Albion Villas

Albion Villas comprises two semi-detached cottages built between 1865 and 1866 by Joseph Tall. These represent the earliest known surviving houses constructed by Tall, a pioneer of concrete shuttering using a method he patented in 1865. The cottages are of monolithic in situ concrete, rendered, with a later hipped slate roof; the original roof was flat and featured iron reinforcements, an early example of reinforced concrete. Each cottage is two storeys and two windows wide, with a square-headed doorway in the outer bay. They have sash windows, some retaining original glazing bars. The ground floor is rusticated, the depth of the rustication corresponding to the depth of the shuttering used in the concrete’s construction. A band runs at eaves level. The cottages are among the earliest surviving concrete houses and were featured in the Civil Engineer Architect's Journal in September 1966 and Concrete in September 1976.