1-11 Corpus Christi Lane (odd)

These are three pairs of prefabricated agricultural workers’ houses built in 1948 to the designs of C B K Van Norman. The houses are constructed with a vented brick underbuilding and balloon frame construction, clad in horizontal Canadian cedar boarding, and have tile roofs. They are situated along the south side of Corpus Christi Lane.

The houses are two-storeys with a two-bay semi-detached design, featuring a medium-pitched gable roof with three brick chimney stacks and an overhang to the eaves. The fenestration is regular, with timber casement windows without glazing bars. The front doors, which are three-panel, are grouped under a flat canopy and have a single-light window to one side. The outer bays have a row of four-light casements. First-floor windows consist of two-light casements above the front doors and three-light casements in the outer bays. Single-storey flat-roofed extensions project from the gable ends, featuring two-light casements that match the pattern of the main elevation. Side elevations of the extensions have two three-panel doors, sheltered by a flat canopy. Rear elevations are lit by three-light casements on both floors.

Internally, the houses share a common arrangement, with a front door opening into a hall leading to two reception rooms. One reception room features a built-in cupboard providing access to the kitchen and larder. A straight flight staircase with a wooden handrail leads to a landing opening onto a bathroom, cupboard, and three bedrooms of varying sizes; the largest includes an airing cupboard and the medium-sized bedroom has a built-in wardrobe. The single-storey extension houses a utility area and coal shed.

No. 9 survives in close to its original condition, retaining three-panel doors, window furniture, plain skirting boards, built-in cupboards, fireplaces, and carpet clips on the stairs. The kitchen contains a built-in unit with a Belfast sink, wooden work surface, and sliding cupboard doors. The larder retains its shelving. Fireplaces in the reception rooms have square tiled surrounds and hearths, one mottled brown, the other pale grey. The utility retains a Belfast sink, and the coal shed, divided internally by a partition, is clad in horizontal cedar boarding to roughly two-thirds height.

While the interior of no. 1 was not inspected, the other five houses retain varying degrees of original fixtures and fittings. Three-panel doors are intact throughout, except for those on the ground floor of no. 3, which have been replaced. All houses retain the sink in the utility area, and four (excluding no. 5) retain the cedar boarding in the coal shed. Fireplaces are mostly intact; however, those in nos. 5 and 11 have been altered – tiles removed in no. 5, and a timber surround built over the fireplace in no. 11. The original bath survives in no. 7 while the larder is intact in nos 7, 9 and 11.