Oak House, West Bromwich

Oak House is a timber-framed house built around 1600, with additions from the mid to late 17th century. The building is largely timber-framed with various materials filling the panels between the frame, and some surfaces are rendered. The chimneys are brick, and there is a brick section at the rear. All roofs are covered in clay tiles, and the doors and windows are timber.

Plan and Layout

The house is oriented north-east to south-west, with its principal front elevation facing north-east (referred to here as north for simplicity). It comprises a central hall with cross-wings extending south to east and west, forming a U-shape. The western wing extends further south than the eastern one. A gable projects north from the hall at right-angles. A porch projects north from the west side of the hall, positioned over the cross-passage between the hall and western cross-wing. At the rear, adjoining the hall and the internal sides of the cross-wings, is a stair block which extends south beyond the east wing, though not as far as the west wing.

External Appearance

The house is two storeys throughout, except for the rear stair block which has three storeys over a cellar. The central hall sits under a pitched roof running east to west, with a projection to the north under another pitched roof at right-angles to the main roof. Flanking the hall are the two cross-wings, each under a pitched roof with gables facing north and south. The rear stair block has two parallel pitched roofs with gables facing south. These roofs have been extended downwards to east and west to meet the cross-wings. The gables of the timber-framed sections are decorated with finials at their apices.

The prospect tower rises above the ridge of the hall roof and the north end of the stair block. It has a complex roof with six gables: two each to north and south, and one each to east and west. Of the two southern gables, the western one extends further south, while the eastern is abutted by the chimney of the rear stair block. The tower has an oriel window on its north and west elevations. In contrast to the plain framing of the rest of the house (except the porch), the tower's timber framing is decorative, featuring herringbone and quatrefoil patterns, with individual timbers displaying geometric carving.

Four tall, wide brick chimney stacks are present. The first stack is attached to the east end of the east cross-wing, connected to the cross-wing's roof at right-angles by its own pitched roof. The second stack rises through the ridge of the hall roof's east end. The third rises through the rear stair block immediately south of the hall. The fourth crosses the ridge in the centre of the west cross-wing. All stacks have brick plinth bases. Three of the brick stacks are decorated with stepped corbelling up to oversailing tops and have flues which are eight-pointed star-shaped in plan. The stack to the rear stair block is rectangular in plan and decorated with recessed arched panels separated by piers.

Generally, the walls are in close-studded box-framing with mid rails and straight diagonal braces to the corners. The house sits on a low brick plinth introduced in the late 19th century when the sill plate and bottoms of the lower timber studs were replaced. Most doors and windows are 19th-century timber, with the larger windows having moulded mullions and transoms, and smaller flanking lights mullioned. These features are based on a small number of surviving original windows and doors.

North (Principal) Elevation

The principal elevation faces north and comprises three bays defined by gable ends, all two storeys high. Each bay is jettied out at both first-floor and gable level, with exposed dragon beams under the corners of the first-floor jetties of the porch and corners to side elevations. The dragon beams and jetties are supported by scrolled consoles. From west to east, the bays are: the parlour cross-wing, the projection north from the hall, then the service cross-wing. The porch forms a lower, narrower gable (still two storeys) over the cross-passage between parlour and hall.

The three main bays each have an oriel window on both floors, and the porch has an oriel window on its first floor only. Each oriel is supported by two scrolled consoles. The windows to the parlour wing and hall bay have mullioned flanking lights. In the service wing, the ground-floor oriel has flanking lights to its east, with a studded plank door to the kitchen to its west. The service wing's first-floor oriel has a window to its west, separated from the larger window by a stud and two narrow infill panels. The oriels are irregularly positioned in the gable ends, with only the porch window and the first-floor windows of the hall and parlour gables centred under the apices.

The gables of the two cross-wings are close-studded with two rails, while the hall gable has a single rail with close studding below it and a wide kingpost with raking struts above. The porch has close studding above and below a rail on its ground-floor level, and ogee-shaped braces on its first floor. The door is of studded planks with straps in a moulded frame.

East Elevation

The east elevation shows the side of the eastern cross-wing and the southern ends of the stair block and western cross-wing. The north end of the east cross-wing is covered by the brick chimney, which is built in English garden wall bond with dentil courses marking first-floor and eaves levels. Two stone mullioned windows are at first-floor level in the chimney. From the eaves, the brickwork rises as a stepped parapet to the roof gable behind before meeting the (rebuilt in different brick) plinth for the flues.

South of the chimney, the east wing is timber-framed with a dormer window under a pitched roof at first-floor level and a doorway (a late 19th-century insertion) to the dairy at ground-floor level. The framing within the dormer's gable is a broad kingpost and two raking struts, with these timbers embellished with carving. The brick stair tower has a triple-light stone-mullioned window on the ground floor and a late 19th-century single-light window at second-floor level. Projecting brick drip courses are above the ground and first-floor windows; these continue to the east side of the south end of the parlour wing, which is also in brick, with stone mullioned windows on ground and first floors.

South Elevation

The south elevation shows the rears of the cross-wings and the stair block. At the eastern end is a short return of the east brick chimney, with single-light windows in stone surrounds at ground and first-floor levels, both later insertions. The west cross-wing and stair block are in brick—English bond to the lower parts and garden wall bond to the higher levels. The east cross-wing is timber-framed, with triple-light mullion and transom oriel windows at both ground and first floors. Both floors have a single-light window to the west of the oriel; that at first-floor level is a later insertion.

The stair block has a basement storey lit by windows just above ground level. It has a pair of triple stone windows on its ground and first floors, and smaller double windows on its second floor. Drip moulds run between ground and first floor, first and second floor, and second floor and gable. A plinth brick course denotes the break between ground floor and cellar. The gables of the stair block's double pitched roof are behind scrolled Dutch-gable parapets, each with a stone quatrefoil opening. The slopes of the roofs from the stair tower have been continued down to meet the wings on either side, forming triangular attic spaces between stair tower and cross-wings, with each space lit by a single window; the one to the east is a later insertion.

The west cross-wing has a stone three-light mullioned window on each floor and a drip mould between ground and first floors. Its gable is a parapet which extends out in kneelers to its base. The west side of the elevation is stepped out from the first floor to cover the jettying of the west elevation around the corner.

West Elevation

The west elevation shows the side of the western cross-wing, which is timber-framed and jettied, supported by consoles. Its openings reflect its three internal bays, with the central bay (which houses the fireplace) narrower, and the chimney rising through the ridge. This central bay has a mullion and transom window on ground and first floors. The larger flanking bays each have oriel windows of five lights on the ground floor and four-light dormers below the eaves. The south end of the elevation is a return in brick from the rear of the house; this brick section is stepped out using corbelled bricks to cover the jettied timber framing to the rest of the elevation.

Interior

Ground-floor surfaces are stone flags in the hall and service areas, late 19th-century woodblock in the parlour rooms, and oak boards over the cellar in the stair block. Upper floors have oak floorboards, though in many places these are replaced with pine. Ceiling beams are exposed and are chamfered with stops. Walls generally have plaster covering, with higher-status rooms having wood panelling. The exception is the rear bedroom in the parlour wing, which is plastered and where early 17th-century wall painting was found. Occasionally timber framing is exposed, largely in the dairy and upstairs in the service wing.

While much of the wall panelling was brought in during the 1890s works, there is 17th-century panelling original to the house on both floors of the parlour wing. The fireplaces with Delft tile surrounds date from the 1890s. Some doorway positions were altered in the 1890s, though many 17th-century doors are retained. Roof trusses have a tie beam separated from a mid-height collar by three posts. In the roof, mid and late 20th-century repairs have resulted in replacement of some rafters and repairs to purlins. Unusually, the parlour wing rather than the service wing adjoins the cross-passage, an arrangement opposite to the usual.

Ground Floor

The main entrance is through the porch on the north elevation. The porch's ceiling shows its dragon beams meeting a spine beam which is centred over the moulded inner doorway. This leads into the cross-passage, which is open to the hall on its eastern side. The hall has a fireplace at its eastern end, beyond which is the service wing with the kitchen to the north and the dairy and a walk-in L-shaped storage cupboard to the south. A large chamfered beam runs centrally the length of the hall ceiling, with the ceiling south of this beam removed to allow light from the prospect tower through the house. A door on the west side of the cross-passage leads to the parlour, with the cross-passage continuing south into the stair block, from where there is another doorway to the west into the central fireplace bay of the parlour wing.

The kitchen's ceiling shows large stop-chamfered beams, including the diagonally set eastern dragon beam from the jettied north front of the house. The fireplace to the east of the room is in the mid 17th-century brick addition to the east elevation, though it has been altered and narrowed with a 20th-century concrete lintel. It is thought that originally the kitchen's fire was on the west wall, sharing the chimney with that at the east end of the hall. A late 19th-century service staircase is south of the kitchen, between it and the dairy. It is possible that the external door in the north elevation of the kitchen is an enlargement of an original window.

The front (north) parlour room has its fireplace to the south; this has a 19th-century Delft tile surround and uses one side of the chimney which takes up the narrower bay between the two parlour rooms. The rear (south) parlour room has the same arrangement of chamfered ceiling beams as the south parlour, but its fireplace has more elaborate panelling over it, decorated with arches, diamonds and flowers.

The stair block has a room on its east side, identified as a former pantry from inventories, but now with wood-panelled walls. The stairs are U-shaped and have splat balusters pierced with a variety of designs. Newel posts and pendants are a mixture of faceted and perforated, and the handrails have decorative strips carved in a range of patterns. This mixture of decoration may indicate alteration incorporating re-use of a stair from another location, though the current configuration was in place before the 19th-century works. The cellar is accessed from a 17th-century door in the stair block and has a stone floor and a fireplace.

First Floor

The main stairs arrive at a landing on the first floor and continue up to the attic. The landing has four rooms leading off it: two rooms to the west, one to the east and one straight ahead to the north. The room to the east is part of the stair block phase and was a bedroom. The room to the north is over the hall and was formerly a bedroom, but in the late 19th-century works had the south part of its floor and ceiling removed. The opening is protected by a rail supported by splat balusters. A Delft tiled fireplace with wood-panelled surround is at the east end of the room, and a door to the north allows access to the room over the porch.

A door east from the former bedroom with balcony leads to the landing for the stairs up from between kitchen and dairy below. This landing extends to a corridor with its east end within the eastern brick chimney stack. Off the corridor are two rooms to the north now in use as offices and a room to the south over the dairy, formerly the cheese loft, now partitioned to form a WC on its west side. The south wall of this landing exposes a large section of timber framing displaying carpenter's marks.

The parlour wing has two bedrooms, north and south of the chimney, with closets to either side of the chimney. The front (north) bedroom in the parlour wing has particularly high-quality panelling, with a thistle motif to the top row of panels, and a chimneypiece (enclosing a 19th-century fireplace) with pilasters, arches and grape and vine carvings. The rear bedroom has a fireplace dating to around 1800, and a coved ceiling probably from the 19th-century works. A section of wall painting found in this room is on display here.

Attic Floor

The main stairs continue up to a small landing on the attic floor. The attic has a room to the east, in 2023 in use for storing some of the museum display items. In the north-west corner of the landing is a doorway behind which are stairs up, formerly allowing access to the prospect tower. A doorway in the north side of the landing leads through to a gallery running east to west and looking down through the removed floors below to the hall. The gallery has a pierced splat banister balustrade. At either end of the gallery are doors accessing the attic spaces. The floor of the prospect tower room above has been removed, with a fireplace in the wall indicating its approximate level.