Hi All,
I came across this post by accident searching for photos of Burslem and the post war potteries.
I spent most of my childhood in that house from mid '60's up until 1980.
It was typical of houses in First and Second Avenue, mansions really, inhabited by the wealthy of the day.
When I knew it it had already been converted into flats of varying sizes, the two largest 1&2 occupying most of the two floors you can see from the photos of the front elevation of the house. Other smaller flats 3,4,5 were formed from the block that extended to the rear of the right hand side elevation, past the formal garden. There was a carriage block (2 more flats) that was to the rear of the main house, found by following the drive round to the left, and there were garages/workshops there also.
Further back still, there was yet more land holding an orchard and as the land fell away down the bank to another drive and separate garage. It is this drive that is shown in the photo, but there were two others.
The main drive was reached by turning from First Avenue into the front corner of the plot and wound it's way up to the front of the house before working round to the stable block at the rear. The middle driveway led up to yet another garage/workshop directly from the Avenue and bordering the formal garden. There may have been some other working structures between the two further driveways, and to the rear of the property at some point, but only the foundations remained.
How much land the estate held in the past I don't know but it was still substantial when we rented there. To the Avenue was a long wall of the material shown in the photo, big limestone dressed blocks (hundreds of them), and each entry had large capped pillars as shown which framed large metal gates.
The houses of this period were designed to accommodate the 'family' and a sizeable 'staff', and you could easily tell from from the aspect of the room which part of the establishment it had belonged to. Converting to flats had jumbled them up so you had a mix of each, particularly in flats 1&2 which had the main family rooms.
Entering the large front door there was a tiled hall with high ceilings, reception rooms left and right, the big windows you can see. The one to the right had the wood panelling referenced earlier (I think it was oak) with a large fireplace. This was mirrored to the left without the panelling, and above these were the family rooms on a similar scale. These would have been reached by an impressive staircase, but because of the conversion only the top part was accessible from Flat 2, the lower level flights had been removed to the now Flat 1.
The further back you went into the property the more you moved into the staff quarters, including the kitchen on the ground floor (Flat 1) which overlooked the stable blocks and kitchen gardens at the rear. I think the AGA may have been vintage
It must have been something to see in it's heyday, but was typical of houses of the time that are (were) jotted about Porthill, Wolstanton and Newcastle, the Brampton for instance and Second Avenue had a number of similar houses as mentioned.
Facing away from the front door was a large lawn and grounds, that may have been larger at some point but even then were substantial and full of mature trees, including some very large lime trees. Put it this way, it was a reasonable jog around the perimeter. There was also an empty piece of ground on the same scale directly adjacent to the property, between it and second avenue, whether it was or had been part of the estate who knows, paddocks maybe.
Looking back I don't think we realised what a strange place it was, a bit chilly and damp but then we were kids and ran riot in all that space. Extraordinary really.
My elder brother Jonathan Westlake still lectures at Staffordshire University, so for further details seek him out online.
Roger
