Mallard expands

Mallard is a semi-detached house made prominent by its location on the corner of Sandy Lane and Arlington Road and it is along Arlington Road that it is expanding into two blocks that bear little relationship to the original house.

b.t.w. this is one of several houses that I have been in that have been updated in the last couple of years. When your kids go to local schools you get to visit lots of houses which is great for the architecturally curious!

32

32 Sandy Lane makes it absolutely clear that it is number 32 with this large and attractive house number built in to the wall by the gate. 

It is an elegant and slightly unusual typeface with interesting features, like the bulbous end to the bottom of the "3" and the varied width of the text, which is especially obvious in the downstroke of the "2".

POST BOX

As expected, the hole in the new wall at 32 Sandy Lane was for a post box. It looks a little odd being recessed that far back but that is better than protruding over the pavement.

The wording seems a little clunky and unnecessarily long to me, just "Post Box" should have been sufficient. The clunkiness comes from the choice of words, particularly "place" and "envelopes" where "put" and "letters" seem more natural, and "into this box" could be simply "here".

Sandy Lane hotchpotch

I am often critical of Sandy Lane and that is because of houses like this. What was once a fine period house has been ruined by an inappropriate renovation that takes no account of the house's heritage.

The too simple grey windows are the most obvious error and there is also the modern front door in a strange colour, the not very well matched bricks in the crude extension and the over paving on the front garden.

Night lights on a building site

I was surprised and delighted to find these lights on at this house in Sandy Lane. I was out for a night time walk (I have a daily step target to reach) and was not intending to take any photographs until this interestingly lit jumble of construction materials and scaffolding forced me to stop and enjoy the scene.

22 Sandy Lane

Sandy Lane is generally a good place to go for fans of scaffolding as there always seems to be at least one house that is having major work done to it. On this day it was number 22.

New windows

The side of the former Royal Oak / Ham Institute that faces onto Sandy Lane had gained two new windows as it transitions from a community venue to a private house.

16 Sandy Lane

16 Sandy Lane boasts a "sold" sign and I expect the new owner will make signifcant changes to the property to make better use of the plot so I have posted this photo now as a reminder of what it used to look like. Assuming the changes are made then obviously I will post those too,

Hole in the wall

32 Sandy Lane has a new front wall, of questionable merit but it may age well, and in that wall is a space that looks to be for a post box, judging by the house number above it. 

The house number also has questionable merit as it is already somewhat hard to read and weathering is only likely to make that worse.

Two signs

My almost obsession with street signs continues! 

Previously I have posted a few examples of different signs for the same place on opposite sides of the road and this is a variant on that theme with two adjacent signs for different roads.

Arlington Road is the older one with the bolder sans serif font while the newer sign for Sandy Lane as a normal weight font with slight serifs; it also has the word "Petersham" which is all but unreadable and is also debatable. 

No windows

What was Ham Institute (briefly) and before that Royal Oak, on the corner of Sandy Lane and Ham Street, is being taken from us as a social place and is becoming a private house. It is being enlarged in the process and has gained a box extension at the back, taking most of the pub's patio garden. 

What I find surprising is that there are no windows one the two visible sides and so it is possible that the final result will be quite austere.

Veranda

This will probably be my last mention of this new house on the junction of Sandy Lane and Clifford Road as the work seems to be complete and I think I am ending on something of a low note. Having previously suggested that the frontage needed a porch I am slightly disappointed by the veranda that arrived instead.

The veranda fails to give the house gravitas and the decorations on the pillars are out of keeping with the simplicity of the rest of the house.

22 Sandy Lane

It seems like every house in Sandy Lane has had substantial work done to it in recent years and the latest one to be revamped in number 22.

Regular readers will know that I was enticed into taking this picture by the piles of building materials but I also want to mention the "22" sign by the front door that is wonderfully readable from the pavement.

Simple frontage

The new house on the corner of Sandy Lane and Clifford Road is now occupied but some of the hoardings are still there so for the moment I will have to make do with this view.

Three things are apparent; the house is very big, the design is very simple and the front door is far too modest for the scale of the property. What the front door needs is a porch, as houses in Cedar Heights, Church Road have New Road have all shown.

Solar panels

Too few houses have too few solar panels but perhaps the recent dramatic increases in energy prices will make more people adopt them. Setting a good example is this prominent house at the east end of Sandy Lane.

Late flowering baskets

It is the middle of a generally grey November and the hanging baskets across the area are doing their best to brighten things up a little.

6 Sandy Lane almost revealed

I have been watching the new house go up at 6 Sandy Lane for over a year and the long wait is finally coming towards the end with the first glimpse of the ground floor thanks to my old friend, an open gate.

The big window looks good because it is big and it matches those upstairs. However, the lack of any visible decoration (so far) means the the house remains bland.

Remembering Royal Oak

I have fond memories of Royal Oak that once sat on the corner of Sandy Lane and Ham Street so I was pleased to see that the old sign had been retained, at least until now. The only reason that the sign was visible was because work had started to convert the former pub and then social club into a house and that led to the side gates being open.

32 Sandy Lane

It may be a little dated but there is not a lot wrong with 32 Sandy Lane, however it is about to be demolished anyway. The new house, according to the planning application, will be much bigger internally thanks to using the full width of the plot and being taller to allow for a second floor.

Roof revealed

I have been waiting for this roof, on the new house being built on the junction of Sandy Lane and Clifford Road. to be revealed for many months, and now it has. In some ways it is a little disappointing in its plainness but that is better than being ugly.

The trees are something of a mixed blessing in that they mask the bulk of the large house but the bit they hide is the more interesting part.