes. The fourth bay on the ground floor is blank. Giant pilasters define the bays and support wide eaves bands. A ground floor lintel band with bracketed cornices runs above the windows, and similar cornices are found above the first floor windows. The low-pitched hipped roof has wide eaves that rest on paired brackets. There are end and front chimneys with plinths and cornices, with the left end chimney being square and featuring shaped coping. The chimney pots are yellow. The right extension has a boarded double door, and the rear wing has flat-coped gables. A 20th-century extension on the rear wing is not of interest.