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The fact was that the social character of the two residential squares was not what was originally intended. The Co-Partnership brochures of c 1908-9 clearly illustrate Lutyens's designs for blocks of fiats, with balustraded balconies opening out from the communal staircases. Some time in 1909 it was decided that flats would not pay and instead it was decided to build large houses for the well-off.
Numbers 1-8 North Square were completed entirely to Lutyens's design, forming a splendid composition of grey and red brick with a lively rhythm of projecting bays with balustraded parapets, with a giant stone arch penetrating the corner house as the focal point. It is curious that the houses were set slightly below the level of the square, so that they are much more dominant in height from their private gardens than from the public pavement. Numbers 9-12 and number 15 were completed by G L Sutcliffe in 1914 after Lutyens had parted company with the Co-Partnership directors. Number 9 has the date 1920, because the house stood empty until after the War. It is interesting to notice that Sutcliffe has diminished the size of Lutyens's great chimneys. Set back into the trees of Big Wood at the end of this terrace is the Friends' Meeting House, a pleasant piece of seventeenth century Dissenter Revival by Fred Rowntree (1913), in red brick with a deep plaster coving.
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