6 And 7, Brookdale Avenue

ILFRACOMBE

SS5147 BROOKDALE AVENUE 853-1/6/26 (South side) Nos.6 AND 7

II

Pair of semi detached houses. 1883 by WM Robbins. MATERIALS: red brick with bands of yellow brick; bay windows of wood and (probably) cast-iron. Slated roofs with crested red ridge tiles and finials; slates on left side of No.6 tarred, those at No.7 asbestos. 2 red brick chimneys on party wall with elaborate caps composed of projecting brick courses; 2 good shaped chimney pots at front, 5 at rear. No.7 has plain red brick chimney to right of closet wing. PLAN: Single-fronted, probably double-depth, with closet wings projecting at either side and set well back, that at No.6 containing the front entrance. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys with garrets. Striking mirrored design to 1-window gable-facing fronts with full-height bay windows rising to half hips. The windows take the form of canted bays of 4 lights, rising through both storeys and with moulded shafts between and flanking the lights. Panels above the lights carved with quatrefoils and circles; above each storey is a thin, deeply projecting cornice on large, ornate brackets, having a cresting of small iron flowers. Gable windows are designed as smaller canted wooden bays, also of 4 lights, with top cornices and hipped roofs merging into the gables. Flanking the gable bays are plain bargeboards with a circle cut through the end of each one. All the windows have plain sashes. The closet wing at No 6 has door with 4 main shaped panels, the top 2 glazed, and 3 small shaped, glazed panels at the top; 2-paned side lights flanked by columns matching those on the bay windows. 5-paned fanlight. Upper storey has 1 tall, narrow sash window with margin-panes of coloured glass. Flat roof. At No.7 the front door (panelled and glazed as at No.6) is in a slight projection in the side wall. Tall sash window above it with coloured glass margin panes. Plain sash window in ground storey of closet wing, the brick surrounding both it and the front door now painted. In the angle above, a panelled, wooden, projecting closet with small square windows at the top and a steeply pitched slated roof. Both houses have a dormer window on the side of the roof, and No.7 has one on the closet wing; all are gabled with moulded bargeboards, crested ridge tiles, plain sashes. Rear elevations (visible from back road) are plain with segmental-headed sash windows having 1 upright glazing bar per sash. INTERIORS not inspected. HISTORY: Brookdale Avenue was laid out by the architect, William Morgan Robbins, in 1881 on land purchased the same year. (Devon Record Office, 2309B/T35/1-27: Title deeds with site plans; Allen T Hussell: Ilfracombe Chronicle 6.8.1937: 6; Ilfracombe Local Board of Health: Planning Register; Planning file No 43 (on microfilm): 9; Kelly's Directory of Devonshire: 1883-).

Listing NGR: SS5139847436