Description

935/0/10079 BUCK LANE
21-FEB-03 Kingsbury
3 AND 5

GV II

3-5 Buck Lane. Pair of cottages. 1925-26 by Ernest Trobridge.
Materials: timber frame with elm boarding, tile hanging, red brick infill, extensive leaded lights with wooden mullions, brick chimney stacks, thatched roof.
Plan: rectangular, with projections to either side of the recessed centre.
Exterior: the street front, of two storeys, is asymmetrical, with a four-light dormer to the first floor at the centre, above a three light window, projecting, to left and a three-light window, with heraldic panel to upper centre light, to right. No. 3, to left, has a garage at ground level (formerly with a canted three-light window), with skirted tile hanging above elm boarding to the front. Two irregular four-light windows, rising up into eyebrow dormers, turn the corner on each side of the projection. Entrance door in side of projection, near centre, reached via steps. Side elevation is tile-hung, with few openings. No. 5, to right, has its entrance (via steps) within the advanced front, to the right of a two-light window which turns the corner. To the right is an irregular four-light window, also turning the corner. The roof ridge is embellished with decorative cresting. The chimneystacks are angle-set, and with decorative mouldings to bases and tops. Rear elevation in similar style.
Interiors: noted to retain original exposed timber framing and panelling, timber staircase and doors and brick fireplace. The low inglenook is reflected in the split level of the upper floor and was a contrivance to reduce the overall height of the houses.
History: this pair of cottages was built as part of the Summit Estate, a development by H.J. Aldous that was laid out across Wakeman's Hill. They were built using Ernest Trobridge's singular system of wooden framed cottage construction, developed after WW1 as a way of building affordable housing for returning soldiers; a prototype house was shown at the 1920 Ideal Home Exhibition. The result is a highly picturesque cottage, alluding to traditional rural buildings through its forms and techniques, which forms a very interesting commentary on suburban house-building of the period. Kingsbury possesses a good number of Trobridge's creations, and this pair is among the best to survive.

SOURCES: 'Ernest George Trobridge 1884-1942. Architect Extraordinary' (1982 catalogue); 'Buck Lane and Slough Lane (Kingsbury) Conservation Area' (LB Brent 1982.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26388411

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)