Hillcrest and Briarhill

A pair of semi-detached houses built in 1892, designed by the architect Edgar Wood. The houses are constructed in Ruabon brick and terracotta with red brick and stone, under roofs of Welsh and Westmorland slate in five different colours.

The pair form a rectilinear range aligned roughly north-south with a central cross-wing. They stand to the west of Rochdale Road, immediately north of another pair by Wood known as Redcroft and Fencegate (numbers 33 and 35 Rochdale Road), and a short distance south of The Studio and numbers 51 and 53 Rochdale Road, also by Wood and all listed.

Exterior

The front elevation faces east toward the road and consists of a central three-storey cross-wing flanked by two-storey blocks with attics. The walls are built in orange Ruabon brick and terracotta, some sections painted. The roofing is laid randomly in five different colours of Welsh and Westmorland slate, with blue clay crested ridging and occasional decorative finials. Windows are modern casements, in PVC at Hillcrest and timber at Briarhill.

The central block is gabled with a ball finial and kneelers, and has canted corners where it projects above the roofs on either side. Above this rises a chimney stack of Ruabon brick with a cornice and string course. The upper storey has a window in each canted face with two adjacent windows on the front face, all with a terracotta sill-band. The first and ground floors each have two triple windows, each with a single terracotta sill. The lintels are all slightly-projecting, splayed brick very shallow segmental arches, except for the front windows of the top floor which have flush, flat brick lintels. The central lintels of each window on the lower two floors have projecting brick keystones.

The central gable displays three bands of square terracotta blocks. The lowest band aligns with a blind oculus that has projecting keystones at the compass points. Below the oculus, a further band extends on either side to form the top course of a parapet, which has the same terracotta coping as the gable. Below this solid course, the parapet comprises three bands of alternating square blocks and brick panels of equal size, each band slightly offset from the one below. In the central area they offset to the right, but on the canted corners and side returns they offset to the left of the band below. A string course matching the coping forms the base of the parapet. Each storey has two bands of square blocks running across the windows. All brickwork is laid in stretcher bond.

Each side block comprises an entrance bay with a first-floor window, and a gabled bay with a two-storey bow front. The bow fronts have parapets that partly conceal attic windows in the gables. The entrance bays are slightly recessed and detailed to match the central block. The bow fronts, however, are in header bond and divided into three sections by slender brick pilasters between the windows and at the outer edges, where they are angled. The pilasters are enlivened by sloping terracotta blocks, flush at the top and projecting at the base, placed just below the lintels of each storey. The parapet is coped, with capitals to each pilaster. All lintels are flush brick with projecting terracotta keystones, and terracotta sills match the coping. The attics have Diocletian windows, original at Briarhill with a six-light central casement. A low projecting plinth runs across the entire frontage. Pattress plates of three different designs are distributed symmetrically across the façade, with those over the central ground-floor bow windows displaying characteristic Art Nouveau lines. Briarhill retains original cast-iron rainwater goods with hopper heads and some fixing plates in flowing Art Nouveau style.

The left entrance surround is concealed by white-painted render and has a projecting concrete doorcase. The right entrance, to Briarhill, retains its original Art Nouveau character, although the surround is faced in later tiles. An exaggerated keystone is carved with lilies. Beneath this is an overlight of five lights with a basket-arch head and flowing transom that is gently arched in the centre. The overlight is leaded and retains coloured tulips from the original glazing scheme. The door is part-glazed, with a three-light oval window in the upper section, three lights below with concave heads following the curve of the window above, a transom with a decorative letterbox retaining briar decoration, and three rectangular lights at the foot. Three-light sidelights reach down to transom level, where the surround steps in.

A short return at the left is in the same stretcher-bond Ruabon brickwork, changing to dark red common brick at the full-height chimney breast, now slated over. Adjacent to the left of the chimney breast is an attic window. Slightly to the left of the ridge is the stair window, in a double-height opening with a Ruabon brick round-arched lintel and projecting blocks in the manner of a Gibbs surround. It has two lights divided by a central panel of hung slates. Below this at ground floor is an inserted window, over-boarded at the time of inspection, with a blocked basement window below. To the left is a side door inserted across a blocked former window, with concrete steps. The truncated rear chimney stack projects just inside the verge at the left. Its front (east) face has a recessed central channel, the remnant of what was originally a single tall blind arch. Four pattress plates of the same design are distributed evenly around the stair window, with one between the ground and first floor in the Ruabon section at the right, and another at the same height at the extreme left. Rising from the ridge of the central block are the south faces of two other eight-flue stacks. The right-hand (front) one is of Ruabon brick, blind-arcaded with a cornice and a string course forming the imposts for the arches, and six crown pots. The left-hand one is of common brick with a string course and cornice and six crown pots.

Returning at the left again, the rear elevation is a simplified version of the front façade. At the left the common brickwork is visible; to the right it is concealed by white-painted render. The entire wall is flush, with no canted corners to the second floor, and sloping dormers to the attic. Each house has its own small oculus window in the gable, which has projecting purlins supporting overhanging verges. The oculi each have keystones at the north, east and west compass points only. A very small square chimney stack projects from the left-hand eaves of the gable and is truncated. At the left and right verges are the truncated rear chimney stacks, each with a recessed central channel which originally had an arched head. The west face of the rear stack of the central block matches its south face, with string course and cornice.

Within this rear face, Briarhill is divided into four bays. From the left, bays one and two have a window at ground and first floor. Bay three has a window at first floor and an entrance with sidelight. Bay four has two windows at each of the three floors. Sills are plain stone, all with white paint, and the lintels are all segmental arches of Ruabon headers. The entrance has an overlight of four lights and a four-panelled door with an upper vision-light of five fanned panes. Cast-iron rainwater goods remain in place. Cellar windows are found in bays one and two, with small areas, and both retain original casement windows. The rear of Hillcrest originally mirrored that of Briarhill but the ground-floor window in bay two (from the right) is blocked, the former entrance in bay three has been converted to a window, and in bay four one window has been lowered and the other converted to a doorway. There is also a cellar entrance in bay one, accessed by steps from the south, and a window with an area in front of it in bay two.

Returning to the left, the north wall of Briarhill is stylistically similar to the south wall of Hillcrest, but with some significant differences. At the left, the chimney breast is much wider and in Ruabon brick. A narrower stack rises from eaves level, also in Ruabon brick, and continues above the verge, although it is truncated above this. The chimney breast has a parapet with terracotta copings at eaves level, which steps up adjacent to the stack. A central pilaster is also coped at eaves level, giving these steps the appearance of merlons in a crenellated parapet. An attic window mirrors that of Hillcrest, with a stone lintel and terracotta sill. Adjacent to the chimney breast, the stair window is also double-height, but the projecting blocks of the surround are of white-painted stone and continue around the arched head, with moulded imposts. The upper window is an original, horned vertical sliding sash with four panes in the upper light and a single-pane lower light, and has a moulded stone sill. Between this and the first-floor window (a replacement casement) is a panel of fish-scale slates, now painted red. The lower window has a plain stone sill. Beneath this the brickwork above the side-entrance surround is rendered and painted. The entrance has a similar surround to the stair window, with moulded imposts to the basket arch with keystone. Like the front entrance, the surround steps in at sill-level of the sidelight, with imposts at this level. The fascia over the door has carved scrolls meeting in the centre. The door has two vertically-boarded horizontal panels and an eight-light oval vision panel, and an original knocker. To the right of the doorway is a slender window with an arched head matching the blocked window on Hillcrest's south face, and a plain stone sill. Pattress plates match those of Hillcrest's south wall.

Interior

The interior of Hillcrest is largely devoid of historic features, but a small patch of decoratively-painted plaster survives, along with a small area of Lincrusta wallpaper with a strapwork design incorporating fleurs-de-lys, some cornices (above later inserted ceiling frames), quarry-tile floors (some over-tiled), lath-and-plaster partitions and some window architraves. The original internal plan-form, mirroring that of Briarhill, is however largely intact.

Briarhill's interior is relatively little-altered and retains several key elements of its original Art Nouveau decoration. As in Hillcrest, the innovative and highly efficient plan-form remains largely intact. The entrance hall continues through to a rear access, crossing the foot of the stair that runs across the house. A side entrance under the stairs connects with the hall and accesses service rooms arranged along the rear wall. Beyond the stair, the entrance hall forms a lobby which connects a secondary kitchen door to the rear entrance. The entrance hall in particular forms a set-piece in which Elizabethan and Jacobean influences are combined to create an Art Nouveau overall aesthetic. The arched ceiling matches the profile of the fanlight and is thickly decorated with plasterwork flowering plants, while the doorways have lintels with pointed upward-curving heads. The cellar door is original, with three horizontal panels, the bottom one having the same upward-curving point as the door head. The morning/drawing room retains the projecting ceiling to its ingle nook, which is individualistically decorated with slender pilasters with capitals. The bow window, which gives maximum direct sunlight in the morning, has a double arch which springs from imposts that also have upward-curving chevron-type mouldings. The stair is original and overtly vernacular in character, with a heavy newel with a delicate turned centre and a turned cylindrical finial. The moulded handrail is supported by plain posts with a mid-rail, and unmoulded chunky scrolls run beneath the handrail to the posts. Pendants and embedded half-finials match the newel. Modern kitchen fittings have been inserted in the former rear lobby. The original kitchen retains its original cast-iron cooking range faced with rich ceramic tiles.

Elsewhere including the upper floors, the interior retains many features of interest including the majority of the good-quality internal timber door and window surrounds, skirtings and ceilings, covings and mouldings, original doors (some with later over-boarding), and at least two original fireplaces. Archaeological survey indicates that the original plaster remains, and given the high likelihood that this house had a similar painted colour scheme to that of Hillcrest, this is likely to survive much more intact beneath the subsequent wallpaper. The cellar also retains some original flooring, fire surrounds and windows.

Subsidiary Features

The original boundary walls survive on the south and east and between the front gardens, along with the gate piers at Hillcrest. The eastern boundary wall has a stone plinth and bands separated by brickwork, and moulded terracotta coping. It is deeply scalloped, with non-original iron railings in the concavities. The gate piers to Hillcrest have stone caps carved with lilies matching the entrance keystone, and terracotta finials. The gates are modern replacements.

The original ancillary buildings in the rear gardens have been heavily altered. Modern gates and shutters have been installed in the western boundary on modern piers.