The Elms and forecourt wall

The Elms is a two-storey and attic house with a cellar, dating from the 18th century. It stands on the west side of Stalybridge Road, set back from the pavement with a small forecourt. The house is of a double-depth plan with an entrance hall containing a staircase rising to the attic level, and cellar steps below. The cellar extends to the front of the property.

The front elevation is constructed of coursed ashlar stonework, featuring a plinth, smooth rusticated quoins, a plain eaves frieze and moulded cornice, ashlar coping, and two ashlar gable stacks. The entrance door is on the far left, set within an ashlar architrave. The pilasters flanking the door are inscribed "THE / ELMS" and contain a bell-push. The cornice projects to form a door-canopy with a triangular hood. To the right of the entrance is a rectangular window with a plain surround. A circular blue plaque commemorates the house as the former residence of L.S. Lowry. The first floor features a narrower window above the doorway and a similar rectangular window above the ground-floor window; both have shouldered plain surrounds overlapping the eaves frieze. All windows have replacement two-pane sash-style casement frames.

The two gable walls are of coursed sandstone blocks. The northern gable wall includes two narrow ground-floor windows that illuminate the rear dining room. These windows have projecting sills and surrounds with ogee brackets and flat heads, fitted with casement frames. The southern gable has an attic-level window with a projecting sill and stone lintel. The neighbouring property abuts the left-hand side of the Elms' gable wall.

The interior features a lobby with an inserted timber and etched glass screen and inner door. The entrance hall has a moulded cornice and entablature supported on decorative console brackets. The staircase has a heavy, turned newel post, slim square timber balusters, a swept handrail, and decorative tread ends on the ground floor. Four-panel doors are found throughout the house. The front living room has a moulded cornice and circular light moulding. The fireplace has a stone mantelpiece with a round-headed iron grate, believed to have originally been in Lowry’s bedroom. The rear dining room, formerly Lowry’s studio, retains a reproduction timber mantelpiece. The kitchen has an iron range with a nameplate, “W BROOKE & SONS HYDE”. Fireplaces in the two first-floor bedrooms have been blocked and their mantelpieces removed.

The forecourt is enclosed by a low wall of large ashlar blocks with rounded tops, upon which reinstated iron railings are set. An iron-railing gate opens onto a short flagged path leading to a single step up to the front door.