Dean paints house exteriors in Kingsley, the NN2 district east of the Racecourse, 1.5 miles from central Northampton. Most of the work here is on late-Victorian villas facing the Racecourse, with stucco bays, carved porches and timber sashes, where the aim on Article 4 addresses is to keep each front looking as it does now.
Fronts that look straight across the Racecourse
The Racecourse, once the Freemen’s Common, was bought by Northampton Corporation in 1882, and Kingsley’s villas line its eastern side. A 1974 survey of Northampton datestones found the densest cluster of dated late-Victorian houses in the town here, mostly from 1873 to 1891, on the south end of Kingsley Road, East Park Parade and Abington Avenue. The Historic Environment Record suggests much of the surrounding housing may have been built with views of the park in mind, and the park-side fronts face roughly 117 acres of open grass and tree avenues with nothing to break the wind or rain.
That exposure shapes how we plan the outside of a Kingsley house. South- and west-facing joinery and render on these frontages wear faster than the same surfaces on a sheltered street, so we survey each elevation separately and often recommend a shorter repaint cycle for the weather side than for the back of the house. Mature trees along St George’s Avenue, Kingsley Road and the park itself add sap, leaf litter and shade, and the green staining they leave on sills and render is treated with a biocidal wash before any paint goes on.
What one villa front can involve
The high-status houses here were built to show off, and the painting effort follows the decoration:
- Stucco and rendered bay fronts, which need cracks cut out and filled and a breathable coating over older lime-based render (covered in detail on our render and masonry page).
- Entrance porches with columns, pilasters, capitals and corbelling, painted by brush. A roller or sprayer cannot follow these mouldings, so a porch alone can take a full day.
- Timber sashes, including lancet windows on the Gothic-style houses, some with stained glass. These are masked and cut in by hand, and soft timber is repaired with resin or spliced wood before priming.
- Decorated gables and upper sashes that need scaffold or a tower.
Two things stay unpainted. Red brick on these facades was meant to be seen, and the diamond-shaped datestone plaques common around this end of the Racecourse are masked or cleaned around, never coated.
Painting under the 1991 Article 4 Direction
The Kingsley Road Area Article 4 Direction, approved on 20 March 1991, removes permitted development rights on the fronts, and on side elevations visible from the front, of Nos 1-58 East Park Parade, the even numbers 2-84 Kingsley Road and the even numbers 78-140 St Georges Avenue. It covers changes to doors, windows and porches, and the maintenance of front boundaries. Like-for-like repainting keeps you on the safe side. If you are thinking of a new door style, different glazing or a redesigned porch, check the current wording with West Northamptonshire Council before we start, because the Secretary of State approved the direction with modifications that the published text does not show.
The wider Kingsley conservation area, designated in April 1991, has seen little change to its front elevations according to the county Historic Environment Record. Matching the existing scheme is the approach we take on every frontage inside it.
Junction Road and the terraces behind Kettering Road
Not every Kingsley house is a villa. Plainer two-bedroom Victorian terraces such as those on Junction Road have a single front elevation of brick, a door, a window or two and often uPVC glazing, so the painted surfaces are fewer: the front door and frame, any timber sills, and the rear joinery. Parking is on-street, and rear access was not something we could confirm, so ladders and materials may need to come through the house. We sheet the hall floor and plan the order of work so the rear is done in one go.
Kingsley is about 1.5 miles from our Northampton base, so a site visit is easy to arrange. For timings, see our guide to the right season for outside work, the full exterior painting service, or the Kingsley area page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
