Wayfarers

Wayfarers is a two-storey suburban house built in 1934 in Art Déco or Moderne style by the Blackpool-based architectural practice of Lumb and Walton. It was constructed for Yorkshire cotton manufacturer Roland Cyril Coates on the site of a former market garden, adjacent to the Royal Lytham Golf course.

The house is built of brick and white render beneath a roof of Belgian green glazed tiles, with a sub-rectangular plan. The front elevation displays three bays, with a projecting central bay containing a front door of horizontal glazed panels within a brick surround beneath a flat porch decorated with a line of V-shapes. Original metal window frames with glazing bars are retained virtually throughout, with brick lintels to the ground floor. A brick plinth and string course at first-floor sill level run around the building, which sits beneath an overhanging roof. An attached garage projects slightly forward to the left of the front elevation, topped by the continuation of the brick string course which swoops down above an enclosed passageway with a door between the house and garage. The east elevation has two first-floor windows above the garage and passageway. The rear elevation contains a projecting ground-floor extension with a timber-framed bow window to the right bay and French windows to the central and left bays; first-floor windows have decorated external wooden shutters. A door provides access to the passageway, with a window to its right. The west elevation has a projecting ground-floor timber-framed bow window with windows matching the east elevation on the first floor. Two chimney stacks are present: one rising from the roof, one cross-axial.

The entrance hall is reached via the front door and contains a WC to the left, a dog-leg staircase ahead with painted ceiling beams, and a window with leaded lights depicting a rising sun design. A lounge lies to the right, with a dining room beyond the staircase and a kitchen to the left. The rear morning room is accessed from the kitchen. An enclosed passageway illuminated by a glass-panelled roof connects the kitchen to a coal bunker, washroom, and garage. Most rooms retain original fittings including veneered doors with period door furniture, light fittings designed as candle holders with candles, and metal windows. The lounge and dining room contain French windows with original handles and latches opening to the rear garden. The lounge features a stone fireplace, while the dining room contains a built-in electric fire with attached wooden shelving along one full wall and a serving hatch above. The morning room has a brick and tile fireplace. The kitchen was renovated in 1960s style. The staircase features timber newel posts, chromed steel handrail, and balusters. The first floor has a galleried-style landing to the front, off which are three rear bedrooms, a fourth bedroom to the front right, and a bathroom to the front left, along with a WC and box room. Original or early bedrooms features include built-in gas fires, drawers and cupboards, and washbasins with mirrors. The landing contains a leaded skylight above the stairwell, built-in bookshelves, wall cupboards, and a leaded front window depicting a cloaked figure gazing across a valley to distant hills. The bathroom and both ground and first-floor toilets have matching tiles; the bathroom contains a leaded window with a rising sun pattern.

Wayfarers was constructed for the Coates family, who spent lavishly on the building. The first owner's son was an artist, and it is thought he undertook the decorative work on the house's window shutters. In 1942 the house was sold to Philip and Pamela Barlass. During World War II the house was rented out and became well known as the temporary home of Vera Lynn. The building underwent modernisation in the 1960s when a single-storey rear extension was added to the morning room and a new fitted kitchen installed.

Lumb and Walton designed a number of houses on the Fylde coast, notably in Cleveleys and the Rossall Beach Estate, and undertook work on Grade II listed Rossall School.