Parks, leisure and the arts Wilbraham Road / Edge Lane Conservation Area

Prevalent materials and local details

Most of the buildings in the area are constructed in Manchester red/orange brick, sometimes in conjunction with buff coloured sandstone dressings. Occasionally blue brick is used to provide detail within the mainly red/orange brick facades.

Timber details are also commonly used for windows, eaves and barge boards, whilst render is employed to create contrasting surfaces, eg. Hastings Avenue. All the 19th century buildings have pitched roofs covered in blue/black Welsh slate.

Local details
Bracketed eaves supporting an overhanging pitched roof covered in blue/black Welsh slate are repeated throughout the area.

Window openings are almost exclusively vertically proportioned, originally with timber vertical sliding sash windows, the frames of which were well set back from the outer face of masonry, creating a modelled façade.

The modelling of the late 19th century buildings was enhanced by projecting bay and oriel windows, corbelling and mouldings around windows. Bays are sometimes single storey high and two storeys in other cases.

In Hastings Avenue some of the houses have two storey bays surmounted by a bracketed and projecting third storey clad in black and white half-timber. This adds to the heavily modelled characteristic.

The use of timber windows and associated detailing not only helps to establish the architectural character of individual buildings, but also contributes to the character of the wider area. Where other replacement materials have been used it has resulted in a loss of the area's established character.

Rooflines are generally punctuated with gables, pikes, dormers and chimneys. Even ridgelines were occasionally ornamented with crested ridge tiles and finials, although some of these appear to have been removed.

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