Summary
A detached house, built in 1892. The design has been attributed to Ernest Newton as an early work by him.
Reasons for Designation
26 The Avenue, Bickley, Bromley, a detached house of 1892, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* the building is part of an advanced group of homogenous suburban architecture, dating from the late C19 and early C20 and constructed in the Bromley area which draws on vernacular sources;
* notwithstanding some losses, the building retains the great majority of its original plan and many of its original features.
Historic interest:
* as a precursor to the style of much suburban development across England in the early and mid-C20 which drew on vernacular precedents.
History
26 The Avenue is recorded in the Local List description as the work of the local builder Harper, reputedly to a design by Ernest Newton. In Bush’s Street Directories for Bickley from 1892-1899, the building is referred to as ‘Craig Royston’. Craig Royston is an area north of Edinburgh that may have been associated with the first owner, whom street directories record as JB Trollope between 1892 and 1894. There is no evidence of Trollope’s involvement in the design or construction of the building. From 1896-1899 Craig Royston is recorded as owned by Harold Craven.
Ernest Newton moved to Bickley in 1883 and in 1884 lived in a house he designed for himself called ‘Lyndhurst’ in Bird-in-Hand Lane. Over the next 20 years, he built a large number of houses in the Bickley and Chislehurst area, many of which have survived. Bush’s Street Directories record Newton living at Lyndhurst from 1890-1896, 300m north-east of 26 The Avenue. However, a number of architects were involved in building similar designs in the Bickley area, including CHB Quennell and Amos Faulkner and for the local construction company Willetts. The grouping of houses in a similar style has been commented on as an Arts and Crafts colony, of much more than local interest.
Details
A detached house, built in 1892. The design is in the earlier style of Ernest Newton and has been attributed to him.
MATERIALS AND PLAN: red brick, laid in English bond, with tile hanging and clapboard cladding and a plain tile roof which is hipped and gabled. The building is of two floors with attic and basement. The plan is organised so that rooms on the southern side of the house are entered at a lower level than those on the north, via the half landings. This mezzanine arrangement allows a raised, semi-basement for the service rooms on the northern side of the house. Fireplaces are angled in the corners of the ground-floor rooms.
EXTERIOR: across the house, the ground floor and basement walling is of brick, while the upper floors and gable are tile hung with flared lower ranks of tiles. The south front, facing The Avenue, has to its right a projecting, canted bay of two storeys with a flat roof. This has three casements to the front and single casements to the angles. To left at ground-floor level is a semi-glazed door, above which is a flat, panelled hood supported on brackets. To the right of this is a basement window and a ground-floor cross window with a pair of casements. The first floor has two, two-light casement windows with central mullions at right and centre. To the right of this is the upper floor of the canted bay window and above this is a three-light attic window which rises into the gable. The upper part of the gable is slightly jettied.
The western flank has an exposed chimney stack at left which slightly projects. To its left is a ground-floor window of one light and to its right is a basement door to near centre flanked by a single-light and two, two-light windows, those at right having cambered heads. The ground, first and attic floors each have a central, two-light casement. The roof is hipped on this side.
The north, rear, front has a wide square bay at left. This is clapboarded to its upper body and is supported at basement level by a pair of Tuscan columns with entasis. These columns have square concrete bases which were added later when the basement area was partially excavated to allow access from the house to the garden at this level. A pair of French windows were fitted at that time and the lower walling is rendered. The windows of the square bay are of four lights to the front with single lights to the sides. The exception is the first-floor eastern side which has a door that formerly led to a small balcony or stairway to the garden. To the right of the square bay is a bay with two-light casements to each floor, that at basement level with a cambered head. The attic has a wide central dormer with flat head and five lights.
The eastern flank has a brick stack at centre with a basement window of four lights at right which appears to be a C20 addition.
Chimney stacks are prominent and to full original height, each with a projecting band below the cap which is stepped out.
INTERIOR: the entrance hall has a doorway with arched head leading to basement steps to the service area. The staircase has square newels, a mahogany handrail and substantial turned balusters with vase-shaped lower bodies. Doors are original and have two panels to the lower floors and four to the attic rooms. Ground and first-floor rooms retain their cornices and picture rails. Fire surrounds are of Georgian style with lateral pilasters and friezes in the reception rooms and of cast iron on the upper floors. The frieze between picture rail and cornice is of moulded paper or Anaglypta with patterns showing in relief in three of the rooms and this appears to be original. This decoration also appears beneath dado rails on the staircase.
