Building record WBG 133 - 51 Seckford Street

51 Seckford Street lies approximately 300 m west of the Market Hill in Woodbridge and immediately opposite the Lodge of the Seckford Almshouses. The building forms the eastern half of a late-19th century semi-detached red-brick house which bears the name Fenn Villas and the date 1882 on a central stone plaque. The ground slopes downwards towards Fen Meadow on the south, and the rear elevation extends to three stories as opposed to the two storeys and basement of the northern elevation. The rear gardens are reached by a set of steps and a shared central passage at basement level. The building is not listed but lies within the boundary of Woodbridge Conservation Area, the 2011 appraisal document of which highlights the positive contribution made to the street’s character by the group numbered 10-51. The adjoining red-brick terrace on the east is listed at grade II (nos. 41-49), as is the Lodge on the other side of the road. The 1838 tithe map and the Ordnance Survey of 1881 show an earlier pair of houses on the site, which shared a passage adjoining the terrace to the east of the present property. By the time of the 1904 Ordnance Survey Fenn Villas was depicted with its existing outline, including the two narrow service wings of unequal length which project to the rear.

The property’s principal historic interest lies in its decorative facade, which remains largely original and, as the Conservation Area Appraisal notes, makes a good contribution to the Victorian Mock Gothic architecture of the street. Its red brickwork is elaborately dressed with gault (white) brick, including a hood moulding to the entrance and an acorn finial above the ground-floor window. The original symmetry of the two dwellings is now marred by the paintwork applied to no. 53 and the unsympathetic 20th century glazed door of no. 51. The rear elevation is similarly marred by a narrow service wing which projects at right-angles and contains a kitchen on its ground floor and a bathroom on its upper. This wing was present in 1904 but appears to have been added as an early extension, with a canted gault-brick chimney against its rear gable. This chimney, which has been truncated, is the only feature, inside or out, to have escaped a major late-20th century refurbishment which included new windows and a coat of cement render. The main house was subjected to a similarly comprehensive refurbishment in the 1950s, and with the exception of its front cellar is also largely devoid of original features internally (S1).