114 Middleton Hall Road

Summary

A doctor’s surgery including a former residence constructed in 1905, altered in the late-C20.

Reasons for Designation

114 Middleton Hall Road, Kings Norton, constructed in 1905 to the designs of William Hale and Son, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:
* as an imaginatively designed Arts-and-Crafts style residence and doctor’s surgery with carefully considered elevations to both Middleton Hall and Selly Oak Roads;
* the building has careful attention to detail with a successful mix of materials and understated ornamentation;
* the survival of the building’s fittings is noteworthy, with a fitted lamp on the principal stair, fireplace surrounds, plasterwork and the majority of the original windows with wrought iron furniture.

Historic Interest:
* the building was designed by William Hale and Son, an important architectural practice working in Birmingham during the period, with another, highly graded building on the List;
* as a surviving residence combined surgery from the early-C20, with legible plan form demonstrating how the building was used.

History

Formerly a small settlement outside of Birmingham, Kings Norton became urbanised over the course of the C19 and early-C20, in part due to the construction of the canals and railways in the area. 114 Middleton Hall Road, originally known as 'Granton', was constructed in 1905 for Dr Bertram Furneaux Jordan, designed by William Hale and Son. The building was intended to combine consulting rooms and a residence, occupying a prominent position on the corners of Middleton Hall Road and Selly Oak Road. The house was constructed by builders James Moffat and Sons of Camp Hill, Birmingham. Historic plans show that Dr Jordan’s consulting room was located immediately to the north of the principal entrance, with an access door from both the residential house to the south and the patient waiting room beyond to the north. The south end of the building was intended for residential use with two principal rooms to each floor and was kept separate and shut off from the service range and patient entrance to the north.

The building remained in use as a medical centre for the majority of the C20. By the mid-C20, the surgery had expanded to take over the formerly residential rooms. The building was also extended during this period, with a small extension at the south end of the west elevation erected by 1965. By the late-C20 the building had been extended further with an additional range erected to the north and west of the principal range. In 1996 planning permission was granted for the conversion of the building’s loft space on the second floor to provide teaching suites and a library, this included the insertion of a dormer window and several roof lights.

Details

A doctor’s surgery and former residence constructed in 1905, altered in the late-C20.

MATERIALS: constructed of red brick in stretcher bond with stone dressings, roughcast render to the first floor and a clay tiled roof.

PLAN: the building is a long linear range running north-south parallel to Selly Oak Road and an additional, shorter frontage to Middleton Hall Road to the south.

EXTERIOR: constructed in a vernacular Arts-and-Crafts style, the building is two storeys with converted loft and has a rendered upper storey. The building has a gable roof that is steeply pitched and a hipped roof range to the south. The building faces onto both Middleton Hall Road and Selly Oak Road and has a sprawling east elevation with a roughly central projecting brick gable with timber oriel window and large brick stack with dentilled cornice to the south. An additional stack, at the roof apex, contains projecting bricks to read vertically in Roman numerals ‘1905’. To the north is an additional gable, which is rendered, with a further stack behind. Ground floor windows are stone with a mixture of mullions and transoms, all retaining their early-C20 leaded panes with some simple stained glass to the upper lights. There is a single-light leaded window to the left of the north entrance door. The first-floor windows are timber, all containing leaded casements with scrolling wrought iron window furniture. To the south is a projecting entrance porch which was altered in the early-C20 and contains the principal entrance within.

The south elevation, facing Middleton Hall Road, contains a large gable with steeply pitched hipped roof behind. The large brick stack on the east elevation, along with an additional tall brick stack to the west, frames the façade. A further oriel timber window sits at the centre of the rendered gable, with a large mullion timber window with leaded lights to the left (west). A pentice roof projects from the ground floor, supported by a pair of canted bays with stone mullion and transom windows. The windows have leaded upper lights with stained glass and original iron window furniture. There is a timber door on the inward face of each bay, beneath the projecting roof. To the west (left) is a later C20 single storey extension (not included).

The west elevation surrounds a small courtyard enclosed by C20 extensions projecting to the north and south. Situated at the south end of the elevation, at the centre of a brick gable, is a large leaded stair window with stained glass in a swag design to the upper lights. To the left (north) the remainder of the first floor is rendered with an additional gable at the north end. The first-floor windows are original leaded timber casements with iron window furniture. Below, on the ground floor, windows were replaced in the late-C20 or early-C20 and are all double-glazed uPVC, some with a faux leading. The ground floor windows are in their original openings under brick segmental arches.

The north elevation is dominated by a single-storey late-C20 extension (not included). Behind the extension the earlier building has on its first floor an original two-light leaded casement. A further brick stack with dentilled cornice is situated to the right (west).

INTERIOR: the principal entrance is situated through an entrance porch at the south-east end of the building. An early-C20 door is half glazed with leaded stained glass in a simple geometric pattern within the three lights, matching the windows elsewhere. A further door with leaded lights and chunky brass handle leads from a vestibule into the main entrance hall. A newel post stair with closed string is situated at the west end of the room and has turned balusters which are square in section. The large leaded stair window is situated on the west wall of the half-landing above. Beneath the stair is a section of timber panelling. To the south of the stair are the building’s two main reception rooms, until recently in use as a waiting area and offices for the doctors' surgery, with the two bay windows situated at their south ends. There has been some alteration to the original plan with the opening up of these areas and the insertion of late-C20 partitions and windows between the rooms to separate the surgery’s reception area. Fireplace surrounds have been retained within the entrance hallway and within the waiting room, with any grates removed and the fireplaces blocked. The building continues to the north of the principal stair with a series of further consultation and storerooms; some of the rooms within the 1905 footprint retain their panelled doors and original door furniture. At the north end of the original building is a further staircase with closed string and stick balusters. The post’s ball finial is truncated, likely to have once held a lamp fitting.

On the first floor, the principal stair rises to a landing which has an inserted C20 glazing into a door within an original arch, with further glazing to either side. The post at the top of the stair retains its original fitted brass lamp to the top of the finial. Beyond the door is a waiting room with fixed late-C20 benches to the perimeter, with the building’s oriel window at the east end of the room. To the south are a further two rooms, each with a surviving fireplace surround. The east room has a further oriel window with original leaded glazing on its south wall. The ceiling has a delicate plaster decoration that follows the perimeter of the room. To the north of the first-floor waiting room an original moulded arch with deep, curved skirting leads to a cloakroom. Two steps lead down to the north range with a series of further consultation rooms and offices, some retaining their original doors. An additional room at the east end of this range retains a further fireplace surround. To the north is an additional stair to access the loft area on the second floor.

The second-floor loft space was converted to provide teaching suites in the late-C20, and has largely modern finishes with inserted Velux-style windows.

Sources

Other
OS Epoch 3: Warwickshire, 1921
Kings Norton and Northfield Building Plan no. 1912, Library of Birmingham Archives.

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