No 15 Including Wall, Gate Posts And Gate To Front And Terrace To Rear

No. 15, including its wall, gate posts, gate to the front, and terrace to the rear, is a house dating from 1909, designed by Charles W Bowles FRIBA for the local artist Mary Heathcote Batchelor, and incorporating an artist’s studio on the top floor. The design takes the form of a Kentish Vernacular style, closely imitating a Wealden hall-house.

The front elevation is characterised by ground floor brickwork in English bond, while the first floor features close-studded construction with leaf-patterned pargetting between the studs. The roof is half-hipped and tiled, with brick chimneystacks at each end. The house is two storeys high with attics, and has four windows across the front. The central two bays are recessed, supported by brackets. The attic artist’s studio is topped with a triple-hipped dormer with nine leaded light casements. The first floor has four triple casement windows. The ground floor incorporates a series of mullioned windows, including a six-light mullioned and transomed window on the right-hand side, a four-light mullioned and transomed window to the staircase hall, and a plank door recessed within a Tudor-style architrave.

The rear elevation features a catslide roof and two large, tile-hung gables, displaying second-floor casements with pintle hinges. The first floor has five casements, and the ground floor a French window flanked by casements, along with a later lean-to extension to the right.

A terrace extends from the rear wall of the house, constructed from knapped flints in a pattern of tiles set on edge, with brick paving and three ironstone inserts. A circular feature comprises radiating sections of ironstone and tiles set on edge. A pathway of ironstone setts leads to the front of the house, with stone steps rising to wooden gate posts with a tiled canopy and gates featuring a wooden centre post and four wrought iron bars to each.

The interior of the house includes a staircase hall with an internal mullioned screen and a marble floor, featuring an ash staircase. The lounge contains a painting of the enclosed garden at Knole by Mary Batchelor, built over a wooden fireplace with green Art Nouveau tiles and two cupboards with octagonal glazing divided by pilasters. The dining room has an arched bressamer with run-out stops, alongside a brick fireplace and cross beams with run-out stops. The main bedroom also has a brick fireplace. The house retains a series of plank doors, original bathroom fittings, and a speaking tube.