100-110, OCTAGON ROAD

Nos. 100 to 110 on Octagon Road are a row of almshouses built around 1912 by Sir Aston Webb. The building is constructed of red brick, featuring some wooden window bressumers and plain tiled roofs, with end stacks. It is designed at a 45-degree angle around a central gable that is covered in tiles, which sits above a shallow two-storey projection. The structure has two storeys, with one storey and attics in the wings, topped by two hipped semi-dormers. The central section has five bay casement windows, and there is a central first-floor balcony with a wooden bressumer above and a balustrade made of panelled pantiles. The balcony openings on either side are glazed. The main entrance is wide and square-headed, featuring a gauged head and two freestanding Tuscan columns made of rubbed brick. The outer bays have narrower square-headed entrances with flat hoods, and all doors are boarded. Whiteley Village was established by William Whiteley of Whiteley's stores to provide for thrifty elderly individuals, and it was laid out in an octagonal plan by Frank Atkinson, who employed prominent architects of the time.