Sutton House

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 06/12/2016

TQ 3585 20/258

HOMERTON HIGH STREET, (south side) E9
Nos 2 and 4 (Sutton House)

(Formerly listed as St John s Institute)

24.4.51

II*
House. c.1530 for Sir Ralph Sadler, statesman; early C17 alterations for Capt John Milward; internal alterations of c.1700, when recessed central range of front (north) elevation was clad in brick; sub-divided into two dwellings c.1752-4; east wing rendered in mid C19; rear range (Wenlock Barn) of c.1904 and east and west wing additions of c.1904.

Built of C16 English bond brick with dipper work, early C18 Flemish bond brick and c.1904 plum brick with red brick dressings; gabled and hipped plain tile roofs; west wing has two C16 lateral stacks with C18 brick flues; east wing has C16 lateral stack with external Tudor-arched fireplace/recess; C16 rear lateral stack (facing courtyard) to north range, finished in C18 brick.

Plan: C16 H-plan house with central hall range, transformed into its present courtyard plan by the building of the south range in c.1904.

Exterior: 3 storeys. Front (north) elevation of 2:4:2 fenestration with projecting outer wings. Recessed central range, refaced in early C18 brick, has c.1904 wooden porches to front of outer doors set in mid C18 moulded wood architrave to left and mid C18 pilasters flanking decorative overlight to right; gauged red brick flat arches over C20 horned 12-pane ground-floor sashes, 18-pane first-floor sashes and 16-pane second-floor sashes with blind outer windows; front of west wing, splayed on left corner, has early C18 gauged red brick flat arches over horned 8-pane sashes and 12-pane second floor sashes; front of east wing, stuccoed in mid C19 with rusticated quoins and channelled ground floor, has horned 4-pane sashes set in moulded square-headed architraves with decorative brackets to ground and first floor cornices. Originally gabled front was given present parapets in early C18. Left side wall (of east wing) has C18 segmental and flat brick arches (using C16 brick) over deepened and inserted window openings; right side wall (of west wing) has large C16 first floor window opening with square-headed chamfered architrave, and similar smaller openings to rear on second floor (C16) and first floor (early C17 insertion to light staircase) above inserted C19 window. Rear of west wing has C18 segmental arches over inserted window openings with C19 eighteen-pane sashes to first floor. Additions of 1904, including one-storey, 5-bay rear range, have gauged red brick cambered arches over casement windows and moulded wood cornices. Courtyard elevations: north elevation has mid C18 doorframe with decorative overlight to west and C18 segmental brick arches over C19 eighteen-pane first-floor sashes and C19 second-floor sashes in mid C19 moulded wood architraves; west elevation has C16 first-floor window opening with 3-light Gothick-style window of c.1904 above inserted ground-floor opening of c.1700 with C16 reset 6-light wood-mullioned and transomed window with leaded lights; east elevation has blocked C16 window to north of first floor, small C19 inserted window, C18 egmental-arched window (with reused C16 brick) above c1904 twelve-pane sash and wide segmental-arched doorway (with reused C16 brick) to centre of ground floor.

Interior: 4-centred arched recesses to cellars of east and west wings. C18 panelled doors and shutters.
East wing: ground floor room to front has early C18 panelling and dentilled cornice, and C16 stone fireplace with blank shields and vine trails to spandrels of arched moulded architrave; ground floor room to rear, the former C16 kitchen, has chamfered bressummer over blocked open fireplace adjoining position of C18 service staircase and doorway to courtyard inserted in position of C16 window; these two rooms are separated by a fine open-well staircase of c.1700, inserted in its present position c.1752-4 with panelled dado, barley-twist balusters and ramped handrail; first-floor room to front has mid C19 dentilled cornice with rosettes and square-headed doorway to C16 garderobe chamber adjoining chimneystack; mid C18 panelled dado to first-floor room to rear.
Central hall range, sub-divided by insertion of flanking through-passage walls c.1752-4, has panelling of c.1752-4 and C16 four-centred arch over blocked fireplace to ground floor room, and diagonally opposed doorways (one to east blocked) and C16 stone fireplace with arched moulded architrave to first floor room.
West wing: ground-floor rooms are entered from west passage through a reversed C16 moulded wood architrave with sunk spandrels to 4-centred arch, adjoining a blocked C16 doorway; ground-floor room to front (linenfold panelling in store at time of survey) has C16 stone fireplace with moulded architrave and blank shields to sunk spandrels; timber-framed partition between latter room and centrally-placed stair hall, which has C16 doorway, with urn stops to moulded wood architrave, to ground floor room to rear which has blocked C16 door and window to east wall and C18 spit racks over fireplace set in mid C18 moulded wood architrave with late C17 marbled surround; dog-leg with landing staircase, inserted in early C17, has fine strapwork wall paintings to landing with pendentives to upper frieze and gryphons and cherubs etc. flanking moulded wood door architraves with sunk spandrels to arches; first floor room to front has early C17 panelling, early C17 partition (with reused timbers) to rear and C16 stone fireplace with moulded stone architrave and painted armorial shields to foliate-carved spandrels; first floor room to rear has timber-framed partition to front, adjacent to stair hall; second floor has late C17 balustrade, probably reset. Clasped and purlin roof has purlins clasped between diminished principals and raking struts.

History: a rare survival of an early C16 medium-sized house in the London area; called 'the bryk place' in an indenture of c.1550; early C17 alterations, including west wing staircase and painted shields, were made for Captain John Milward; sub-divided as two houses c.1752-4; became St John's Institute in c.1890; purchased by the National Trust in 1938, acquired through the W.A.Robertson Memorial Fund. Sutton House was one of nine war memorial purchases made by this fund, and is marked by a plaque.

(RCHME, East London, 1930, pp 45-6; unpublished report by Mike Gray of the
Sutton House Society)

Listing NGR: TQ3527685090


This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 29 August 2017.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

424222

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of London V East, (1930)

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 29 August 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/12033
War Memorials Online, accessed 29 August 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/111604

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