Consolata Missionary House

Details

31/0/10433
24-SEP-02

TOTTERIDGE GREEN
Consolata Missionary House

II

Consolata (formerly Strathearn) House, Totteridge Green. 1898-99 by T. E. Collcutt (1840-1924). Large suburban house of red brick, with roughcast, half-timbered gables, tiled roof. Two storeys with attics.
PLAN: irregular rectangular plan with projecting ranges to north-east, south-east and south. Modern additions to entrance and to south of no intrinsic interest.
EXTERIOR: entrance front: gabled wing to right with five-light mullioned window to first floor beneath a part half-timbered gable, with tall chimneystack to left. Large single-storey entrance addition, re-using doorway with stone quoins, conceals half-timbered porch in angle; arched lights with stone mullions to ground floor, irregular fenestration to first floor. Gabled range to left with canted bay, with five-light arched windows within stone surrounds. Projecting east range with large (but truncated) chimney stack to north side, six-light window to ground and oriel window to first floor of gabled east side, single storey range to south side with tall chimney stacks. Roughcast south-eastern elevation with irregular fenestration to half-landings and attic of service wing. Garden front: main range with verandah to ground floor, set between projecting gabled wings. South-western wing of two storeys and attic, with seven-light ground floor window to ground floor, seven-light oriel to first floor four-light attic window; chimney stack to right. Central section with steps, with ball-finial round piers, leading to verandah carried on square pegged wooden columns with bracing. Ground floor windows are arched, within stone surrounds; arched glazed door within stone surround with carved pomegranate reliefs in four panels to the overdoor. Irregular fenestration to first floor. North-western wing with a three-register five-light square window to ground floor, six-light oriel window to first floor beneath tiled canopy. North-west gabled range with truncated chimney breast, irregular fenestration, glazed canopy to car port.
INTERIOR: in general, little altered and retaining numerous features of interest. These include an oak-panelled parlour to the centre of the main range, originally open along the east side to the passage but now divided off with a matching screen wall; the wide fireplace at the south end has an arched opening with a grey limestone surround, into which are set decorative cupboards. Double doors open into a sitting room to north, with a classical chimney-piece within a recessed snug. Main stairs, closed string, with turned balusters, square newels and wide wooden hand-rails. Sitting room to south with panelling to dado, stone fireplace with oak over-mantel. Service wing to south retains joinery, and secondary stairs, with plain rails and ball finials to the newels; a third staircase is in the north wing, with turned balusters and ball finials.
HISTORY: designed by the eminent late Victorian and Edwardian architect Thomas Edward Collcutt, who was best known as the designer of the Wigmore Hall, the Imperial Institute, South Kensington (demolished), the Savoy Hotel, and many prominent commercial buildings. Strathearn is comparable with Collcutt's own house nearby, 'The Croft' (q.v.). These designs are fine examples of Arts and Crafts-influenced domestic architecture, in a deliberately Middlesex-inspired idiom. The garden front makes full use of the house's fine hillside position. The house became a Carmelite nunnery in 1968, when alterations were carried out in order to adapt it for use by this closed order.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

489774

Legacy System:

LBS

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