42 and 44 North Road: An Edwardian Pair

The junction of North Road and Berwick Hill Road on the northern edge of Ponteland is dominated by a large pair of semi-detached Edwardian houses which have an interesting history. A clue to their origin is provide by the one nearest Berwick Hill Road which is known as Villa Nanon.

The normal practice in English when naming a house it to place the name before the word Villa, for example Rosewood Villa. Calling a house Villa Nanon sounds more French or Italian. This is because the first occupants of the houses and probably the ones who commissioned their building, were the two sons of the Italian Consul in Newcastle. Victor Omelia Montaldi was a coal and shipping merchant with offices down by the Quayside. He was appointed Chevalier by the Italian government for his services to the Italian nation and lived in Forest Hall Road in Longbenton with his family in Villa Rosina, named after his youngest daughter.

As his sons reached adulthood, they worked with him in the business and the eldest son married in 1908 with his brother following him in marriage in 1910. The houses were probably built for the two sons to live in with their new families as in the 1911 census they are listed as living next door to one another in Ponteland. Number 44 was named Woodcote and Number 42 Nanon.

These are typical family villas of the period. Exactly the type of house you would associate with a prosperous merchant or engineer or professional person. Big reception rooms, generous bedrooms, and often service areas for staff. In the period leading up to the First World War, architects were moving away from the super-ornate Victorian style towards something a bit cleaner, the absolute symmetry of the two houses is very characteristic of this.

The sandstone frontage, large bay windows, tall chimneys and the steep, tiled roofs have become so quintessentially English, that this is the style which most contemporary builders try to replicate on their new upmarket housing developments.

The father died in 1911 and the two sons do not appear to have enjoyed the same commercial success as their father as the business collapsed in 1914. The younger son joined the Royal Marines as a captain in the Submarine Miners. There is no further mention of the Montaldis in local newspapers and both appear to have moved to the South of England.

Subsequently, the houses have had a variety of tenants, most notably Villa Neno which during the Second World War was the home of Brigadier General John Green who fought in the Boer War, then was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in the First World War and ended his military career commanding the Home Guard No. 3 Group which included, Gosforth, Forest Hall, Blyth and Tynemouth. He lived here until 1954.