The Albert Ball Memorial Homes, including boundary walls, railings and gateways

The Albert Ball Memorial Homes

The Albert Ball Memorial Homes were designed by Arthur Brewill and Basil Edgar Baily and erected in 1921. They were commissioned by Alderman Albert Ball in memory of his son, Captain Albert Ball Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order (with two bars), Military Cross, who was killed in action on 7 May 1917.

The building is constructed in red brick with brick and Portland stone dressings, and is roofed in plain tiles with a hipped form and four brick ridge stacks. Cast-iron rain hoppers and drain pipes are fitted to the front elevation, though some have been replaced in plastic to the rear.

The design is remarkable for its curved plan, which evokes the form of an aircraft. The two central homes and their portico are arranged to resemble a cockpit, while six smaller homes extend outward to form 'wings'. The architecture is in the Renaissance Revival style, comprising two storeys with a brick plinth and a first-floor band featuring a moulded wooden eaves cornice and pediment. The main elevation is slightly concave with a projecting central block detailed with rusticated quoins and a pitched roof topped by a domed wooden cupola. The cupola bears a sundial to the front, crowned by a finial in the form of a biplane.

At the centre, a segmental portico designed to resemble a cockpit in plan has paired Tuscan columns and a lead saucer-dome covering three half-glazed doors with single windows flanking each. Above is a large ornate wreathed cartouche containing an inscription reading "1921 / ERECTED BY ALDERMAN A. BALL JP / AND HIS WIFE / IN MEMORY OF THEIR SON / CAPT. A BALL V.C. DSO (2 BARS) MC. / KILLED IN ACTION / MAY 7TH 1917." The wreath incorporates the Royal Air Force coat of arms and what appears to be a propeller from an aircraft engine. Above the cartouche are single light windows. At this central point, a small light well is cut into the convex profile of the rear wall to provide light to the stairwell of the two central homes, further emphasising the 'cockpit' form.

The windows are primarily three-light glazing bar casements with contrasting red-brick flat arches. Each side elevation features two keyed oculi at ground-floor level. The side 'wings' are symmetrical, displaying from the centre pairs of windows, then pairs of half-glazed doors, then two windows, and single doors. The doors outside the portico are fitted with wooden hoods on moulded wooden brackets.

To the rear is an enclosed yard bounded by a red-brick wall in Flemish bond with ashlar and reconstituted stone dressings. Timber panelled gates at each end provide access. The paving comprises concrete slabs to the centre with a border of crazy paving.

Interior

The curved plan creates a tapering form for the two central properties and those adjoining north and south, meaning no rooms are square and many have quirky angles or features. The two central homes (numbers 4 and 5) are larger than the others, each having two bedrooms and featuring a higher level of architectural detailing. These are understood to have been built for sergeants and their families, while the other properties were for lower ranks. The most striking interior feature is an apsidal end to both the sitting room and the principal bedroom above in these central homes. Within the ground-floor apse are three hardwood two-panelled doors, expertly curved to fit: the central door leads to the kitchen, one to an in-built cupboard, and the third to the hall and stair. Above, in the principal bedroom, two doors open to the landing and stair, and to an in-built cupboard. On the first-floor landing, the stairwell is enclosed with simple but elegant pierced splat balusters and a moulded hardwood handrail.

Throughout the inspected properties, all window furniture, architraves, picture rails, skirtings and doors appear original and intact, though internal doors on the ground floor of number 7 are late 20th-century replacements. Most fireplaces survive in the bedrooms but have been boxed in. In number 7, tiling on the floor of the airing cupboard at the base of an angled wall suggests a fireplace was removed, presumably when a bedroom was converted into a bathroom.

All original ground-floor fireplaces have been replaced, and all kitchens and bathrooms have been updated. Secondary-unit double glazing was recently installed in the early 21st century throughout. All properties retain outside water closets, suggesting bathrooms may have been created from former bedrooms, though this is not evident in the central 'sergeants' homes.

Boundary Features

The boundary walls, railings and gateways are contemporary with the memorial homes. A plain red-brick wall in Flemish bond with ashlar and reconstituted stone dressings encloses the triangular memorial garden to the front. At the western, narrow end, a concave section of wall frames the war memorial with rusticated square brick piers and a central gateway. The piers have cornice caps and are flanked by walls with ramped coping and similar end piers. Ornate wrought-iron gates provide access to the front of the memorial homes and garden. The circular war memorial plot is enclosed to the front by a wrought-iron spiked railing with open-work gates on both sides.