Shaftesbury Park Estate: Gothic Revival model dwellings

The streets are laid out on a grid pattern of long parallel streets flanked by long terraces. The streets are tree-lined with small trees mostly small fruit trees such as Hawthorn, Flowering plum, June Berry, Rowan, Whitebeam and Service Tree.

Every terrace has a moulded plaque above the entrances indicating the year of construction. The oldest housing have these triangular entrance gables carried by two red brick arches on three corbels. Al the decorative elements have been given a contrasting white colour. Thus lifting the rather gloomy dark yellow brick used for most of the facade.

The streetscape with similar long terraces on either side of the street make this a very distinctive housing estate. The tiny front gardens don't add much to the scene, due to the walls edging them.

The greatest variation in the houses, that for each class share the same floor plan, is achieved in the treatment of the entrances. On the left shallow pointed arches are used to give access to the side-by-side front doors of these homes with mirrored floor plans. On the right a squared-off variation on the triangular entrance. These houses don't have the decorative moulded plaques.

Another terrace, here with angled bay frontage and red brick dressings, also along the arches over the entrances. Also note the decorative dentil course in red brick below the guttering and the fire walls that protrude above the roof.

Turrets are employed as an architectural device in the Gothic Revival style. O the left a house with the entrance in a castellated turret. The white awning over the door mimics gothic shapes. Bands of red brick create interest in the facade. In a few places a long terrace is emphasised by a turret at the end, always on a visible corner. These turrets have windows with shallow pointed arches, a dentil course under the roof and a pointed roof like a witches hat.

Where short side streets meet the long parallel streets of the grid the corners are given no extra or special attention. The blocks simply abut the pavement. This lack of treatment of corners is indicative of Victorian urban design.

This decorative double commercial unit was included for local shops (baker and green grocer). Small turrets emphasise the two individual shops, whilst in between a door gives access to the apartments above. The primary school (on the right) had dedicated entrances for boys and girls, each with their own playground. This separate education was the norm in the Victorian Era.

A typical street with similar housing on each side. Each has a slightly different treatment of the entrances, creating some degree of local identity within the estate. On the whole the estate is very similar in overall appearance, however.