Our feature story for this newsletter is ‘Remarkable Figures behind Neglected Façades’. It highlights the problem of uncared-for houses in the conservation area and shows that they have not always been like this; telling the story of one such house whose earliest resident was the Leicester Infirmary’s first specialist ophthalmologist and whose son went on to great things.
You can read the brief excerpt below or download the full newsletter
As we walk around the conservation area, exercising the dog, ourselves or just simply admiring the view, most of us will have noticed properties that appear terminally neglected; whose facades and timberwork always seem in need of fresh paint; whose guttering and downpipes seem precarious and whose front gardens have long been overtaken by tarmac, overflowing bins and scrapped fridges, sofas and mattresses.
These places are depressing – and yet if one takes the trouble to look into their history and origins, it soon becomes clear that their current condition simply reflects those who, over the years, have been responsible for their care (or lack of it). The houses themselves often have uplifting stories to tell and some have been home to remarkable people
One such house is 28 Stoneygate Avenue, the oldest of a pair of semi-detached properties which were among the first to appear on the street.