Carhampton House

This is a large house, built between 1901 and 1902 by C.E. Bateman. It is located on Lutterell Road, Sutton Coldfield, near Four Oaks. The house is constructed of red brick set in stretcher bond, with stone dressings, and a tiled roof. It is two storeys and an attic, originally with a nine-window front, but now eight on the garden front.

The main architectural feature is the striking, round-arched entrance, offset from the centre. It is framed by Ionic pilasters, an entablature, and a pediment, topped with an archivolt and fanlight. The ground floor windows have 9/9 sashes set within stone voussoirs, while the first floor windows are 6/6 sashes. The windows were carefully spaced, wider in the centre and then two narrow windows on either side, followed by two wider ones. A window was later added to the right of the entrance in the late 20th century. The corners of the house are treated as pilasters. A plaster coving and eaves cornice incorporates the mouldings from the voussoirs. The roof is hipped and has two pairs of dormers with pediments.

The garden front features an eight-window range with similar sashes, with the outer windows narrower. A garden door, with a bracketed semi-circular canopy and Gothic-arched glazing, is located on the ground floor. The west front has two ground-floor additions: a loggia with Doric columns to the north and a flat-roofed extension with full-height glazing to the south, extending the drawing room. A single first-floor window and a dormer are present on the west front. The east front includes single-storey hipped roof wings that serve as outhouses. The chimney stacks are plain, situated mid-ridge and on each slope of the roof.

Inside, the staircase hall is panelled to picture-rail height with moulded framing and a flat-arched fireplace. The fireplace is flanked by fluted Ionic pilasters. The open-well staircase has square newels, a shaped rail, and turned balusters. Architraves and panelled doors largely remain. Original cornices are present in the sitting room and morning room. The east bedroom retains an original cast-iron fireplace with 'Dutch' tiles and a simple Classical surround.

According to local tradition, the house was built using materials from the earlier 19th-century Four Oaks Hall, which stood on the same site. The brickwork and many of the voussoirs are consistent with this earlier building.