The Anchorage

The Anchorage is a large house built in 1899 in the Arts and Crafts style by Joseph Crouch and Edmund Butler. It is located on Handsworth Wood Road, Birmingham. The design is carefully asymmetrical, with the left side of the facade constructed of brick with stone dressings, and the right side a combination of brick, stone dressings, and applied timber framing. The tiled roof is punctuated by brick chimney stacks and a cupola, positioned asymmetrically between a brick gabled bay and a lower, half-timbered gabled bay which incorporates a perch. The windows have leaded lights, with some featuring stained glass by Mary Newill. She also created the embroidery inset over the fireplace in the ground floor Music Room. Door furniture, light fittings, copper firehoods in the hall, sitting room, and music room, and other metalwork were crafted by Benjamin Creswick, or a member of the Bromsgrove Guild. Murals by Fred Davis, depicting hunts and feasts, and the entire minstrels gallery in the hall were unfortunately destroyed in a fire circa 1977.