Numbers 6 And 8 Sycamore Avenue With Archway To Right

Numbers 6 and 8 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, along with a coal shed and WC located in an outbuilding. The houses are constructed of brick and have a French tile roof.

The buildings are two stories tall and have two first-floor windows, with the left bay projecting forward beneath a gable. Throughout, there are half-glazed doors and standard "New Earswick" window panes. The left cottage has a two-light casement window with a door beneath a segmental arch to the right. The right cottage features a door beneath a segmental arch, a two-light casement window to the left, and a single-light casement window to the right. To the right, a round arch conceals the outbuilding, which has a hipped roof. On the first floor, there is a repositioned three-light casement window to the left and a flat-topped two-light casement half dormer to the right. The chimney stacks have been removed.

The significance of New Earswick lies in its contribution to the development of low-cost housing in Britain. The experiences and practices developed here were incorporated into the Tudor Walters Report of 1918, which played a key role in the passing of the Addison Act of 1919. Plans from New Earswick influenced the Government Manual on low-cost housing that followed the Act.