1930s Houses in LS12 - an anorak project

vbporscha · Post by **vbporscha** » Tue 16 Jul, 2013 2:08 pm

Hello all,I've asked a vague question on this in a previous posting that I made, basically this all stems from me wondering why the row of 1930's semis that stand opposite Back Lane on Tong Rd were built where they are, considering there's little else around them. I know that a couple of the houses at the Troydale End were built earlier, and one was previously a shop, I also know that there may have been a couple of cottages on the site. I've heard one rumour that the houses were built on old tennis courts (I don't buy this one!) and a previous owner of a property on there mentioned something about mineral mining.I've noticed that there are a couple of streets in the Wortley area that seem to have identical houses on them. The ones that I have identified are on Whitehall Rd, Cow Close Rd, Waveney Rd, Kenilworth Rd, Green Hill Lane and Green Hill Crescent.It's a shot in the dark, but can anyone shed some light? The some of the ones in Wortley seem to be tagged onto larger estates, it has been suggested to me that maybe they were built on leftover bits of land from the bigger estates.I'm getting a tad obsessive about this....!Cheers,VikkiKenilworth Rd - http://tinyurl.com/ofapxkzWaveney Rd - http://tinyurl.com/qakb2vcWhitehall Rd - http://tinyurl.com/nm8x27z

York Road Lad · Post by **York Road Lad** » Tue 16 Jul, 2013 8:55 pm

The houses in the top picture are identical to mine - so presumably had the same developer (where are they?) The same builder built two streets in East End Park/Cross Green - Frederick Avenue and Charles Avenue. The only difference being that one street is three bedroomed and the other two. I have see similar houses in Wakefield (off Doncaster Roard, I think).

vbporscha · Post by **vbporscha** » Wed 17 Jul, 2013 9:44 pm

Sorry for the late reply, the email alert went into my junk mail!The top pic is Tong Road, opposite Back Lane in the New Farnley area. I've just had a look at the streets that you mention (I'll tackle the Wakefield ones later ha ha), The Frederick Street ones are the same, but the Charles Street ones look the same but they don't have the side bay window upstairs. Same again though, a small amount built on the edge of a larger development! I'd love to find out more.Thanks for the reply!

vbporscha · Post by **vbporscha** » Wed 17 Jul, 2013 9:47 pm

Just found some more the same as the Charles Street ones - Station Crescent in Armley: https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Statio ... 2,0.9,,0,0

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Wed 17 Jul, 2013 10:27 pm

This might have been the cheapest house you could build while conforming to building regs at the time. That would focus many a developer's mind.

York Road Lad · Post by **York Road Lad** » Thu 18 Jul, 2013 1:08 am

Cardiarms wrote: This might have been the cheapest house you could build while conforming to building regs at the time. That would focus many a developer's mind. They are pretty small! I assume that the reason Frederick Avenue have bays is because they are three bedroom - whereas Charles Avenue are two bedroom. I live in Frederick Avenue with just a cat for company - and I still find it pretty small. There are some houses with quite large families - I know of one with a mum, dad, son and four daughters - they must be very 'cosy'!

vbporscha · Post by **vbporscha** » Thu 18 Jul, 2013 11:47 am

Mine is a three bedroom with the bay, but the third bedroom is teeny! The kitchen has been extended downstairs so to be honest space isn't too bad and the garden is a good size but you wouldn't really want any more than the two of us and the dogs! Some of the neighbours have extended out and up giving them a really good space.So does anyone know of any more? Or even my bigger question - why were the Tong Rd ones built?

LS1 · Post by **LS1** » Thu 18 Jul, 2013 11:09 pm

Not being an expert, but would hazard a guess that the developer bought the land and decided to build the houses there because they could.It's like Barrats, they find land and just build where they can that is why you see Barrat homes in random places. they are a massive company so you see loads of them dotted about.Sounds like this developer had few plots of land so built what they could where they could.Another possibility is that they were built with the intention of more being constructed but they ran out of money or permission so couldn't build more.

York Road Lad · Post by **York Road Lad** » Fri 19 Jul, 2013 5:23 pm

LS1 wrote: Not being an expert, but would hazard a guess that the developer bought the land and decided to build the houses there because they could.It's like Barrats, they find land and just build where they can that is why you see Barrat homes in random places. they are a massive company so you see loads of them dotted about.Sounds like this developer had few plots of land so built what they could where they could.Another possibility is that they were built with the intention of more being constructed but they ran out of money or permission so couldn't build more. I wasn't around in the 1930's, but both Frederick Avenue and Charles Avenue look as though they were indeed built on left over pieces of land. I was once told by someone who did remember that my house is on the site of an old bakery. Certainly, the houses around were much older - and the ones near Charles Avenue have since been demolished for slum clearance.

vbporscha · Post by **vbporscha** » Sat 20 Jul, 2013 4:05 pm

Thanks for the input - I think this is as far as I'll get with this. I need to find some easier things to look into, the other thing I was interested in is the WWII POW Camp at Post Hill but I'm pretty much drawing a blank there too.