Oakhurst

Oakhurst is a substantial late 19th-century house with full and half basements, set on a sloping site. The building presents an asymmetrical composition with principal elevations facing Oak Avenue, Oak Mount, and a north-east garden front. Inside, rooms are arranged around a central stair hall with a secondary stair to the rear. Basement service rooms include a former billiards room with its own external access.

Exterior

The full basement on the north-east side and half-basement on the south-east side are built of rock-faced stone; due to the sloping site, the half-basement appears as a lower ground floor. A stringcourse runs between ground and first floors. Most windows are one-over-one sashes, with some fixed panes and stained glass. Windows on the three principal elevations (north-west, south-west and north-east) have chamfered jambs and ashlar surrounds, some incorporating quoins; ground floor windows have shouldered heads.

Front (north-west) elevation, facing Oak Avenue, comprises three wide bays. The left and centre bays project forward. The left bay is gabled with overhanging eaves and a decorative carved bargeboard incorporating a Star of David at the apex. A two-storey canted bay window rises through ground and first floors, enriched with carved decoration including two birds (possibly eagles) projecting from the top. First floor windows are separated by paired columns with stiff-leaf capitals acting as mullions. Above and behind are paired trefoil-arched attic windows with a column mullion in the same style.

The centre bay rises as a tower and incorporates the main entrance at ground floor, accessed by a mid-20th-century ramp. The tripartite entrance comprises a wide central Gothic-arched doorway flanked by two narrower sidelights in identical style, all with carved decoration and separated by tall columns with composite capitals. The doorway has an overlight and partly-glazed side panels flanking a four-panel door with glazed upper panels (glazing replaced); each glazing panel has a Gothic-arched head. The entrance is flanked by short angle buttresses with stepped, sloping roofs. The south-west side return projects slightly at ground floor level, with a small glazed trefoil and stepped, sloping roof. Single Gothic-arched windows at first floor, both front and side return, have hoodmoulds with foliate bosses.

The second floor (third stage) of the tower rises above the roof with paired windows to the front and a single window to the side return, all with trefoil-arched heads and hoodmoulds with foliate bosses. The front windows are separated by a column mullion with a composite capital. Further columns with stiff-leaf capitals stand at each corner of the third stage, above which runs a stringcourse and parapet; the stringcourse incorporates projecting carved dragons at each corner. The hipped tower roof, shown in an historic photograph, has been removed.

The right bay has paired windows with shouldered heads at ground floor. Above, at first floor, are paired windows with Gothic-arched heads, a mullion column with stiff-leaf capital, and a hoodmould with foliate bosses. Two small early 21st-century gabled roof dormers with simple shaped bargeboards and one-over-one sashes light the attic.

South-west elevation, facing Oak Mount, comprises three wide bays. The left gabled bay has a two-storey bay window (shouldered heads at ground floor, Gothic-arched windows at first floor) with carved decoration and columns with stiff-leaf capitals, surmounted by a crenellated parapet with recessed trefoil-arched panels and projecting carved dragons. Paired trefoil-arched windows above and behind light the attic. The centre bay has a ground floor doorway with a partly glazed four-panel door and overlight, converted from a window in 2004–5. A single Gothic-arched window lights the first floor above, with a small original roof dormer with decorative carved bargeboard to the attic. The heads of paired basement windows are just visible in the right bay. A large triple-light window with shouldered heads lights the ground floor of the right bay. Paired Gothic-arched windows to the first floor above are in the same style as those to the front elevation. A larger dormer to the attic has a trefoil-arched window and an identical bargeboard to that on the left dormer.

North-east elevation has seven bays, with windows in the same style as those on the north-west and south-west elevations. The three bays to the far left are a late 19th-century extension that replaced a conservatory or glasshouse. Bay two has a large bow window at ground floor, flanked by a single window to the left and a smaller, mainly glazed, semi-octagonal projection to the right (possibly an early 20th-century small winter garden) incorporating some stained leaded glass and a replaced door. The door provides access onto the large flat roof of an original projection attached in front at basement level, probably originally a billiards room. The projection has an embattled parapet, original sash windows and some later casements, and an original five-panel door with glazed upper panel to the north-west side. A sub-basement storage area at the north-east end has a four-panel door and fixed-pane windows (now blocked externally). A roof lantern was removed around 1994–5.

A gabled bay at the centre of the elevation has a two-storey canted bay window rising from basement to ground floor, paired Tudor-arched windows at first floor, and paired trefoil-arched windows to the attic, both in the same style as those on the front elevation. A small later skylight has been inserted into the roof behind the gable. Three bays to the right are set back slightly, with a wall stack at centre flanked by slender ground floor casement windows and a Gothic-arched window to the first floor left.

Rear (south-east) elevation has five bays. The visible half-basement level appears as ground floor on this side; windows have ashlar sills and lintels. A projecting gabled bay to the left (the right return of the south-west elevation) has a wall stack. A series of paired stair windows in bay three culminates in a top window set within a half-dormer with decorative carved bargeboards. The stair windows are flanked by sash windows to ground and first floors of bay two, and stained glass windows to ground and first floors of bay four. The overlight of a doorway survives at ground floor of bay three; the altered doorway below (door removed) is now obscured by a small late 20th-century flat-roofed single-storey projection attached at lower ground floor level in front. A projecting bay to the right (a late 19th-century extension) has an angled stained glass window to the ground floor of the south corner with a quoined ashlar surround, a small basement window, and a two-light first floor window to the left (south-west) return.

Interior

The ground floor has parquet and tiled floors; upper floors have floorboards now hidden under later coverings. Ground floor circulation spaces and the stair hall have a dado with decorative painted Lincrusta covering depicting birds, fishes and flora. Very deep skirtings, moulded door architraves, and some original four-panel doors survive. Chimneybreasts survive, but most fireplaces have been removed. Decorative moulded cornicing and friezes enrich the ground floor rooms; first floor rooms have a mixture of decorative and plainer moulded cornicing, and some carved timber window pelmets. Inserted partition walls divide parts of the upper floors and part of the ground floor. Attic rooms are plain with some original built-in cupboards.

The entrance vestibule leads into the main stair hall, where a first floor landing is supported by decorative corbelled brackets with a coffered underside. A lift has been inserted into the stair well; the stair's balusters have probably been mainly removed, although some might survive in a boxed-in section to the attic flight. Decorative coving incorporating decorative plaster garlands and projecting plaster heads of men and women enriches the first floor ceiling of the stair hall. A secondary stair with slender turned balusters, carved newel posts, closed string and toad's-back handrail is set to the rear (south-east side) of the building.

Gothic-arched openings (some plain, some incorporating multiple columns with composite and stiff-leaf capitals) lead to corridors and hallways on all floors; those to the two lower floors are more decorative. The ground floor corridor to the north-east side of the building has a part-ribbed ceiling and leads to garden-facing rooms and the rear of the building. A tall stained glass window at the south-east end of the corridor depicts a man in 17th-century dress wearing a medallion, believed to be Jacob Moser, the original owner of Oakhurst.

The large south-east corner room overlooks the roof of the former billiards room and has plaster wall panelling, a late 19th-century timber fire surround with an overmantel and a later insert. Two alcoves to the north-west wall (the left one has a later inserted door) have plaster garland decoration above. A stained glass window to the south corner depicts a woman in 17th-century dress holding a book, believed to be Mrs Moser as a young woman. A later doorway with moulded architrave and six-panel door in the north-east wall leads into the winter garden room, which has a panelled ceiling and lower walls, replaced floor covering, and an in-built shelf to the north-west side.

Two large garden-facing rooms on the north-east side of the ground floor are separated by a large decorative opening with a shouldered head and paired columns with stiff-leaf capitals in both rooms. Original Gothic panelled doors, with four trefoil roundels, are visible only in the south-eastern room. The south-eastern room also has plaster panelling to the upper part of the walls, a decorative hood incorporating a miniature balustrade above the entrance door, and a late 19th-century timber fire surround with overmantel and later insert. The north-western room is now partitioned.

The room at the west corner of the ground floor has a decorative raised-plaster ceiling. A doorway to the north-east wall into the entrance/stair hall is now sealed up but the moulded architrave is retained; an additional original doorway survives in the south-east wall. Two large rooms to the south-west side of the ground floor, with original plasterwork, are now partitioned.

The basement is now largely modernised with a modern kitchen and dining room. Some original wainscoting, door architraves and chimneybreasts survive, along with geometric-patterned and quarry-tiled floors to some areas, one stone flag floor, and an original store. The former billiards room, accessed via the basement and externally, is now partitioned to create single bedrooms with an inserted suspended ceiling. The original panelled and coffered ceiling survives above, with the roof lantern now infilled. An original timber newel stair at the west corner leads up to the garden and has a curving string, slender turned balusters, and later tread coverings.