2-8, Chestnut Grove

This is a terrace consisting of two pairs of cottages located in Chestnut Grove, New Earswick, North Yorkshire. The terrace was built in 1909 as part of the New Earswick Village, designed by Parker and Unwin for the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust. The construction is of brick with a French tile roof.

The layout incorporates a lobby entry leading to a living room and a scullery. The terrace is two storeys high with six first-floor windows, featuring central gables to each pair of cottages. The windows throughout are of a standard “New Earswick” design. Replacement glazed doors are set within additional porches in the two central and outer bays. Between these porches are pairs of canted bay windows, which break the tile band at cornice level. The first floor features two small casements above the central doors, flanked by pairs of three-light casements at the gable ends. Roof lights are positioned on either side of the gables. The roof is hipped, and chimney stacks have been removed.

The New Earswick estate is notable for its contribution to the development of low-cost housing in Britain. The experience and practices introduced at New Earswick significantly influenced the Tudor Walters Report of 1918, which played a crucial role in the passage of the Addison Act of 1919. Plans from the New Earswick village also shaped the Government Manual on low-cost housing that followed the Act.