1-11 Corpus Christi Lane (odd), Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire

Summary

Three pairs of prefabricated agricultural workers’ houses built in 1948 to the designs of C B K Van Norman.

Description

Three pairs of prefabricated agricultural workers’ houses built in 1948 to the designs of C B K Van Norman.

MATERIALS: vented brick underbuilding with balloon frame construction clad in horizontal Canadian cedar boarding. Tile roof covering.

PLAN: the three pairs of houses are situated along the south side of Corpus Christi Lane. They have a rectangular plan with a single-storey, flat-roofed extension on the gable ends.

EXTERIOR: the two-storey, two-bay semi-detached houses have a medium pitched gable roof with three brick chimney stacks and a large overhang to the eaves. The regular fenestration consists of timber casements without glazing bars. The three-panel front doors in the inner bays share a flat canopy and have a single-light window on the outer side. The outer bays are lit by a row of four-light casements. The first floor is lit by two-light casements above the front doors and three-light casements in the outer bay. The single-storey extensions have two-light casements (in continuation with the four-light windows). The side elevations of the extensions have two three-panel doors which are sheltered by a flat canopy. The rear elevations are lit by three-light casements in each bay on both floors.

INTERIOR: the houses have the same internal arrangement. The front door opens into the hall which leads into two reception rooms, the second of which has a built-in cupboard and provides access to the kitchen and larder. The straight flight stair has a wooden handrail and leads up to the landing which opens into the bathroom, cupboard, and three bedrooms of different sizes. The largest contains the airing cupboard and the medium sized bedroom has a built-in wardrobe. The single-storey extension houses the utility and coal shed.

No. 9 survives in almost its original state, retaining three-panel doors, window furniture, plain skirting boards, built-in cupboards, fireplaces, and the carpet clips on the stairs. The kitchen has a built-in unit the length of the room which has a Belfast sink, wooden work surface and sliding cupboard doors. The larder retains its shelving. The fireplaces in the reception rooms have square tiled surrounds and hearths, one in a mottled brown and the other pale grey. The utility retains its Belfast sink, and the coal shed, which has a single internal partition, is clad in horizontal cedar boarding to roughly two thirds height.

The interior of no.1 was not inspected but the other five houses retain the same original fixtures and fittings to varying degrees. The three-panel doors are intact except for those on the ground floor of no. 3 which have been replaced. All the houses retain the sink in the utility and four (except no. 5) retain the internal cladding in the coal shed. The fireplaces survive, except that in no. 5 the tiles have been removed, and in no. 11 one of the fireplaces has a timber surround built over it. The larder remains intact in nos 7, 9 and 11, and the original bath survives in no. 7.

History

The three pairs of prefabricated agricultural workers’ houses were built in 1948 on land that once belonged to the Guild of Corpus Christi Chantry. This was suppressed by Henry VIII and then passed to the church which still retains ownership. Nos 1 and 3 were built on the former site of the late C16 or early C17 Corpus Christi House, the remains of which now form the red brick wall in front of the semi-detached houses. It has been partially rebuilt and heavily repaired. The houses are known as Canadian Timber Type 1. According to Non-Traditional Houses: Identifying non-traditional houses in the UK 1918-75 (Building Research Station, 2004), ninety were built between 1946-7 (although these figures are not necessarily reliable).

The houses at Corpus Christi Lane were designed by Charles Burwell Kerrens Van Norman (1907-1975), a Canadian architect from Vancouver. He specialized in the design of private residences and had a particular interest in the techniques of prefabrication for wood frame houses which were often executed in the International Modern style. In 1944 he was called upon by the British government to advise them on the design and prefabrication of one thousand timber houses which were shipped over as part of the post-war reconstruction programme. Many of Van Norman’s inventive ideas for residential design and prefabrication were adapted from his experience of designing his own house in Vancouver in 1939.

On 15 March 1948 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners submitted an application for the erection of the semi-detached Canadian Cedar Wood houses as approved by the Ministry of Health. The application provides details of the building materials which are timber and brick for the external walls, local Fletton brick for the chimney stacks, slate or tile for the roof, and wood for the casement windows. Three days later on 18 March 1948 the Hunts Post reported the Council’s news, stating that the building of the houses would be by open tender and were to be erected immediately. They were built by Permanent Homes (Burton) Ltd, a building firm based in Burton on Trent. Each dwelling was allocated approximately a quarter of an acre of land, presumably to give the tenants opportunity to grow food and rear livestock. Six families moved into the houses in 1948; those in nos 1, 3 and 5 worked at the Underwood brothers’ Westbury Farm, and those at no. 7, 9 and 11 worked at Lenton’s Corpus Christi Farm. The Davey family lived at no. 9 from 1948 until the last surviving member moved out in 2012.

The houses were built as part of the government’s plans to provide accommodation as quickly and economically as possible during a period when both building materials and construction labour were in short supply. In February 1943 the Minister of Health, Ernest Brown, announced an emergency programme of 3,000 houses for agricultural workers. Plans for pairs with a lean-to and washhouse were devised but high costs and a complicated bureaucracy meant the scheme was beset with difficulties. The Ministry of Works then founded an Experimental Building Department and by March 1944 it had received 559 proposals and approved 87 systems for further investigation. Prefabrication was seen as the answer to the materials and labour shortage, and manufacturers were encouraged to experiment with prefabrication by government subsidies. Non-Traditional Houses has entries for 143 different prefabricated timber systems and lists a further 119 in an appendix.

By the end of the war Britain was suffering from severe food shortages. Food was donated by the US and other countries but it was imperative that levels of production were increased as soon as possible. 150,000 prisoners of war, who had been working on farms, were gradually being sent home, and the severe winter of 1947 and subsequent flooding had been disastrous for livestock. On 25 March 1947 the House of Commons debated rural housing. The Ministry of Agriculture stated that 100,000 new permanent workers were needed in the industry, and MPs questioned how so many houses could be built, especially given the timber shortage. One MP mentioned that a licence had been granted for the importation of 250 Canadian cedar-wood houses, with the possibly of a further 1000 being imported the following year.

1-11 Corpus Christi Lane have undergone some alterations. Nos 1 and 3 have one uPVC window on the ground floor of the rear elevation, and nos 3 and 5 have one replaced door to the extension. Internally, a passageway from the hall to the kitchen has been made through the larder in nos 3 and 5, although half the larder shelving survives in no. 5. In no. 7 the wall between the two reception rooms has been taken down, and in no. 5 the wall between the utility and coal shed has been removed.

Reasons for Listing

1-11 Corpus Christi Lane, three pairs of prefabricated agricultural workers’ houses built in 1948 to the designs of C B K Van Norman, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest: they are significant physical records of the social and economic history of this country immediately after the Second World War;

Architectural interest: they represent an impressive example of prefabricated rural housing, notable for their quality of materials and construction;

Architect: as a Canadian-based architect, C B K Van Norman does not have any listed buildings to his name but according to the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950, he was a successful and highly regarded architect who has been credited with designing some of the most significant Modernist buildings in Canada;

Intactness: they remain little altered externally and internally. No. 9 in particular has survived in almost its original state, retaining its joinery, fireplaces, built-in cupboards, and even its fitted kitchen, thereby providing an important example of a modest interior from the immediate post-war period;

Rarity: they are well-preserved examples of a building type that is now rare and of which there are few listed examples.

External Links

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