Apologies - only just discovered this site; and therefore this article - late to the party! Great pictures of a very interesting (and rapidly changing) part of Chelmsford...
These are indeed the old houses that were integrated into the former Central Campus of Anglia Ruskin University. The Central Campus was home to the University's Nursing courses (pre 2008), and years ago, these houses were used as teaching bases for some of those nursing related modules, and student 'overflow' facilities.
As a former surveying student at ARU, I remember these houses formed part of a linear and levelling survey exercises. The brick building which runs down half of the street on one side is the back of the former Built Environment Department - quite an impressive building from the other side, built in the early 1900's. As of 2008, the University had mostly vacated the Central Campus (having sold the whole site for redevelopment).
Although its unfortunate that these houses are set for demolition, they really were 'out on a limb' - a very abstract place to have a suburban street - theres nothing quite like this street or type of housing nearby. Over time, it was inevitable that these 'oddball' properties would be swallowed up into the University's portfolio, and as ARU started to out-grow its aged Central Campus, those houses would inevitably get dragged into the land-sale / demolition equation.
I used to go record shopping down Viaduct Road and would walk by that road every time I did.
