1-7 South Avenue

Houses which are 3 storeys to the front, and 4 to the rear, plus attics. The basements are visible beneath elegant ‘bridges’. Buff brick with stone lintels, sills and large bays to ground floor with window pairs above. Slate roofs with cornice-style eaves detail in brick and substantial detailed chimneys (with16 pots). Front doors are in deep architrave with lights above and to each side. Large, well-detailed open porches with slate roofs and decorative ridge tiles, supported by concrete columns on low brick boundary walls with substantial coping. Some modern windows, some sash windows and some original dormers with timber finial detailing matching porches. Original cast iron railings. MATERIALS Brick, slate, concrete, timber ARCHITECT John Wallace DATES Late 1870s (original 5 & 6 plans 1878) STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE These houses are highly unusual both in design and materials, and they therefore make a special contribution to their setting of the Ryton Conservation Area. In a village dominated by sandstone the use of brick is striking – particularly an unusual pale brick rather than the standard Victorian red brick. In addition the details of the porches over bridges are elegant, quirky, and offer a rhythm to the composition, and the wrought iron railings are an especially decorative and rare survival. It is likely that the builder/architect came from a well-known local family. LOCAL LIST