1-7, Sycamore Avenue

A terrace of four houses at 1-7 Sycamore Avenue, built in 1914 as part of the New Earswick Village, designed by Parker and Unwin for the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust. The houses are constructed of brick with a French tile roof. They follow a lobby-entry plan, with a living room and scullery at the rear. The terrace is two storeys high and has eight bays, with the central two bays projecting slightly. Standard "New Earswick" window panes are used throughout. Each house has a half-glazed door recessed within a round-arched porch, flanked by pairs of three-light windows, with two-light windows to the outer bays. A tile band runs above the windows. The first floor windows mirror the arrangement on the ground floor, with a central pair of two-light windows flanked by pairs of three-light and two-light windows. The roofs are hipped with sprocketed eaves, although the chimney stacks have been removed. Side entrances are located at numbers 1 and 7. The New Earswick Village holds particular significance for its role in the development of low-cost housing in Britain. The experience and practices introduced here influenced the 1918 Tudor Walters Report, which in turn was vital to the 1919 Addison Act. Plans from New Earswick also shaped a government manual on low-cost housing that followed the Act.