Thursday, February 05, 2015

Home grown sheds Part 2

You don't see much corrugated iron in use these days. Look back to the 1950s and 60s and there was loads of the stuff.

One of the few buildings locally constructed from it is this shed in the front garden of a house in Kenilworth.  It's got rather pleasing proportions and I like the fact it fills the garden with the accompanying brick building.The colour, presumably pitch, also works well to my eye. 

I've no idea what these buildings are for. Perhaps a workshop of some kind. Certainly not a garage as there isn't a door on the end. 

In model form, this would make a really nice corner filler and be pretty easy to build from card and plastic. Never mind the house, just do the brick and wobbly tin bits. I reckon it would sit in a farmyard or industrial setting rather well - a bit different to the posh Warwickshire town it currently occupies.




3 comments:

Andy from Workshopshed said...

My shed had a plastic corrugated roof when I first got it. Unfortunately the sun had caused it to go hard and brittle so it needed replacing. I did not choose corrugated iron but used wood instead as it was easier to cut and handle

Mark A said...

I happen to live in one of this terrace of cottages. The structures in your photo serve very different purposes. The brick and tile extension adds kitchen and bathroom accomodation to what was originally a one up one down timber framed cottage dating from the late 16C or early 17C. The first three cottages of this terrace are thought to have been built as horn workers accomodation, and all have been extended forward over the years to add extra space to very small houses. No. 8 has a substantial two storey 19C extension and No.10 has a single storey extension similar to that of No. 12 in your photo.
The 'shed' now serves as storage but has an interesting history. It is of wooden board construction with ornate barge boards and finials. Only the roof is corrugated iron. It also has a painted glass window in the garden side and I think had a stove chimney at one time. It has been a tearoom and still has the serving hatch in the street end. There is an old postcard showing it in this role. Anecdotally, I have been told it may have also served as a rate collection office at some time. It is certainly of much higher quality construction than a humble garden shed or workshop. I hope this is of some interest.

Phil Parker said...

Mark - Thanks for a fascinating comment. Really interesting to know more about the buildings, especially the tin-roof one. Really appreciate you taking the time to post.