Bickley Court

Bickley Court is a detached house built in 1904 by the notable architect Ernest Newton in a restrained Neo-Georgian style. It is one of three houses designed by Newton on the Bickley Park Estate, which was developed by a property developer named Mr Hart. The other Newton houses were No 38 and No 35 (Ennore), with No 35 also listed at Grade II.

The building is constructed of red brick in English bond with a hipped plain-tiled roof featuring a moulded timber cornice and five tall brick chimneystacks. Windows are a mixture of twelve-pane timber exposed box sashes with stone cills and wooden side-hung casements.

The house is two storeys with attics and has an L-shaped plan. The main rectangular body faces north to south with end canted bays to the south and a projecting service wing to the north. The main house contains four main rooms to each floor and six bedrooms and a dressing room, including two bedrooms above the service wing.

The north or entrance front is asymmetrical, with two hipped dormers with casement windows below eaves level. The front features a large three-tier, three-light staircase window to the left, two irregularly spaced casement windows to both first and ground floors, and an offset entrance with a panelled front door and side lights set within a porch with arched timber cornice and lead roof supported on brick pilasters. The projecting service wing is symmetrical, with sash windows having cambered heads to the ground floor. It has two windows facing north on each floor and two windows to the first floor and three to the ground floor facing west. Attached to the east side is a one-storey service wing, partly extended in the late 20th century to form a garage.

The south or garden front is symmetrical with four tripartite hipped dormers with casements. The lower floors have ten sash windows, with six in the two-storey canted bays and cambered heads to the ground floor. Iron hooks survive from the original wooden louvred external shutters, shown in an early photograph. The garden door is offset for effect with a flat wooden hood featuring cornice and console brackets, pilasters and a half-glazed door with divided rectangular fanlight. The east side has mainly sash windows except for a tall casement window lighting the service staircase.

The interior begins with a lobby containing a half-glazed wooden panelled screen that leads to a staircase hall. The staircase is a painted wooden well staircase with gallery, slender turned balusters and square newel posts. A number of eight-panelled doors survive on the ground floor. The drawing room to the west has a replaced cornice and fireplace. The adjoining study, originally a morning room, retains a wooden fireplace with marble and tiled insert and a carved and coved cornice. The dining room to the east has a wooden fireplace with eared architrave. The former service wing contains a service staircase with well and stick balusters. The ground floor service rooms, originally comprising pantry, servants hall and kitchen, have been modernised. The north-western one-storey service wing, originally comprising scullery, larder and coals, was later adapted to become a garage.

The upper floor has a corridor with round-headed arches and a series of four-panelled doors. The south-east bedroom has a wooden fireplace with painted tiled interior. The adjoining bedroom to the west has an identical fireplace with unpainted green tiles. The south-western bedroom has a wider wooden fireplace, probably with a replaced firegrate. The north bedroom has a wooden fireplace with painted tiles and a round-headed alcove. Many first-floor rooms retain the original narrow moulded cornice and skirting boards.

The house and its ground and first-floor plans are illustrated in William G Newton's 1925 memorial volume, "The Work of Ernest Newton RA". Later in the 20th century the house was divided into flats but was subsequently returned to single ownership.