413, Wake Green Road

This is a Phoenix prefab, constructed in 1945 under the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act by the Ministry of Works, with the City Council providing the site and foundations. The design is a welded steel tube frame clad in cream-painted corrugated asbestos sheeting, featuring an internal timber lining and partitions. It has a shallow-pitched corrugated asbestos roof, felt-covered, with a central apex and a low chimney. The structure is a single storey and based on the dimensions of the 1944 Portal house prototype (32 feet 4 inches by 21 feet 3 inches). It replicates the Portal prototype’s layout, with two bedrooms to the left of the hall, a living room to the right, and a standard Portal kitchen and bathroom unit, which was delivered fully assembled to the site. The windows are timber with metal opening casements and toplights, with the living rooms featuring distinctive double casements mirrored around a central mullion. A central half-glazed door is sheltered by a curved metal porch, a unique characteristic of the Phoenix design. Similar casement windows are present at the rear.

The interior was designed to be fully fitted, reflecting the post-war scarcity of furniture and kitchen fixtures. The living room includes fitted shelving, and the principal bedroom (at the rear) has fitted cupboards. The kitchen, bathroom, and separate WC are combined as a single unit, designed by the Ministry of Works, and some original features remain.

Approximately 2,428 Phoenix prefabs were built in the United Kingdom as part of the Temporary Housing Programme, which produced around 156,623 temporary bungalows between 1944 and 1948, a scheme initiated by Lord Portal to address the post-war housing shortage. This program utilized then-available materials and repurposed wartime industries. Modelled on the Portal prototype bungalow displayed at the Tate Gallery in 1944, these prefabs are notable for their fully fitted interiors, which initially included fitted kitchens with washing machines and refrigerators. The prefabs erected under the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act are distinguished from other prefabricated housing by their carefully planned designs, internal fixtures, historical significance, and detached nature.

The group of prefabs in Wake Green Road forms an unusual and well-preserved example of this rare Portal bungalow variant, notable for its exceptional condition and few alterations.