Summary
Row of four attached houses, part of a group of sixteen; mid-C19 with later alterations and additions.
Reasons for Designation
Nos. 5-11 Damory Street, Blandford Forum, which date from the mid-C19 with later alterations, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: a well thought-out composition that is unified by fine details such as the tent canopy and trelliswork (removed to Nos. 5-7) which contribute to its special character and appearance;
* Design: for the application of a rather literate, if old-fashioned, polite architectural style to relatively modest mid-C19 houses;
* Survival of fabric: a good proportion of mid-C19 fabric survives.
History
Damory Street, called Damary Lane on Bastard's map of 1731, is situated on the northern fringes of the historic core of Blandford Forum. It appears to have had few buildings until the mid-C19, when groups of houses, including Nos. 5-35, were erected on the east side of the road. This area was developed in the main after the completion of the Dorset Central railway line and the opening of Blandford Station in 1863 when a new Victorian suburb was laid out around the station, on both sides of the railway tracks. Nos. 5-11 Damory Street date from the mid-C19 and since the mid-C20 have undergone some piecemeal alterations such as the erection of rear additions and the replacement of most windows and doors in modern materials.
Details
Row of four attached houses, part of a group of sixteen; mid-C19 with later alterations and additions.
MATERIALS: constructed of brick in a Flemish bond; No.5 is painted and No.7 is rendered, under pitched roofs of slate or composite slate with overhanging eaves. There are gable end and central ridge stacks to each block of four houses.
PLAN: arranged in a block of four, two-storey attached houses which are grouped in pairs.
EXTERIOR: the entrance front (west) to each pair of houses comprises a central entrance which is flanked by a window, with three further windows to the first floor. The window openings have lintels of rubbed bricks, but the windows have been replaced in uPVC except for those to No.11 which retains its mid-C19 timber sashes. Each pair of houses has a shared entrance with an iron ‘tent’ canopy hood over supported on wooden, latticework side panels (removed from Nos. 5-7). It opens onto a lobby area which contains a pair of recessed doorways, each serving one of the two paired houses. To the rear (east), the houses each originally had an attached single-storey outbuilding and modern extensions have since been built.
INTERIOR: (based on information provided, no internal inspection, 2015). The interiors are understood to have always been modestly fitted and photographs from sales particulars for Nos. 7 and 9 show that their interiors have inevitably undergone modernisation and some alteration over the years.
