43 St Bernards Road

Summary

A house of 1897 by Birmingham architectural firm, Gateley and Parson.

Reasons for Designation

43 St Bernard’s Road, Olton, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the house is an accomplished example of late-C19 Domestic Revival architecture by local architects, Gateley and Parsons;
* the building features a well-considered mix of materials and architectural detailing, including a recessed porch with a decorative parapet and carved stone motifs;
* the interior of the building survives well and features high-quality fixtures and fittings including detailed embellishment to the ceilings, doorcases, fireplaces and staircase, and stained glass to the leaded windows.

Historic interest:

* the building is illustrative of the late-C19 development of Olton which drew on a variety of architectural traditions to create a varied and expressive streetscene.

History

In the second half of the C19 in Olton, a road was cut across the fields from Grange Road to the Turnpike Road now known as Warwick Road. This new road, which joined with an ancient way from Streetsbrook Road to Kineton Green Road, became known as St Bernards Road. The houses built here from 1876 drew on a variety of traditions including Arts and Crafts and English Vernacular, combined with Renaissance, Venetian Gothic, Early English and Classical details.

The house at 43 St Bernards Road was built in 1897 to the designs of Gateley and Parsons. Arthur Ignatius Gately (1854-1939), Frank B Parsons FRIBA (1860-1939), and his son Harold R Parsons FRIBA, were a firm of Birmingham based architects who also designed the parade of shops at 15-19 High Street, Solihull.

43 St Bernards Road was first depicted on Ordnance Survey maps dating to 1904 with a roughly square footprint and a narrow range extending to the west. This footprint has remained largely unchanged to the present day. A small motor house adjoining the south side of the west range was extended to the west by the late 1930s. The main house is understood to have been subdivided into flats in the C20 but was returned to a single private dwelling around 1980. Around the same time, the narrow west range was converted into a garden room and internal alterations were made to the interior of the house, including the insertion of a modern kitchen, replacement of flooring to the hallway, and replacement tilework to some of the fireplaces.

Details

A house of 1897 by Birmingham architectural firm, Gateley and Parsons

MATERIALS: the building is principally of brick construction, with carved stone dressings and areas of hung tiles, beneath a hipped plain tile roof. Windows to the front and side elevations have stone or timber mullions and transoms with leaded and stained glass. There are timber sashes to the rear.

PLAN: the building is roughly square on plan with a range extending to the west and an attached garage.

EXTERIOR: the double-fronted east elevation is of three bays set largely over two storeys, with the southern bay rising to three storeys. The outer bays break slightly forward of the central entrance and feature projecting bays to the ground-floor with five-light windows in stone surrounds. These are capped with pediments featuring carved stone relief plaques and ball finials. The half-glazed front door has leaded and stained-glass top and side lights. It is set within a central, open porch with two semi-circular headed openings divided by dwarf columns. The porch is capped with a stone balustrade which forms a balcony to a half-glazed door above. The first-floor features stone banding to the brickwork and four-light casement windows also in stone surrounds. There are hanging tiles to the second-floor gable which features a four-light casement.

The south elevation has half bay windows on either side of a chimney breast. To the west of this are windows to each floor of the stairwell. A two-storey range breaks slightly forward of this elevation.

The north side of the west elevation features a ground-floor bay window beneath a porch with dentil eaves and a small open veranda with spandrels and dwarf balustrades. The back door and top lights have leaded and stained glass. The windows to the first floor are sashes with nine-paned top lights. All have gaged brick heads. The roof above features a flat-roofed attic dormer clad in hanging tiles and with dentil eaves. The three-storey southern bays break slightly forward with an asymmetrical roof descending to two storeys to the southernmost side. This gable features further hanging tiles above a moulded string course. Projecting west from the southernmost bay is a single storey range beneath a hipped roof with brick dentil eaves. It features modern rooflights and 15-light timber windows and doors to each bay. Attached to the south side of this range is the former motor house. Its east elevation has a pair of planked doors with strap hinges below a planked loft door with small, 8-paned side lights. There are hung tiles to the gable apex below moulded, projecting eaves. The west elevation has a hipped roof surmounted by a louvred cowl and exposed rafter feat to the eaves.

INTERIOR: the main entrance leads into a hallway which opens to a central stair lobby. The lobby features a decorative fireplace, deeply moulded cornicing, a modern tiled floor and embossed wallpaper to dado height. The staircase features ornate newel posts, balustrades and stair stringer. The space beneath the stairs is panelled and contains a door to the cellar with an original safety gate. Rooms off the lobby have moulded doorcases crowned with panelled heads with deep cornices, the principal rooms also having broken pediments with small urns. Doors feature ornate brass finger plates. The principal living and dining rooms both feature elaborate ceilings with egg and dart moulding and decorative geometric plasterwork. The bay windows and decorative timber chimneypieces in both rooms are set within moulded, arched recesses. The fireplaces are flanked by leaded and stained glass windows. The living room also features low level panelling. A further living room also contains an ornate timber chimneypiece. A store room retains some original geometric floor tiling. The kitchen and rear extension feature modern fixtures and fittings. The large window to the stair is of leaded and stained glass. Rooms to the first floor feature moulded cornices and dado rails. Most of the bedrooms retain cast iron chimneypieces, those to the principal bedrooms having panelled surrounds featuring built in cupboards with deeply moulded cornices.

Sources

Books and journals
Foster, A, Pevsner, N, Wedgwood, A, The Buildings of England: Birmingham and the Black Country (2022), 783

Other
Ordnance Survey map Warwickshire, 1:2500, 1904
Ordnance Survey map Warwickshire, 1:2500, 1937

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