The Grove

The Grove is a house built in 1908–9 for the industrialist Charles Holt by architect William Johnson Harrison Weller. It is situated on Wollescote Road in Dudley and represents a notable example of Birmingham style Arts and Crafts architecture.

The house is partly timber-framed with Flemish bond brickwork and ashlar dressings, beneath a plain tiled roof. It comprises two storeys with an attic and cellar, arranged in an L-shaped plan that faces west over the gardens, with a service wing to the east and an attached stable and garage block.

The western front displays considerable architectural ingenuity. Two projecting gabled wings with close-studded and small-framed timber-framing and arched braces flank a central loggia with a long balcony above. The balustrade features plank balusters with cut-out heart and diamond motifs. All windows throughout the house are casements. A four-light flat-roofed dormer serves the attic storey. Brick turrets to either side of the central feature are crowned by tall, diagonally-placed chimneys with small inglenook windows. The design demonstrates carefully managed asymmetry: the left gabled bay is consistently canted with taller ground floor windows, while the right bay is canted only at ground floor level with arched braces below the first floor casements.

The north face contains an entrance porch at centre with square timber columns supporting a canted flat-roofed bay, which is timber-framed. To the right is an ingle-nook turret with porthole and two-light casements; to the left is the service wing. The east face has a projecting gabled wing to the right with paired diagonal chimneys at the corners, and a smaller gabled wing with diagonal buttress in the re-entrant angle. At the far left is a ground floor loggia with timber columns supporting a lean-to roof.

The stable block, attached to the service wing running north–south, has been converted to garages and a gymnasium. Its west front features a timber-framed gablet, originally above a throughway (now blocked with a garage door inserted), with dovecote openings. To the right is a 20th-century panelled garage door. Casement windows to former stables occupy the left, and a two-storey turret with half-hipped roof stands at the far left, featuring a hoist and taking-in door. The rear shows an eastward extension with a catslide roof.

The interior is dominated by a large staircase hall of two storeys' height, marked on the exterior by the loggia and balcony. The staircase, balcony and balustrades are of stained pine with cut ornament of hearts and diamonds. Prominent newel posts connect to the ceiling at first floor level, featuring tapered octagonal upper bodies. At the foot of the stairs is an inglenook fireplace with a settle. The external first floor balcony is accessed from the landing, with a glass window overlooking the staircase hall, and a small angled squinch at the foot of the stairs to the second floor provides views across the space.

The drawing room features wooden panelling to the lower walls and close studding above a plate rack supported on paired miniature brackets. The inglenook fireplace has a cambered arch with fitted settles flanking it, each with tapered columns and fixed bookcases, and a further fixed bench to the canted bay window facing west. The dining room, originally similar, has lost its lower wall panelling due to dry rot, but retains its upper walls including the plate rack and beamed ceiling. A large kitchen has been formed from several smaller service rooms; original doors to the service staircase and cupboards survive, as do ceiling hooks from a former pantry.

The master bedroom on the first floor contains an inglenook fireplace with tiled cheeks and copper hood, a window seat to the canted bay, bookshelves and cupboards flanking the fireplace, and a fitted wardrobe. An en-suite bathroom has been formed from a former single bedroom, though its octagonal shape survives intact, including the large canted bay window over the entrance, and the fireplace with copper hood and tiled surround. The second bedroom originally had an inglenook fireplace, since subdivided to form a bathroom; the fire surround has been removed. An original sluice sink survives on the first floor landing. The second floor bedroom, apparently designed as a nursery, includes windows set low in the wall, a fitted settle, and a hidden corner with its own window behind the chimney breast, evidently designed as a secret space for children. The stable block interior has been converted to create a gymnasium and garages.

Charles Holt is believed to have commissioned Weller after viewing his own house, Longfield. The Grove originally stood on a large plot surrounded by open country, much of which has since been developed, and the once-generous gardens have been partly built over.

The house demonstrates considerable ingenuity in planning and use of space, with telling details throughout. The quality of finish is remarkable, particularly in the joinery of the staircase hall, drawing room and main bedrooms. Despite minor alterations, notably to the dining room and one bedroom, the overall design remains notably unspoilt and intact.