Harrison Home

Harrison Home is a Grade II listed building constructed in 1902, as recorded by the dated plaque on its principal elevation. The building is arranged in a reverse L-shaped plan, with a principal entrance range aligned north-west to south-east and an additional accommodation and service range attached at right angles to the south-east end. The structure is set within its original gardens to the north-west, south-west and south-east sides, with an entrance forecourt to the north-east.

The exterior is constructed of red brick with roughcast to the upper floors. The roof is deep with concrete roof tiles installed in the 1980s, replacing the original clay tiles. Brick wall and ridge stacks are present, and a deep dentil eaves cornice runs around each elevation. Windows are a mixture of multipaned sashes and casements with moulded brick sills.

The principal north-east elevation facing Liverpool Road South features an asymmetrical multi-gabled composition. A central projecting two-storey bay with an open-pedimented gable contains the main entrance. This consists of a wide six-panel door within a sandstone doorcase incorporating a semi-circular pediment supported by paired engaged columns. Above the doorway is a Venetian window, the centre light of which interrupts the horizontal cornice of the pediment, with a prominent sill band continuing to the sides. Set at the gable apex is a painted oval plaque bearing the date 1902 and the name "Harrison Home" in stylised characters. Two full-height outer bays project forward beneath open-pedimented gables. The right bay incorporates a keyed oculus to the gable and wide five-light casement windows below with dormer windows to the side returns. The left bay contains both sash and casement windows, including a round-headed stair window. Between the left and central bays is a late twentieth-century flat-roofed roughcast-rendered lift shaft. To the right of the entrance bay is a small single-storey late twentieth-century lean-to toilet block. Projecting from the far left at right angles is a five-bay accommodation and service range with sash windows to the two lower floors and dormer windows to the second floor.

The south-east side elevation comprises nine bays with sash windows to the ground and first floors and roof dormers above. Two sash windows have later inserted ventilators, and one first-floor window has been replaced with uPVC. At the far left is the south-east gable end of the entrance range, incorporating a substantial wall stack and an original ground-floor doorway with a panelled door with glazed upper lights and a multipaned overlight. An additional bay at the far right, set back, forms part of the north-east return and consists of a full-height projecting bay containing the service stair with a raised hipped roof set above a multipaned lunette window with slightly thicker outer mullions referencing a Diocletian window. Multipaned casement windows occupy each side return. The dentil cornice follows the eaves line and also forms a broken cornice below the second-floor level. Two single-storey brick outbuildings are attached to the ground floor, linked by a high brick wall enclosing a small yard accessed by a doorway containing a plank and batten door. One outbuilding retains its original tiled roof; the other has replaced concrete tiles. Both have multipaned casement windows to their outer side walls and a mixture of doorways and windows facing the yard.

The south-west garden elevation comprises seven bays and overlooks the main garden. Gabled bays alternate with two-storey canted bays surmounted by flat-roofed dormer windows. First and second-floor windows have been replaced in the original style (second-floor windows are uPVC). A large late twentieth-century conservatory is attached to the ground floor left.

The north-west side elevation incorporates the north-west gable end of the entrance range, similarly styled to the south-east end, with sash windows to ground and first floors flanking a wall stack. Set back slightly to the left is the north-west return of the front elevation's northernmost projection, which has a multipaned casement window to the ground floor, a later fire door and fire escape stair to the first floor, and a roof dormer.

Internally, the building retains floorboard floors (mostly hidden under later coverings) and original four-panel doors with door architraves throughout. Most fireplaces have been removed, but chimneybreasts survive. Ground-floor rooms in the entrance range possess simple moulded cornicing. An entrance vestibule with a tiled floor and original timber double doors with glazed upper panels leads into a large entrance hall accessing a ground-floor hallway and corridor, with rooms at the north-west end. A window in the entrance hall's north-west wall has been blocked following the addition of a late twentieth-century toilet extension, and a high-level multipaned overlight above an adjacent doorway has been blocked by the extension's lean-to roof. Each floor has a corridor running alongside the front-facing walls, with rooms located towards the garden sides and within the front projections. These rooms include individual bedrooms, separate bathrooms and linen and storage rooms with original shelving. Two rooms at the north-west and south-east ends of the ground floor have been knocked through to create single spaces, both containing classical-style fireplaces. The north-west space is a lounge, whilst the south-east space is a dining room with an inserted opening in the north-east wall providing a serving and viewing hatch into a kitchen behind.

The main dog-leg stair is located at the centre front of the entrance range and features carved stick balusters, tapering square newel posts with pendants, and storage and airing rooms off the half-landing levels. An adjacent lift is a modern addition. A further mid twentieth-century stair at the north-west end of the entrance range provides access between the first and second floors and to the fire escape. The service range retains some original tiled floors, and at the north-east end is an open-well service stair, a simpler version of the main stair with plain stick balusters, tapering square newel posts with pendants, and toilets located off the half-landings.

The outbuildings contain workshops, storage and toilets.