7-23 Silver Street, including the covered entrance to Cofferidge Close, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes

7-23 Silver Street, including the covered entrance to Cofferidge Close, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes

This is a row of five three-storey town houses, three single-bedroom flats and a studio, built above a vehicular entrance to Cofferidge Close. The structure uses a reinforced concrete frame with load-bearing external brickwork, clad in Colliers handmade Georgian Red facing bricks laid with deep joints—the same textured brick used for the main building at Cofferidge Close.

Each unit benefits from two outlooks: one over the urban setting of Silver Street to the south and another over the open landscape of Cofferidge Close to the north. Although some have been subsequently subdivided, most retain their original floor plan.

The three-bedroom town houses are arranged across three floors, with the main living area at first floor level. Each opens onto a small enclosed rear garden and a large first floor balcony providing views over the gardens and the southern end of the main building. The ground floor contains an entrance hall with WC, a kitchen and dining room overlooking the garden, and a small multi-purpose room facing the street. The first floor is an open-plan living room with the balcony forming an external extension, and a small study leading off it at the front. The upper floor has three bedrooms and a bathroom. The project team considered that small courtyard gardens were sufficient because the wider landscape of the Close acted as a garden extension.

The Silver Street elevation is in seven bays, with the sixth bay containing a two-storey entrance to the Close. The upper storey has an asymmetrically-pitched mansard roof. Each unit is recessed between full-height flush brick piers that align with the cornice. The ground floor is clad in vertically-ribbed panels with matching front doors, punctuated by narrow full-height windows. Horizontal first floor window units, in black anodised aluminium with six lights each, fill the bays between flush brick panels. The upper floor features a continuous glazed mansard.

At the rear, each unit is contained behind a high brick wall forming a small courtyard garden, each with a small external shed. Full-width ground floor rear windows operate as a glazed wall, set back beneath the balcony and opening onto the courtyard. Similar full-width first floor rear windows, set back under brick soffits, open onto secluded first floor balconies positioned between brick party walls. These balconies have timber balustrades or deep planters and afford views over the open leafy landscape at the southern end of Cofferidge Close. The upper floor is lit by a continuous glazed mansard matching the south-facing elevation.

Internally, most houses retain their original floor plan with exposed internal structural piers. The ground and first floors have a flexible layout with fully-glazed rear walls and quarry-tiled ground floor flooring that diminish the barrier between interior and exterior spaces. The stairs feature a solid timber-framed balustrade and timber handrail. Internal doors are flush-panel type, and fitted cupboards with some original door furniture remain.

The covered vehicular entrance has a brick-lined soffit and exposed brick-clad beams, with the opening flanked by brick-clad piers, brick kerbs and paviors. The entrance is enlivened by wall-mounted signage to Cofferidge Close.