to ask how old you think my house is?

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

We moved into our new house last month. We have been given 2 dates as to when it was built and don't know which is correct.

The house has a large hallway then three rooms off it - kitchen to the left, reception room to the right, then another reception room behind the first one. So L shape.

It has its original sash windows, there is a picture rail in every main room. There are fire places but I'm not sure if they are original, so won't post a photo of those.

Solid brick building with no cavity walls.

Any house historians out there? Or anyone who wants to hazard a guess?

I thought 1920s as soon as I saw it. Beautiful.

There are several really great FB groups for us period property owners. Folk on there are knowledgeable, helpful and know all there is to know about period houses and how to live with them. I'm sure someone would be able to pinpoint the date of your gorgeous house. They are:

Traditional and Listed Building Advice
I Love My Period House!
Your Old House UK - Repair and Conservation

Our house is 1915 and the skirting boards are the same as are the windows and brick work. We are also single brick work with no wall insulation. The porch area does look as though it was a later add on/ replacement. Lovely house, hope you enjoy living there.

Lovely house. 🙂

1910 would be my guess from the style and building. Sash windows declined in popularity hugely after WW1, a 1920s house would be more likely to have a cavity wall and the porch could be a red herring.

Porch could be original or it could be a very early addition. The bricks are obviously dirty/covered with moss, so it's impossible to comment on the colour match to the rest of the house. If different, even slightly, that could indicate a later addition, although a perfect match would not exclude that possibility. Also, look very carefully at how the porch wall is tied into the house wall on either side. Any irregularities, slight mismatches or something that's been stuck on rather than built as an integral part of the main structure is likely to be evidence of a later addition. Same with the porch roof. It's not clear in the photo, but it doesn't seem to be what I'd expect of the period or match the style of the main roof. Again, how it's been attached to the main building should give a good steer about whether it was part of the original structure or not. In any case, unless the porch itself has a date along with the initials, whether it was part of the original structure is a moot point. The initials could've been carved into it at any point in time.

I'd second checking old OS maps, county archives and 1911 census data.

Going by your update I'd suggest the building of the house took place on the earlier date, 1910, and the land was sold on the later date. Quite possibly he knew the landowner and the land was already "promised" to him so he knew he was ok to start building - perhaps wartime interrupted the land sale.

Going by design, it's difficult to tell with only the outside and skirting board to see. High skirting boards were used over a long period so cannot age from that, your skirting board equally could be new but custom made for design.
So going purely on the design of the chimney stack at the front (the one at the back looks newer) and the segmental arches over the windows, the design is late Victorian. So if you know for certain that the earlier date is 1910 then your man was designing based on what he had grown up with.
It's a lovely house!

p.s. You can view census records, I think it's about £5 to download a copy. I did it for my home last year when the 1921 census was released.

Most libraries have free access to the census.

just be aware that using the census or 1939 register can have its pitfalls. Many streets have at some stage had new properties built and the houses may have been completely re numbered

Interestingly there are a couple of very similar looking houses further along the road, so possibly the same builder and same age.

builders purchased architectural plans from companies, as it was cheaper this way. Therefore several builders could buy these plans of the peg and build in an area the same style of houses

thanks for all the comments - very interesting.

I've had another look at the documents we've been given. As I. said, the property was linked to the industrial. laundrybuilding behind, and the first owner was the manager. He later bought the laundry. Interestingly, the "purchase" document for 1924 is in fact the original house owner transferring the house into his wife's name.

For those who suggested the porch is a later addition, I don't think it is. From the inside of the porch the bricks look identical. The left wall is the house, the right one is the porch

Without cavities? Solid walled houses weren’t the norm in the 50s

@MereDintofPandiculation Yes, I know someone who lives in a 1950s house without cavities