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Smallwood Almshouses,

Mount Street, Smallwood

Grid Reference:    

SP 0432 6720

Description:

Almshouses. Dated 1896 by C.G. Huins & Sons of Redditch. Brick with some timber framing. Hipped machine-tiled roofs and large ridge stacks with moulded cappings. Two adjoining ranges aligned roughly east/west each having central gabled porch wings on both main elevations. Large entrance wing at central junction of south front and smaller wing adjoining south-east end. 2 storeys with moulded band at first floor and eaves level. Casement windows of mainly 2 and 3 lights with gauged flat heads to front and segmental heads at rear. Central entrance wing has a tripartite window in the gable end and above it is a 3-light casement with a decorative scrolled surround inscribed �SMALLWOOD ALMSHOUSES 1896�. Porches to main ranges are of 2 storeys. Timber-framed and open on the ground floor on tall brick bases with chamfered posts. The upper floors have a row of rendered square panels beneath ornately carved arcaded openings and gables with moulded bargeboards.

Significance:

A good and little altered example of late Victorian almshouses with imaginative detail. Their formal layout integrates well with the terraced housing in the immediate locality and makes a positive contribution to the street scene, providing a focal point, an open space and, above all, a strong sense of identity to the Smallwood district. This building is also of local significance for its associations with the Smallwood brothers, needle manufacturers and important local benefactors, who also founded the Smallwood Hospital (qv) .

History:

This building........