C O N T E X T 1 1 0 : J U LY 2 0 0 9 35 Between 1907 and 1912 about 500 houses were built. The first was completed for an opening ceremony in 1908. The last houses to be completed were the larger ones at the west end of the estate at the top of Carless Avenue. Nettlefold and Martin’s vision was for an inclusive estate, where manual workers and skilled artisans would live alongside professionals and prosperous members of the business community. The plan was to include a wide range of houses, from smaller two-bedroom terraces through to substantial semidetached houses with five bedrooms. One of the earliest residents was the renowned arts-and-crafts silversmith Bernard Cuzner (1877–1956). Martin’s designs for the houses combine some of the features of the arts-and-crafts movement with those of Port Sunlight and Bourneville. The basic themes of the estate are the regular use of front-facing gables over the main bedrooms and the extensive use of cream-painted stucco, providing a contrast with the ubiquitous red brick. The two-tone houses with the stucco upper storeys are particularly attractive. Other effective architectural devices include the imaginative use of brick arches and the decision to use opening window casements based on six-pane, side-hinged lights and two-pane, top-hinged lights. Having established an architectural language, Martin managed to generate a wide variety of houses throughout the estate. It is difficult to find any two houses that are identical. Ingenious variation of plan-form, combined with the imaginative and careful positioning of each building, is handled very effectively. In accordance with garden city principles, the landscaping of the whole estate is integral with the house designs. All the roads are tree-lined with grass verges, and Carless Avenue opens out to include two semi-circled open spaces known as the Spinney, with the houses set back to form two crescents. The estate offices at the Circle became the administrative hub where rents were paid and provided a base for a small direct workforce engaged in routine maintenance. By the 1960s a number of the houses were owned independently. The estate was designated a conservation area in 1970, and the buildings within the Circle were listed, along with the particularly attractive gantry-entrance dwellings on Ravenhurst Road opposite the Moor Pool. In 2006 an Article 4 (2) Direction was approved, as 30 years of independent improvements had led to an erosion of character. All elevations visible from the street are covered by the direction, which specifies that planning permission is now required for external doors, windows, porches, small extensions, roof alterations (including dormers and rooflights), off-street parking areas, access ramps, aerials, satellite dishes, gates, walls, fences, and the painting of pebbledash and brickwork. Although it is perhaps too soon to be able to assess the impact of the direction, it has been welcomed by local residents keen to maintain the special character of the estate. Once the majority of houses were in private ownership, Harborne Tenants was taken over. The estate is now administered by the international property company Grainger, which is keen to build on some of the amenity spaces. The centenary celebrations were overshadowed by the prospect of new buildings being squeezed into allotments and areas currently occupied by garages. Charles Hippisley-Cox is a senior lecturer and course leader for architectural technology at the Department of Architecture and 3D Design, Huddersfield University. Between 1963 and 1969 he lived on the Moorpool Estate. Listed gantryentry buildings at Ravenhurst Road
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