419, Wake Green Road

This is a 1945 Phoenix prefab, built under the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act by the Ministry of Works, with the City Council providing the site and foundations. It was designed as a welded steel tube frame clad in cream-painted corrugated asbestos sheeting, with internal timber lining and partitions. The roof is shallow-pitched, corrugated asbestos, felt-covered, with a central apex and a low chimney. The prefab mimics the dimensions of the 1944 Portal house prototype (32 feet 4 inches by 21 feet 3 inches), including the layout of two bedrooms to the left of the hall, a living room to the right, and a standard Portal kitchen and bathroom unit – prefabricated and delivered to the site ready assembled. It has timber windows with metal opening casements and toplights, with the living room windows distinguished by double casements mirrored around a central mullion. A central, half-glazed door is sheltered by a curved metal porch, an idiosyncratic feature of the Phoenix design; similar casements are present at the rear.

The interior was designed to be fully fitted, recognizing the scarcity of furniture and fixtures at the time. A living room includes fitted shelving, and the principal bedroom (at the rear) has fitted cupboards. The kitchen, bathroom, and separate WC are integrated as a single unit designed by the Ministry of Works, with some original features remaining.

Around 2,428 Phoenix prefabs were erected in the United Kingdom as part of the Temporary Housing Programme; this scheme, devised by Lord Portal, Minister of Works, aimed to alleviate the post-war housing shortage by repurposing wartime industries. These prefabs are amongst the rarest of the eleven approved types, yet are notably substantially built, modelled on the Portal prototype bungalow exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1944. They are characterized by their fully fitted interiors, initially including fitted kitchens with washing machines and refrigerators. Detached from other prefabricated housing of the era, they are distinguished by their carefully planned design, internal fixtures, historical significance, and exceptional preservation with few alterations.