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"Pavilions set amidst a garden" - Nikolaus Pevsner
This excellent three-bedroom house, with integral garage, forms part of Monkswood, a radical project of ten houses built to a design by architects Brooks Thorp Partners in the 1970s. One of the few detached houses in the group, it is also one of the largest, extending to over 1,650 sq ft internally. It has been recently renovated throughout while preserving the original flowing plan and many wonderful mid-century details.
Monkswood
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History
In the late 1960s Yorkshire Television was established in Leeds with their studios and offices on Kirkstall Road. A group of new employees, needing somewhere to live decided to form a Housing Association with a view to finding a suitable site on which to
In the late 1960s Yorkshire Television was established in Leeds with their studios and offices on Kirkstall Road. A group of new employees, needing somewhere to live decided to form a Housing Association with a view to finding a suitable site on which to build some new homes. Initially around 100 names were put on the list posted on the YTV Notice Board and a ‘working party’ set about the search for a site.
After some time the site occupied by No. 45 Vesper Road was spotted. Although well treed, sloping and rocky it was thought large enough for around ten dwellings. By this time the names on the list had dwindled but there was still sufficient interest to progress things. Brooks Thorpe Partners took up the challenge to design ten individual houses and shoehorn these onto a tricky site with many mature oak trees forming what was part of the Monk’s Wood.
In the spirit of the period the Architects designed modern houses which have been described as 'inside out' and 'upside down' houses amongst other things! This was due to the use of concrete blocks externally, concrete bricks internally and with some having bedrooms downstairs making use of the steeply sloping site.
The building process was not easy due to the site conditions and also because it was a time of high inflation as a result of which the initial contractors went bust. However eventually all the dwellings were completed to individual designs and requirements. The mood of the time was also conducive to a community spirit and using No. 45 as a Community Centre was seriously contemplated even thinking of a possible swimming pool in the basement!
In recent years ownership has changed but there are still YTV connections and an interesting artistic bias. Consideration has been given to listing of the development being quite unique in many ways but the various alterations, updating and upgrading of the buildings has prevented this. However, the spirit of the original Housing Association still exists to maintain the site and generally alterations have been kept within the original design guidelines.
Colin Straw – Braithwaite and Jackman Architects
March 2020
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