69 Monkmoor Road

69 Monkmoor Road is a semi-detached house, one of a mirror pair, built in 1910. It was home to the young Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and his family from 1910 until after his death in 1918.

The house is constructed of red brick with painted dressings, a plain clay tile roof, and brick stacks. It follows a two-bay, double-depth plan with a long rear service range.

The building presents two storeys and an attic with a wide gabled dormer and rectangular end stacks with shaped tops, beneath a hipped roof. All windows are horned timber sashes with multi-paned top leaves over single panes, except for the attic dormer which has a uPVC window replicating the original glazing pattern. The main south-east elevation features two unequal bays: the left bay is a two-storey canted bay, while the narrower right bay houses the recessed entrance with a sash window above. Windows are set in brick reveals with chamfered, painted lintels and painted cills. The recessed entrance retains its four-panelled door with a glazed top panel and a coloured light, beneath a rectangular overlight with late-20th-century coloured glazing.

The rear elevation is irregular. One bay to the right of the main range has a similar window to those on the main elevation and a raking dormer to the attic. To the left, the long rear service range features segmental-arched brick door and window openings, except for the first-floor rear room whose window matches those of the main elevation. A small canted glazed porch with a slate roof sits in the re-entrant angle between the two ranges.

The interior retains almost its original decorative scheme largely intact, including moulded skirtings, picture rails, cornices, four-panel doors, moulded door surrounds, and fireplaces, except for the two front rooms whose fireplaces are later-20th-century imports. The hall floor is tiled in terracotta; the remainder of the house has timber-boarded floors. The hall and principal ground-floor rooms feature heavy moulded cornices and narrow moulded picture rails.

The closed-string, dog-leg stair rises through all floors to the attic. It has turned balusters and turned newel posts with heavy finials; those to the upper floors have stubby pendant finials. The ground-floor front room has an imported stone fireplace with recessed panels and floral bosses, a cornice, picture rails, and a wide bay window. The rear reception room has lost its fireplace but retains its cornice, which runs into the glazed canted porch, and its picture rails. The former kitchen, now a living room, retains its high brick-built fireplace with a brick segmental-arched opening; the range has been replaced with a late-20th-century wood-burning stove. The remainder of the rear service range houses the scullery and pantry.

The first floor contains two bedrooms and a bathroom. The main front bedroom has an imported heavy cast-iron fireplace with architectural and floral motifs, and retains its picture rail. The rear bedroom has an arched recess to one side of its fireplace and a picture rail. The cast-iron fireplace is narrow with an Art Nouveau-inspired design. The attic floor has bedrooms to front and rear, both with fireplaces identical to those in the rear bedroom below, and with beaded plaster edges to the dormer recesses. The front attic room was occupied by Wilfred Owen during his time at the house.