Description

AUCKLEY

1489/0/10005 ELLERS LANE
19-SEP-07 Auckley
9, 11

II
Pair of semi-detached houses. Prefabricated in Sweden and shipped to England for erection in 1948. Erected on pre-prepared bases with services provided. Timber-framed clad in prefabricated vertical tongue-and-groove timber panels; double thickness with insulation between. Plain tile roof and three brick chimney stacks to the pair.
PLAN: Mirror-image rectangular plans, with entrance and stair hall, living room, kitchen, pantry, and bathroom on the ground floor, two attic bedrooms, and attached single-storey outhouse wing to the side.
EXTERIOR: West entrance front has two central windows, with replacement uPVC frames, flanked by single open porches with lean-to roofs supported on iron poles cased in timber. Half-glazed entrance doors. Return walls have single two-light casements and single small pantry windows. East garden fronts have two central windows, original tripartite casement to No.11, with four central lights flanked by two lights, and uPVC replacement to No.9, flanked on either side by second window, two-light casement to No.11 and uPVC replacement to No.9. Above, each house has two two-light, flat-roofed raking dormer windows. Outhouses to either side have inner entrance porches with red tile floors and three doors serving kitchen and coal shed to the sides and wash-house to rear. Original ribbed doors with square glazed light to kitchen door.
INTERIOR: Both houses retain original plan form and room layout with original features. No.11 retains virtually all its original interior features including built-in cupboards and wardrobes, doors, window catches, staircase, most fireplaces, fitted shelves in outhouse. No.9 was not inspected internally.
HISTORY: This pair of Swedish timber houses is a survivor of a Government programme that brought 2,444 of these houses to Britain between 1945 and 1951. Based on traditional Swedish timber construction, to an English design. Most were erected in rural areas due to the combustible nature of timber, mainly for agricultural labourers.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION

Nos. 9 & 11 Ellers Lane are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* They are good surviving examples of Swedish timber prefabricated houses, constructed in this country to ease the housing shortage immediately after World War II
* These Swedish prefabs are significant physical records of the social and economic history of this country immediately after World War II
* The Swedish scheme was administered separately from the main 1944 Temporary Housing Programme and while 156,653 houses were erected under the latter programme, only 2,444 Swedish prefabs were erected making them a rare type nationally
* Many of these Swedish prefabs have been lost due to deterioration caused by climate, alteration, or demolition, making this almost untouched pair of particular interest
* These houses retain their original plan form and many original features including doors, windows, stairs, fireplaces, and built-in cupboards and wardrobes.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671487

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)