Former Hopwas Pumping Station (Spruce House, Cedar House and Holly House) and front boundary wall

Former water pumping station, built in 1879 for Tamworth Waterworks, later taken over by South Staffordshire Waterworks and subsequently converted to residential use. The listing includes the building and front boundary wall, but excludes modern garden walls and garages.

CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS

The building is constructed in English-bond red brick with sandstone dressings and slate roofs with coped verges.

PLAN AND LAYOUT

The structure follows a rectangular plan comprising three parallel ranges aligned north-south, all facing south.

EXTERIOR

The main 1879 pumping station is a single-bay, gable-end, two-storey former beam engine house with an attic and basement. Giant clasping corner pilasters, rusticated to the ground floor, rise on either side of the gable. The gable is topped by a pediment supported by a modillion cornice with angled bricks and containing a keyed oculus. A twin flight of steps on a semi-circular arch with cast iron balustrades leads up to the central two-leaf door, which is topped by a bracketed pediment. The first floor displays a Venetian window with moulded brick arch, bases, imposts and iron glazing bars. The basement level has segmental-arched windows with angled brick cills; the ground and first-floor windows are round-arched with stone cills, imposts and keys.

The left return features four bays articulated by pilasters, with a first-floor plat band and cornice. The rear elevation of the main range matches the front at first-floor level and pediment height. Below is a cat-slide outshut, a former workshop with a lean-to roof that has been subdivided. A rear door at roof level connects to a metal walkway leading to the raised rear garden. The basement level contains two round-arched windows and a rear entrance.

Only the first floor is visible on the engine house's east elevation, with fenestration matching the left return. Two matching single-storey ranges (the former boiler house and store) are attached to this elevation. They feature coped moulded gables with ball finials and paired round-arched windows with imposts beneath keyed oculi. The pitched roofs are topped by raised louvered ridges. Both rear elevations contain large keyed oculi and rear access. The eastern bay has an attached flat felt-roof extension.

A 21st-century gable porch in a similar style to the rest of the building has been added to the front of the single-storey ranges. The side return has three bays: the left bay is rendered and contains a modern multi-pane opening; the other two bays have keyed three-centre arched lunettes with glazing bars.

INTERIOR

The twin beam engines have been removed and the building is now divided into three dwellings: Spruce House (the former beam engine house), Cedar House (the former boiler house) and Holly House (the former store). The roof constructions survive, including shaped cornices and a king post timber roof in the former beam engine house. The 21st-century internal partitions and contemporary fixtures and fittings added as part of the domestic conversion are not of special interest.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES

To the front of the former station stands a recently-restored decorative boundary wall of English-bond red brick, constructed in 17 sections divided by brick piers. Each pier comprises a tall plinth topped by a blind balustrade with stone coping. A water pump attached to the wall has also been recently restored. Brick garden walls and two modern brick garages to the rear of the pumping station are excluded from the listing.