Reasons for Designation
* The design of the house shows considerable ingenuity in its planning and use of space and a delight in creating telling details throughout.
* The house is a notable example of a building of the Birmingham style of Arts and Crafts architecture.
* The quality of the finish of much of the interior is remarkable, particularly the joinery of the staircase hall, the drawing room and the main bedrooms.
* The interiors have suffered some degree of alteration, but this is minor and the overall unspoilt intactness of the design is notable.
Details
DUDLEY
726/0/10068 WOLLESCOTE ROAD
08-APR-08 Stourbridge
47
The Grove
II
A house, built for an industrialist, Charles Holt by William Johnson Harrison Weller in 1908-9.
MATERIALS:
The house is partly timber-framed with Flemish bond brickwork and ashlar dressings and has a plain tiled roof.
PLAN:
There are two floors with an attic and cellar. The house is L-shaped and faces west over the gardens with a service wing to the east, to which is attached a stable and garage block.
EXTERIOR:
The west front has two projecting gabled wings with close-studded and small-framed timber-framing and arched braces. Between them is set a loggia and above that a long balcony, the balustrade of which has plank balusters with cut out heart and diamond motifs. All the windows on this front and across the house are casements. To the attic is a four-light, flat-roofed dormer. To either side of this central feature are brick turrets crowned by tall, diagonally-placed chimneys which have small inglenook windows. There is a carefully managed asymmetry to the front with differences in the size of windows of the inglenooks. The left gabled bay is consistently canted and has taller ground floor windows and the right bay is canted only at ground floor level and has arched braces below the first floor casements. The north face has an entrance porch at centre with square timber columns which rise to support a canted, flat-roofed bay at centre which is timber-framed. To right of this is an ingle-nook turret with porthole and two-light casements and at left is the service wing. The east face, or rear has a projecting gabled wing to right with paired, diagonal chimneys at the corners. In the re-entrant angle between this and the main range is a smaller gabled wing with diagonal buttress at the corner. At far left is a ground floor loggia with timber columns which support a lean-to roof. Attached to the service wing and running north-south is a stable block which has been converted to become garages and a gymnasium. To its west front it has a timber-framed gablet which originally stood above an throughway to the rear. This has now been blocked and a garage door inserted. To its right is a further C20 panelled garage door. To the left are casement windows to former stables and at far left is a two-storey turret with half-hipped roof. The rear of the wing shows that the block has been extended eastwards to create garage spaces with a catslide roof over the extension. There are dovecote openings to the gablet which was formerly above the throughway and a hoist and taking-in door to the turret at far right.
INTERIOR: To the centre of the house is a large staircase hall of two storey height. This is marked on the exterior by the loggia and balcony on the western front. The staircase, balcony and balustrades are of stained pine and the balustrades have cut ornament of hearts and diamond shapes and prominent newel posts which connect to the ceiling at first floor level and have tapered octagonal upper bodies. At the foot of the stairs is an inglenook fireplace which incorporates a settle. The external first floor balcony on the west side is approached from the landing and a glass window to the rear of the balcony looks back through into the staircase hall. A small angled squinch at the foot of the stairs to the second floor also gives views across the space. The drawing room has wooden panelling to the lower walls and close studding to the upper walls above a plate rack which runs around the room and is supported on paired miniature brackets. The fireplace in the inglenook has a cambered arch and at either side are fitted settles with tapered columns and fixed bookcases. There is a further fixed bench to the canted bay window which faces west. The dining room to north of the staircase hall was originally similar, but an attack of dry rot has meant that the panelling to the lower walls has been removed. However, the upper walls, including the plate rack and beamed ceiling are original. A large kitchen has been formed out of several smaller service rooms, however the original doors to the service staircase and cupboards survive, as do the ceiling hooks from a former pantry. At first floor level the master bedroom has an inglenook fireplace with tiled cheeks and copper hood. The joinery in the room includes a window seat to the canted bay, bookshelves and cupboards at either side of the fireplace and a fitted wardrobe. An en-suite bathroom has been formed from a former single bedroom, but the octagonal shape of the room remains intact, including the large canted bay window over the entrance on the north side, the fireplace with copper hood and tiled surround also survives. The second bedroom also originally had an inglenook fireplace, but this has been sub-divided to form a separate bathroom and the fire surround has been removed. There is an original sluice sink to the first floor landing. The second floor bedroom, which appears to have been a nursery includes windows set low in the wall and a fitted settle and hidden corner with its own window behind the chimneyn breast, which appears to have been designed as a secret corner for children. The stable block interior has been converted to create a gymnasium and garages.
HISTORY:
The patron, Charles Holt, is believed to have seen Weller's own house, Longfield, and to have asked the architect to design him something similar. The Grove originally stood on a large plot of land, surrounded by open country. Much of this has now been developed and the garden, which was formerly large, has now also been partly built over.
SOURCES:
John Thomas, 'The Grove, Lye (1908-9), W.J.H.Weller (2007), unpublished;
John Thomas, 'William J.H.Weller of Wolverhampton, Architect of the Arts and Crafts Movement; A Research Project' (2006).
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The Grove, Ley, Dudley is designated at Grade II the following principal reasons:
* The design of the house shows considerable ingenuity in its planning and use of space and a delight in creating telling details throughout.
* The house is a notable example of a building of the Birmingham style of Arts and Crafts architecture.
* The quality of the finish of much of the interior is remarkable, particularly the joinery of the staircase hall, the drawing room and the main bedrooms.
* The interiors have suffered some degree of alteration, but this is minor and the overall unspoilt intactness of the design is notable.
