No. 224 Romford Road including boundary walls and carriage house

No. 224 Romford Road

This is a large, two-storey detached house built in 1878, designed in an eclectic Queen Anne style with decorative influences from the Aesthetic Movement. The building is constructed of orange brick laid in a free Flemish bond with terracotta dressings, and has tile roofs with decorative ridge tiles and finials. The plan is rectangular with a single-storey conservatory to the south-west. The roof plan is T-shaped with hipped gables to the west end of the front and rear elevations, and to the east side elevation.

The north elevation facing Romford Road displays a varied and complex roof line with a deep coved eaves cornice. From east to west, this comprises a lucarne with hipped roof; a semi-conical roof over the angled two-storey entrance bay; and a broad hipped gable with deep eaves and bargeboards. Windows are tall sashes, some broad and some narrow, with upper sashes and transoms featuring small-paned lights in a distinctive 'Japanaiserie' lattice design, mostly incorporating coloured glass. The window sills are of interlocking terracotta blocks, whilst the keys of the square-headed gauged brick lintels are decorated with terracotta reliefs of sunflowers. Extensive terracotta decoration adorns this elevation: a continuous band below the first-floor windows depicting sunflowers with foliage; square panels aligned with each window beneath this band featuring floral designs except for two date panels over the porch inscribed 'AD 1878'; and a second band of continuous floral motifs with a brick edging above the ground floor window lintels. The apex of the hipped gable is decorated with a chequerboard pattern of tiles bearing floral motifs. The ground floor rests on a shallow concrete plinth topped with chamfered blue engineering brick. A prominent porch projects from the canted entrance bay, featuring a tiled canopy supported on large wooden brackets with turned wooden spindles. The glazed front door has coloured glass lights and an eight-light transom. The western gable features a five-light square bay window with a hipped tile roof. The east and west elevations both have similar bay windows. The west elevation has a central lucarne with two tall windows and a terracotta finial.

The rear (south) elevation has an identical hipped gable to the front elevation. A square, single-storey bay with a pent roof is set off centre and connects to a single-storey range to the south-west with a steeply pitched tile roof, a tile-hung gable, and continuous fenestration to the south and east with top-hinged casements and multi-light transoms. Map evidence indicates that this range was originally a glazed conservatory. The rear elevation is completed by two hip-roofed lucarnes, the western one wider than the eastern, and a hipped dormer with a terracotta finial positioned between the hipped gable and the western lucarne. On the ground floor, a later timber verandah continues east from the bay window, with a tiled hipped roof and two skylights. The fenestration on the rear elevation is less elaborate than the front, comprising multi-pane casements and sashes, most with multi-light transoms featuring coloured glass. There are two tall brick quatrefoil chimneystacks.

Interior

The interior is largely unaltered, though some changes have been made to the mezzanine level servants' rooms at the rear, to the ground floor rooms to the east which form a separate flat, and to the kitchen and conservatory. Many original features survive, typically characteristic of the Aesthetic Movement. In the upstairs rooms there are three fireplaces fitted with inset Milton tiles from the Shakespeare series (c.1874) designed by John Moyr Smith and featuring Japanaiserie floral designs. The bedrooms have arched panelled cupboards, decorative ventilation vents, original joinery including five-panel doors, and additional fitted cupboards on the top landing. Original light switches and a Gothic ceiling rose in the stairwell are also present. The Canadian pine Japanaiserie open-well staircase features turned balusters and newels, ball pendants, a butler's tray rest, and glazed lattice understairs panelling.

On the ground floor, the hall and verandah have a geometric design quarry tile floor. Between the hall and front parlour are leaded window panels with coloured lights set in a wood frame. Deep covings reflecting those on the external elevation and heavily moulded door surrounds frame the main doors opening off the hall. In the study at the rear of the house are three built-in Canadian pine dressers, each with two hand-painted panels depicting parables or nursery rhymes. One dresser notably shows a woman with two children entering the porch of No. 224, inscribed with 'This is the house that Jack built' and the date 1878, with 'Jack' underlined, suggesting that John Thomas Newman was the designer. The study also contains a fireplace with Japanaiserie tiles and further Moyr Smith tiles from the 'Idylls of the King' series (c.1875), set in a Canadian pine surround. The rear parlour features a Canadian pine fireplace with an overmantel incorporating shelves and spindles matching the stair balusters. The fire surround has hand-painted tiles depicting birds and flowers on a gold ground. Full-height wooden panelling is present adjacent to the fireplace. The room is divided by a deeply moulded spine beam supported on consoles and has a Gothic ceiling rose. Glazed double doors with a coloured glass fanlight lead to the modern kitchen.

The front parlour also features a Gothic ceiling rose, deep coving, and an Anaglypta ceiling finish. It retains its dado panelling and unusual fitted shelves below the bay window with turned spindles, as well as a fitted dresser incorporating the coloured glazed panels visible through to the hall. The fireplace has a wooden surround and overmantel but has lost its original tile decoration. The kitchen has been extended into the original conservatory and largely modernised, including a modern brick rustic fireplace, although it retains its original fenestration and glazed door to the garden. The cellar retains its original slate shelving.

Subsidiary Features

To the south of the house is a contemporary carriage house built against the south boundary wall. It is constructed of orange brick on a concrete plinth with a hipped tile roof, double carriage doors to the west, and fenestration to the north elevations. A tall brick boundary wall to Margery Park Road incorporates an entrance to the carriage house with pyramid-capped gate piers. The wall adjoins the blind west wall of the former conservatory, after which it continues as wooden paling on a concrete base with brick piers around into Romford Road. Both the carriage house and the boundary wall to Margery Park Road are of special interest. The listing includes the boundary walls and carriage house as integral features of the property.