A pair of unassuming semi-detached houses located on York Avenue in East Cowes have been revealed as 2 of the Isle of Wight’s most revolutionary properties.
The Grade II listed buildings – 201 and 203 York Avenue – were one of the world’s first buildings ever to be constructed of solid concrete. The houses were built using materials from the Medina Cement Works owned by Charles Francis and Sons.
When the semi-detached properties were built in 1852, the Medina cement operation was at the forefront of international cement development, their hydraulic concrete providing for the construction of docks, breakwaters, groynes and the like. They were awarded a prize medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The technique employed for the construction of the semis was the relatively new one of pouring cement into a mould formed by shuttering. In 1852, Medina cement was successfully used in the construction of the sea groyne in Sandown Bay – which still survives – and at Dover Harbour. By the mid-19th century, Portland cement was coming to the fore, and mixtures of the Medina and Portland cement were tried. Between 1848 and 1853, the main breakwater at Cherbourg Harbour in France was built with a mixture of Medina for its speed in drying and Portland for its strength.
Concrete – in various forms – had been used for house construction before the 1850s. The 1st known concrete house – designed to look like any other Victorian house – appears to have been built at Swanscombe, Kent in 1835, with concrete walls, concrete roof tiles, and concrete window frames. This was demolished in the 1970s. A 2nd Swanscombe concrete house example was built in 1846 but demolished in 1973.
It is, therefore, possible that this seemingly unremarkable East Cowes semi is the oldest surviving concrete house in the UK, if not the world.
The Grade 2 listed building has been designated for the following reasons:
“As a rare, very early (1852) example of the use of shuttered concrete, certainly for house building; heralding the wider use of concrete later in the 19th and 20th centuries. As a tangible reminder of the innovative Medina, Francis and Son’s, Cement Works, founded in 1840.”
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Interesting article. I know in earthquake zones house are built of shuttered concrete so I guess these will have similar strength should Putin launch an attack.
Bet its hard hanging a picture upon the wall though. Yet no wall ties to fuss over.
Move on island, see what I mean, its stuck in the past. Stop obsessing about pieces of crap and build new nice houses for once which wont attract smackheads like EVERYWHERE ELSE apart from a few small areas where people from the mainland live.
I may be wrong, but I think Osborne house is built of concrete and pips it by one year – the original part of the house was finished in 1851 , I am open to correction.
Osborne House was built of brick and rendered with concrete.
The romans were building concrete structures two THOUSAND years ago, including the colosseum in Rome. And the Pantheon, and…