Nos. 1-12 Gheluvelt Park, Worcester

Nos. 1-12 Gheluvelt Park, Worcester

A group of twelve houses built in 1919-1920 for former sailors and soldiers, designed by Alfred Hill Parker in a picturesque vernacular style. The cottages are clustered in six groups either side of a wide pathway in Gheluvelt Park. A bungalow is positioned to the south of the path at the eastern end; the other two-storey houses are grouped in pairs or threes on the north side. Each contains two first-floor bedrooms and a living room and parlour (which the architect's plans indicate could alternatively be used as a bedroom if needed), with kitchen and service rooms at ground-floor level.

The buildings are constructed in red brick and pebble-dashed and colour-washed render with plain-tiled, hipped roofs. Except for the free-standing bungalow, the show fronts of Nos. 2-12 are all oriented to the south, while the backs are accessed from Lavender Road. The majority of windows have been replaced by uPVC-framed casements. Chimneys across all buildings are of full height.

No. 1 has a recessed veranda porch at left on its south side and a three-light casement to the right. A shallow gable runs the complete width of the front with a keyed oval of projecting brick headers and stretchers at the centre. The right corner has quoin bands of brick. The west front has a projecting gabled wing at left with quoin bands at the corners and a canted bay window to the centre, with a single casement to the left and the side of the veranda. The east front has blank walling at left and a three-light window to the projecting central bay, to the right of which is the wall enclosing a kitchen yard. The north entrance front has a projecting central wing with hipped roof, with an entrance porch and recessed door at right and applied vertical timber framing to the left.

Nos. 2-4 have a Z-shaped plan with brick walling to the ground floor and colour-washed render to the first floor. The southern front has a projecting bay to No. 2 at right with a canted two-storey bay and an overhanging gable supported on arched brackets. To the left, the central house has a half-glazed front door flanked by three-light casements with hipped three-light casement dormers to the first floor. At left, No. 4 has a canted bay at ground floor level and an overhanging first floor with close-studded walling and angle braces, with a four-light casement projecting up into the hipped roof. Recessed entrance porches flank this front. At lower right of No. 2's front is a painted stone foundation stone inscribed: 'THE FOUNDATION STONE / OF THESE HOMES WAS LAID BY / GENERAL SIR W.R. ROBERTSON. / G.C.B ; K.C.V.O ; D.S.O ; / A.D.C. GENERAL TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING. / COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF H.M. HOME FORCES / JANUARY 16TH 1919', with the names of the chairman of the General Purposes Committee and the architect below.

The west flank of No. 4 has a projecting gabled wing at left with two two-light casements to the ground floor and an octagonal light to the attic. To the right, the first floor walling has close studding with a two-light casement and an angled brace to the jettied corner. The east flank has a slightly projecting gabled wing at right with a prominent chimney with offset at centre. The gable end is tile-hung, as is the side of the catslide roof which continues the angle of the main roof and descends to cover the porch at ground floor level. The rear has a deep roof descending to ground floor level at the centre with a wide flat-roofed dormer at the centre. To the left, No. 2 has a first floor of full height; to the right of centre, No. 4 has a projecting wing with tile-hung gable.

No. 5, the Lea Memorial cottage, has a symmetrical south front with a wide canted bay window to the ground floor, at the centre of which is the half-glazed entrance door. The hipped roof of this bay is tiled. At first floor level are two lateral three-light casements, and at the centre is a shaped plaque bearing the words 'LEA MEMORIAL'. The hipped roof has chimneys to each side. Immediately to the right of the door, set at a level below the window ledge, is a painted metal plaque with relief lettering reading 'IN MEMORY OF / CAPTAIN GERALD ERNEST LEA, / WHO DIED FROM WOUNDS / RECEIVED IN THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE, / 15TH SEPTEMBER 1914, / WHILE COMMANDING D. COMPANY OF THE / 2ND BATTALION WORCESTERSHIRE REGIMENT'. The west flank has offsets and one small window but is otherwise blind, as is the east flank. The rear has a wide gabled wing to the right.

Nos. 6-7 have brick walling up to the sill level of the ground floor windows with painted render above. The corners of the south front have quoin bands of brick with two and three-light casements to each floor, symmetrically arranged. The first floor windows continue up through the eaves and have flat roofs. Each flank has a half-glazed entrance door with a hood supported on flat brackets. The rear roof descends to ground floor level with doors and single and two-light casements. Large and deep cross-axial ridge chimney stacks are supported by capped buttresses following the line of the rear roof slope.

Nos. 8-10 have a symmetrical south front with a wide gabled bay at the centre, which has a half-glazed door with projecting hood supported on flat brackets. At either side are two and three-light casements. The first floor has a five-light window to the central gable with clapboarding to the apex. At either side is a three-light dormer with clapboarded gable. Above the door of No. 9 is a stone plaque with moulded border, reading in relief '.GHELUVELT. / (OCTOBER 1914)'. The flanks each have a half-glazed door with bracketed hood at centre, flanked by single casements, with a three-light first-floor casement to the gable which has boarding to the apex. The rear has projecting wings at either side with deep roofs descending to ground-floor level. At centre the rendered first floor has three equally spaced small casements. Deep cross-axial ridge stacks stand to both sides and at the centre.

Nos. 11-12 have a south face and flanks similar in design to Nos. 6-7. The chimneys are not clustered in ridge stacks; there is a large square stack to the rear slope and a gabled wing at right of the rear, which appears to be a later addition.