Details
BRENTWOOD
TQ69NW RAYLEIGH ROAD, Hutton
723-1/6/555 (North side)
20/02/76 Poplars Hall
(Formerly Listed as:
RAYLEIGH ROAD, Hutton
The Dining Hall at Hutton Poplars)
II
Formerly known as: Swimming Pool at Hutton Poplars RAYLEIGH
ROAD Hutton.
Reception hall, originally part of Hutton Residential School.
1906. By Poplar Board of Guardians, architects Holman and
Goodram. Restored 1990-1 by Brentwood District Council,
following disuse and vandalism. Red brick with stone
dressings, peg-tiled roof. Plan rectangular, of hall with
lounge and service rooms behind to W. Aligned N-S, 200m NNE of
Brentwood Adult Education Centre (not listable).
EXTERIOR: E front elevation: 5 bays, brick Ionic pilasters,
frieze of decorative gauged and rubbed brickwork, leaf and
Tudor rose design. Central projecting porch of original
entrance with swept coping, arched entrance with 'Gibbs'
surround, inner door renewed copy of original, fielded panels,
upper glazing plus side lights, semi-elliptical over-light.
Window to each bay, 'Gibbs' style with aprons, outer pair
rectangular 'cross' form, stone date plaques above 19-06.
Windows bay 2 and 4 as outer but with lunate heads above,
centre one over porch lunate. All windows have renewed glazing
in original style, rectangular leaded panes, coloured glass
borders, brown roundels, green lining. Roof with 5 hipped
dormer style lights adn 4 louvred hipped vents, above. Central
bold clock turret, dial to each face, copper sheathed, domed
with large weather vane. All brick and stone work of the
facade is executed to the highest standard.
N and S end elevations: similar, curvilinear 'Dutch' gables,
kneelers, pediments at apices. Single central windows,
mullioned and transomed, 'Gibbs' surrounds, prominent
key-stones, 3x3, round heads, above radial glazing bars,
sun-ray glazing in white yellow and blue, lower glazing
similar to E facade windows. To rear, single-storey unit with
shaped coping, gabled block at W end. 3 windows, central one
larger, segment-headed with upper centre-hung casements, lower
plain sashes. Centre window N end converted to principal entry
doorway, door of 2 leaves fully glazed.
W rear elevation: single-storeyed unit full length with
central flat-roofed 3-cant bay window. Originally 11 similar
segment headed windows, upper sashes with glazing bars, 3x2
panes, lower sashes plain. 2 windows at S end altered, S now
doorway and adjacent blocked.
INTERIOR: 5 bays of hall delineated by hammer-beam roof with
simple pendants, trusses on stone corbels, decorated with
national emblems. Walls of glazed tiles, cream with brown and
green dado, upper frieze lozenge pattern in green and red.
Original front door has wooden framed and panelled inner
porch, doors to porch and 3 doors and doorcases along rear
wall renewed with copies, pedimented, fielded panels. The rear
building, originally a large kitchen, now remodelled as
lounge, bar and service rooms.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the hall plus the building to the SSW, now
Brentwood Adult Education Centre remain from a very large
complex comprising twin schools for boys and girls conceived
as a residential village for deprived children from E London.
Poplars Hall was the boy's dining hall. The leading guardian
was George Lansbury the social reformer. For the children at
Hutton Poplars his policy was that they should have 'decent
treatment and hang the rates'.
Listing NGR: TQ6203495373
