1-12 Holly Village

Holly Village, Nos. 1-12

A group of twelve former estate cottages built in 1865, designed by Henry Astley Darbishire for Baroness Burdett-Coutts. The buildings were constructed by William Cubitt, who employed Italian craftsmen for the wood carving. They are built of multi-coloured stock brick with stone dressings, slate roofs with decorative cresting, and are arranged as substantial two-storey cottages in the cottage ornée style, picturesquely grouped around a private garden accessed from the street through an archway flanked by two cottages.

Nos. 1 and 2 form the entrance gatehouses, with a central gabled drop archway inscribed "Holly Village erected by AGB Coutts AD 1865". The archway is surmounted by a small crowstep gable with an oriel window of three pointed lights at the apex, flanked by carved stone figures under carved wooden aedicules and dormers. The main gable features a wooden lattice bargeboard and a carved wooden Gothic two-stage lantern on the ridge, flanked by pairs of elaborate stone-dressed chimney-stacks. Smaller arches flanking the entrance form porches to gabled cottages with central projecting bays. No. 2 (right hand) has a three-light bay window with pointed arches on colonnettes at ground floor, first floor with two round-arched lancets and lozenge above, wooden lattice bargeboards with finials, and pairs of elaborate stone-dressed chimney-stacks. No. 1 (left hand) has two pointed arch windows at ground floor, first floor with a three-light bracketed casement with penthouse roof flanked by diaper brickwork and a roundel above, with similar bargeboards and chimneys.

No. 3 is a detached gabled and dormered cottage with an attached, asymmetrically positioned three-storey elaborate Gothic tower. The ground floor forms a main entrance portico with a trefoil arch on clustered columns. An enriched band continues around the house at first floor level. First floor features traceried lancets under pointed arcading. The second floor has paired pointed traceried windows set in studding with herringbone brickwork nogging, and an elaborate wooden parapet with carved wooden gabled spirelets. The pointed slate roof is surmounted by a gabled spirelet. To the right is a traceried window of three pointed lights at ground floor, with a two-light dormer at first floor having pierced bargeboards. Cusped bargeboards with finials and elaborate chimneys throughout.

No. 4 is a detached gabled and dormered cottage with a projecting right hand bay. The main entrance porch to the left has a pitched slated roof and carved wooden drop arch on colonnettes. The right hand bay projects with two gabled windows and a slated penthouse roof. An enriched band continues around the house at first floor level. The first floor features a traceried two-light pointed window with lozenge over. Carved bargeboards of wave design and finials, with elaborate chimneys.

Nos. 5 and 6 are a semi-detached gabled and dormered pair with entrances on returns. Outer bays project, each with a window of three pointed lights at ground floor. An enriched band continues around the house at first floor level. The second floor windows are two pointed lights with lozenge above. Central bays each feature bay windows of four pointed lights with continuous penthouse roof forming gables, first floors with two-light dormers having pierced bargeboards. Carved bargeboards with finials, and a central stack of eight clustered chimneys flanked by paired chimneys, all with stone dressings.

Nos. 7 and 8 are a semi-detached gabled and dormered pair with diaper work and enriched first floor band. An asymmetrically placed projecting bay has a five-light canted bay window with penthouse roof at ground floor and a traceried two-light pointed window at first floor with lozenge over. A slated entrance porch to the right features wooden bargeboards forming a trefoil arch on colonnettes and a traceried four-light pointed window. The second floor has two two-light dormers with pierced bargeboards. The left hand return of the projecting bay has a verandah entrance with slated roof and patterned wooden supports. Carved and pierced bargeboards with finials and clustered chimneys.

Nos. 9 and 10 are a semi-detached gabled and dormered pair similar to Nos. 5 and 6, except that the ground floor windows to the central bays are flush.

No. 11 is a detached gabled and dormered cottage with diaper work to the first floor and enriched first floor band. The main entrance is positioned at the angle of the main range and projecting right hand bay. The porch features pointed arcading with a trefoil entrance arch on a geometrically patterned base and a slated mansard roof with gable over the entrance arch. A traceried three-light pointed window is to the left, with two-light and one-light dormers with pierced bargeboards to the first floor. The projecting bay has three individual pointed lights at ground floor and a bracketed bay window of three pointed lights with roundel above at first floor. Cusped bargeboards with finials and an enriched rectangular chimney-stack at the angle of the cross roofs.

No. 12 is a detached gabled and dormered cottage with diaper work to the ground floor and first floor on the right return. The main entrance is in a projecting three-storey Gothic tower at the right hand angle. The ground floor forms a porch with a cusped pointed arch entrance on colonnettes flanked by carved roundels. An enriched band continues around the house at first floor level. The first floor has three lancets under elaborate wooden bracketed gable hoods with carved gargoyles at the angles and geometrically patterned studding above. The second floor features studding forming traceried blind arcading and a central two-light traceried pointed arch dormer window. Carved wooden spirelets are at the angles of the pointed roof. The central bay has a single pointed light at ground floor and two pointed lights at first floor. The projecting left hand bay has a traceried three-light pointed window at ground floor and a similar two-light window with lozenge over at first floor. Carved and pierced bargeboards with finials and elaborate chimney-stacks at the angle of the cross roofs.

The interiors have not been inspected.

Holly Village was conceived as a model venture for private rent to those on considerable incomes. Contrary to the intentions of its benefactor, the village was never lived in by her estate workers or Coutts Bank clerks. The village was purchased by its tenants in 1921.