158, Wilbury Road

158 Wilbury Road dates from 1905 and was designed by John A Brodie. It is a highly significant building within Letchworth Garden City, notable for its pioneering architectural style and construction methods. The design displays characteristics of both the emerging International Style – reflected in its flat roof and plain surfaces – and Art Nouveau, particularly the work of Garnier’s ‘Cite Industrielle’, demonstrated by the classical detailing and window arrangement. The building’s innovative construction involved precast, reinforced concrete panels, floor and roofing elements, with joinery cast in-situ.

It is a two-storey building with one window and a recessed entrance bay. A conservatory extends from the west side. The roof is flat or slightly pitched, featuring tall, decorated red chimney pots. A bracketed cornice includes a Greek fret frieze and a blocking course. The windows are architraved, with two and three lights, cornices, and glazing bars; the first floor has an oriel window. A corner entrance features a flat-roofed verandah supported by square columns.

According to the catalogue for the 1905 Cheap Cottage Exhibition, Brodie designed the building with the aim of creating a sanitary and economical dwelling for the poorest populations displaced from insanitary areas in Liverpool. He was City Engineer of Liverpool at the time. The building is designated Grade II* as one of the earliest complete examples of reinforced concrete prefabrication in the country, and particularly in domestic building.