Monument record 15598 - Site of 104 Lawton Road, Alsager

<1> Peter de Figueiredo (Independent Consultant), 2016, 104 Lawton Road, Alsager, Cheshire: Heritage Statement, R4611 (Client Report). SCH9255.

Heritage statement produced in 2016 for 104 Lawton Road, Alsager, dating from circa 1934, prior to redevelopment. The property has now been demolished.

104 Lawton Road was built as a private dwelling on a large plot of what was previously agricultural land. The original owner has not been identified, but the architects were Adams and Watkin of Stoke on Trent, and the contractor was the British Reinforced Engineering Co. Ltd, a company that was principally involved with highway engineering.

Architectural interest of the house lay in it being an early example of reinforced concrete construction, with external walls, first floor and roof slab cast in situ. However, the casting was very rough and the concrete coated with render or plaster except where it was not visible. The crenellated parapet and cast concrete decorative features were Art Deco in feel but did not form a unified element in the overall design of the house. They were crudely modelled and the fact that they were not included on the original archtiects' drawings of the house perhaps indicates that they were added by the contractor. The overall standard of craftmanship and materials used in the house was considered poor leading to a detioration in the condition of the fabric, including cracking of the concrete walls as a result of settlement and expansion, cold bridging, decay of the roofs, oxidisation of steel reinforcement and decay of timber windows and doors. In order to remedy these issues, the parapets would have to be reconstructed and the walls of the house externally insulated leading to the removal of the Art Deco features.