Fox Oak Including Attached Terrace Walls

Fox Oak is a large house built between 1886 and 1892 by Halsey Ralph Ricardo for his brother, constructed in an Arts and Crafts style. The house is built of red brick in stretcher bond, with timber framing to the gables and pebble-dashed infill. It has a tiled roof and five brick chimneys. The building is roughly L-shaped, with a service wing and gardener's flat to the north-east being a single storey.

The north, or entrance, front is two storeys and attics, with six windows. The left side, three bays under a hipped roof, features a central square lead cupola with a weathervane and two projecting gables. The upper floors of the gables are timber framed with pebble-dashed infill, each having a four-light mullioned and transomed window to the first floor. Below this, there’s a three-light mullioned window and two doorcases with pediments, Tuscan columns, and six-panelled doors. A hipped dormer is present above the left bay, alongside two five-light windows. The right side projects with three overhanging gables on carved brackets, featuring three five-light windows to the first floor and a six-light window serving the ballroom/billiard room on the ground floor. The service wing and gardener’s flat on the extreme left has a projecting gable with a cove and multi-paned window.

The south, or garden, front has a one-storey brick service wing to the right, with four mullioned windows. The centre features three projecting timber-framed gables with three mullioned and transomed casements with leaded lights. The ground floor is supported by five Tuscan columns. The three bays on the left are set back, with three gables and three mullioned windows to the first floor. Two tall six-light windows are on the ground floor, and a doorcase with a flat hood on brackets sits on the left side.

The interior of the house is unusually complete and has seen very little alteration. There are two main staircases: the northern one with stick balusters, and the southern one which is larger with turned balusters. A hat room has decorative leaded light windows and a window seat. The dining room retains a serving hatch disguised as a cupboard, and while the fireplace has been modified in the later 20th century, the original surround may remain. The drawing room has a tiled fireplace. The ballroom/billiard room features an oak axial beam and exposed floor joists, Ionic piers and columns, and a large curved alcove with blue De Morgan tiles, including a panel featuring two ships. The service wing retains original room divisions, including an original wooden dresser and serving hatch to the kitchen. The first floor has several fireplaces with plain or Delft tiled surrounds, a window seat to a room with a bow window, a bathroom with original fittings and ventilation panels, and an unusually tall shaft to the cupola. Original doors are throughout the house.