405, Wake Green Road

This is a prefabricated bungalow with a shed, built in 1945 under the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act by the Ministry of Works, with the City Council providing the site and foundations. It is a "Phoenix" design, featuring a welded steel tube frame clad in white-painted corrugated asbestos sheeting, with internal timber lining and partitions. The roof is shallow-pitched corrugated asbestos with a felt covering, incorporating a central apex and a low chimney. The bungalow is single-storey and based on the dimensions of the 1944 Portal bungalow prototype (32'4" by 21'3"), including the provision of two bedrooms to the left of the hall and a living room to the right, alongside a standard Portal kitchen and bathroom unit delivered ready assembled. Windows are timber with metal opening casements and toplights; the living rooms feature distinctive double casements mirrored around a central mullion. A central, renewed door is sheltered by a curved metal porch, which is a distinctive feature of the Phoenix design. Similar casement windows are present at the rear, along with a shed of identical date and construction.

The interior was designed to be fully fitted, reflecting the post-war shortage of furniture and kitchen fixtures. The principal bedroom, located at the rear, includes fitted cupboards. The kitchen, bathroom, and separate WC form a single fitted unit designed by the Ministry of Works, with some original features remaining.

Approximately 2,328 Phoenix prefabs were erected in the United Kingdom as part of the Temporary Housing Programme, which constructed 156,623 temporary bungalows between 1944 and 1948. This initiative, devised by Lord Portal, Minister of Works, aimed to address the post-war housing shortage while wartime industries found new functions. The Phoenix is among the rarest of the eleven approved types, but is particularly substantially constructed. Modeled on the Portal prototype bungalow displayed at the Tate Gallery in 1944, these bungalows are notable for their fully fitted interiors, originally including fitted kitchens with washing machines and refrigerators. The bungalows erected under the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act are distinguished by their carefully planned design, internal fixtures, historical interest, and detached configuration.

The group of prefabs along Wake Green Road is an unusual, well-preserved example of this rare Portal bungalow variant, notable for its exceptional state of preservation and minimal alterations.