New cladding for an old house, Austin Village

Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 16 Sep 2023

This is one of the two hundred cedarwood bungalows imported from the USA by Herbert Austin in 1917 to house workers at his Longbridge factory on the southwestern edge of Birmingham. The bungalows were adapted from the Chester house made by the Aladdin company of Bay City, Michigan. These wooden houses were delivered in kit form, ready to assemble; apparently only the skirting boards needed to be cut to size. Ease of assembly was an important consideration in a war economy with military conscription, which meant that few skilled construction workers were available to build housing. Removal of the cladding for replacement has revealed the underlying boards of cedarwood, a very durable, rot-resistant material. The North American Chester house was clad with wooden shingles, but the Austin Village version had clapboarding of thin horizontal planks instead. The North American open porch was closed with glazing. Austin Village was declared a conservation area in 1997, but conflicts have arisen between conservationists, with their ethic of preserving the historic appearance of buildings, and homeowners, who want comfortable, warm homes using modern materials that are affordable and insulate well. The conservation area status of the village is now under threat. On the Chester house, see the Austin Village Stories site https://www.theaustinvillage.com/new-page . On the conservation area, see the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/heritage-at-risk/search-register/list-entry/6387

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