Avon Croft

Avon Croft is a substantial Arts and Crafts house, dating from around 1900, built as part of the Four Oaks estate for Charles Brampton, likely by the architectural partnership of Crouch and Butler. It occupies a corner site within a spacious garden. The house is compactly designed, comprising L-shaped gabled wings, one rough cast and the other with timber framing, embracing a squat, three-storey tower. Raking buttresses are present on the south wing. The roof is covered in slate and features tapering external chimney stacks to the timber-framed wing and the west front. A shaped, rising parapet with corner finials adorns the tower. The gable of the south wing has plain kneelers and coping. Leaded casements are used throughout, with a curved bay window on the ground floor of the south wing. A large sundial, inscribed "Count the Sunny Hours," is positioned beneath a gable, which also incorporates a pair of small attic lights. A splayed porch with a Gothic arched door, leaded glazing, and a side light is situated at the base of the tower. A coach house, set back and abutting the timber-framed wing, is rough cast with battered walls and features a central break with large round arched doors. The interior retains many original features, including white woodwork, a splat baluster staircase in a spacious L-shaped hall, beaten copper hoods to fireplaces, and headed glazed internal doors separating the dining room. Avon Croft represents a well-preserved example of the Birmingham Arts and Crafts school.