Stoneygate, Leicester

Situated on the south-east side of the city some two miles from the centre, Stoneygate is Leicester’s best-surviving Victorian suburb.  A mainly residential suburb containing a large number of late Victorian and Edwardian houses in the fashionable Domestic Revival styles of that period. In 1875 the Leicester to Stoneygate tramway was opened up and by 1880 Stoneygate was virtually part of Leicester

Leisester’s wealthiest and most influential citizens built their high-quality homes here, designed by some of the city’s best-known late 19th and early 20th century architects – Goddard, Stockdale Harrison, Redfern & Sawday, James Tait and Isaac Barradale. Stoneygate. 

The earliest surviving houses in Stoneygate are along the London Road, built from 1840 onwards in neo-Classical styles.  These early buildings were followed around 1860 by a small number of Gothic style homes.

The area bounded by Stoneygate Road, London Road and Stoughton Road was sold in building lots in 1867, with Alexandra Road and Sandown Road being completed between 1877 and 1881.  Queen Anne or Domestic Revival buildings constructed in the last quarter of the century now form the main basis of the architectural distinctiveness of Stoneygate.

Conservation area

During the 1960s and 1970s many Victorian and Edwardian buildings were being demolished because they were unfashionable, too large or too expensive to maintain. Leicester Council recognised Stoneygate’s historical significance in 1978 by creating the Stoneygate Conservation Area and extending it in 1989.