1-4, The High Street

SU10SW 1277/7/10012 05-DEC-00

ST LEONARDS AND ST IVES ASHLEY HEATH 1-4 The High Street

II

Row of shops. Circa early 1920s; by William Webb. Roughcast mass concrete. Plain tile roof with gabled ends. Brick axial stacks with corbelled brick tops. PLAN: Rectangular on plan row of four shops with two short wings at rear. Domestic Revival style. EXTERIOR: 1 storey and attic. Symmetrical 4-bay north front with multi-pane bowed shop windows with fascias above and four 2-panel doors with semi-circular traceried fanlights; over the centre a small timber-framed gable with a clock face and an inscription 'The Night Cometh'; four large hipped dormers with 3-light casements with leaded panes; over the ridge at centre a timber bellcote with a tall pyramidal tiled roof surmounted by a weathercock. Rear [S] hipped dormers and two short gable-ended wings with outshuts. INTERIOR not inspected. NOTE: William Webb [1862-1930] came to Ashley Heath in 1920 and reclaimed 1500 acres of heath land to build a garden estate to be called 'Hampshire Heath Garden Estate'. Twelve houses were built in plots of one acre, including a house for himself, as well as this row of shops to serve the inhabitants. Webb had previously lived in Surrey, where he had created in 1901-20 Woodcote Village [now in the London Borough of Croydon] which was based on ideas expounded in his book 'Garden First in Land Development'.

Listing NGR: SU1150404609