18 And 20, Sycamore Avenue

18 and 20 Sycamore Avenue are a pair of semi-detached houses built in 1914 by Parker and Unwin for the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust. They feature a lobby-entry plan with a living room and scullery side by side, as well as a coal shed and WC located in an outbuilding. The houses are constructed of brick and have a French tile roof. They are two storeys high with four first-floor windows and a shared central gable. Each house has a door beneath a segmental arch, with 2-light and single-light casements on either side, and an outbuilding at each end. The first floor has 2-light casements in the gable and single-light casements in the outer bays. The chimney stacks have been removed. New Earswick is particularly significant for its role in the development of low-cost housing in Britain. The experiences and practices from this area were incorporated into the Tudor Walters Report of 1918, which helped lead to the Addison Act of 1919. Plans from New Earswick also influenced the Government Manual on low-cost housing that followed the Act.