Ric Tyler unpublished report series

Historic Building Record and Assessment of Grade II Listed 18th/19th-century agricultural outbuildings converted to use as stabes and coach house associated with Wightwick Manor in late 19th century. Undertaken for National Trust to inform decision making process in respect of conservation, adaptation and future use. Wightwick Manor is a substantial, Grade I listed late-Victorian house, built by Theodore Mander to the designs of the Liverpool architect Edward Ould in two distinct phases in 1887-8 and 1893 and coming into the ownership of the National Trust in 1937. It is located c.4.5km east of Wolverhampton on the western limits of the city and is centred upon NGR SJ 8685 9850. The stable block and coach house which form the subject of the current study are arranged on an L-shaped plan c.500m to the north of the Mander’s Manor House. They are listed Grade II and lie within the Wightwick Bank Conservation Area. The study commissioned by the Trust to outline the history and development of the buildings and to record and assess the structure and their associated features with a view to informing the decision-making process in respect of its conservation adaptation and future use. It has allowed for a detailed record of the buildings to be made and, although the origins of the complex remain somewhat obscure, their historical context has been established and their later development has been traced with some degree of certainty. Furthermore, their remodelling by Edward Ould to form part of Theodore Mander’s estate in 1888 has been more closely defined. The outbuildings would appear to have originated as a pair of modestly sized agricultural structures forming the northern and eastern sides of a fold yard to the north-west of the Old Manor House, probably in the early-mid 18th-century. The earliest elements of the complex are the northern end of the coach house range and the western section of the stables range, both of which are indicated on an early map of the estate of 1762. Both have subsequently undergone radical phases of modification disguising their original form and function. The evidence of historic mapping and the building fabric itself reveals a piecemeal, accretive enlargement of the complex with development beginning in earnest from the mid-19th century on, logically related to the leasing out of the Old Manor and the development of the former estate as a commercial mixed farming enterprise. A major phase of work to the outbuildings undertaken by Edward Ould for Theodore Mander in 1888, contemporary with the building of the New Manor is, to a great extent, responsible for the appearance of the buildings as they survive today, in particular the coach house range which uses a distinctive palette of structural and decorative elements, in common with the New Manor House itself. A ‘port-cochère’ which formed an integral part of Ould’s scheme of 1888 was dismantled, under the auspices of the Trust, in 1961-2. While of interest, the evidential value of the recorded structures as a complex of agricultural outbuildings can be seen to be low, having never constituted an exceptional grouping and being of a type fairly easily paralleled elsewhere. This is compounded by their having been subsequently removed from their functional, agricultural context by the change of use of the estate in the late 19th century and by the successive campaigns of alteration to the fabric of the buildings themselves. Thus, the historical, aesthetic and evidential values of the structures as they survive today relate predominantly to their latter incarnation, as remodelled by Ould. They represent a good example of service buildings associated with a late Victorian/Edwardian gentry residence, and form an interesting and attractive complement to the Grade I listed Manor House and Grade II Listed Old Manor.

Detailed record (EH Level 2/3) of series of hospital building ahead of conversion to residential use. The buildings originarted in 1859/60 as a 'blind asylum' for injured workers from the Earl of Dudley's limestone mines, being reconfigured only ten years later and reopened as a general hospital in 1870 funded by a bequest from the late Joseph Guest. Major expansion occurred in the early 20th century to the designs of Dudley architect AT Butler. Although none of the buildings were deemed to be significant on a national scale, a number of the structures are clearly of local significance and interest, and make a positive contribution to the contemporary streetscape.

Historic building record in advance of refurbishment and conversion work

Historic building record (EH Level 2) of a series of 20th-century retail/office buildings in advance of demolition/ redevelopment.

Historic building record of former mill buildings in advance of demolition for redevelopment

Historic building record of former laundry block, a non-designated heritage asset and the last surviving primary element of the former Birmingham Infectious Diseases Hospital built in 1895 at Bordesley Green East, Birmingham, West Midlands. Undertaken in advance of demolition/redevelopment for hospital use.

Historic Building Record and Assessment of an early-mid 19th-century multi-yard farmstead (buildings mainly Grade II Listed) in the ownership of the National Trust and associated with John Nash's Grade I listed Cronkhill Villa of c.1802-5. Undertaken to inform the NT's decision making process for conservation, adaptation and future use of the buildings.

Photographic record of series of early-mid 20th-century industrial buildings prior to demolition in advance of redevelopment.

Historic Building Record and Assessment in respect of the Grade I listed stable block at Charlecote Park, Warwickshire, of probable 17th-century origins though much altered in the middle years of the 19th century, contemporary with works on the main house. Undertaken to support planning and LBC application for partial conversion of stable block to form enhanced visitor facilities at the property.

Rapid photographic and drawn record of a series of post-World War II semi-detached pre-fabricated houses by 'Unity Structures' of Rickmansworth, the last such within the former Stratford-upon-Avon Borough, as a condition of planning consent for demolition ahead of redevelopment.