Survey Data
Reg No
50080909
Previous Name
Oakfield
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1800 - 1840
Coordinates
315050, 232859
Date Recorded
30/10/2013
Date Updated
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Description
Attached two-bay two-storey house, built c.1820. Hipped roof, formerly M-profile, having parapet to front (west) elevation. Rendered walls to front and rear, partly lined-and-ruled, having render plinth course. Rubble calp limestone walls to south elevation. Square-headed window openings having two-over-two timber sash windows. Round-headed door opening having moulded render surround, replacement fanlight and timber door.
Appraisal
This house is one of the earliest surviving houses in the area, predating the large-scale suburban development. It stands as a reminder of the more rural character of this area in the past. It is likely that it was built with a symmetrical three-bay elevation, before demolition of part of the structure. Historic maps show Oakfield once had a gate lodge on Clanbrassil Street Lower (formerly New Street). While it is of a grander scale compared with its neighbours, the proportions of window openings and form of the door opening are shared. The construction of new residential streets in this area coincided with the immigration of Jewish communities fleeing pogroms in Europe in the late nineteenth century, and the area became known as Little Jerusalem. The 1901 census indicates numerous Jewish families of Russian origin living on Oakfield Place, and it appears that this building was used as a 'hebrah' or minor synagogue from the 1880s to the 1930s.