Norwood, Roadhead

Norwood is a large, two-storey and attic villa with an attic, constructed in 1904 in the Arts and Crafts style by James Pearson Alison. The house is arranged in an L-shape. The prominent features include a porch to the north elevation, a central verandah and balcony to the south elevation, shouldered gablet dormerheads, overhanging eaves, and a finialled conservatory.

The exterior is built from squared, snecked, bull-faced yellow sandstone with polished ashlar dressings; a deep base course is also present. Stone mullions and transoms feature in the stairwell and most ground-floor windows, whilst mullions are found in other windows. Dormers have a quadripartite, flat roof design. The north elevation features a two-leaf, six-panel timber door set within a deeply projecting, central, piend-roofed porch supported by twinned, squat, Doric columns and a deep stone base. A gabled bay is to the left, and a quadripartite mullioned window to the right, with recessed, twinned, bipartite stair windows above. An advanced, irregularly fenestrated service wing extends to the outer right, forming a courtyard. The east elevation incorporates a shallow, five-light bow window with a central glazed door to the left and a bipartite window to the right, with three evenly spaced dormers above. The south (garden) elevation presents a broad, three-bay, symmetrical facade with glazed central doors flanked by narrow lights on both ground and first floors. Advanced, shouldered-gabled bays are positioned at the outer sides; the right bay has quadripartite windows at ground and first floors, while the left bay features a two-storey canted window, with tripartite windows in the apexes of the gables. A brick-based, timber-framed, cast-iron-bracketed conservatory is located to the outer left. The plain, irregularly fenestrated west (rear) elevation has a conservatory to the outer right and two stone steps leading to the back door within a slightly advanced section to the left.

Plate glass is fitted within timber sash and case windows. Corniced chimney stacks are topped with circular buff clay cans, and predominantly cast-iron rainwater goods are in place.

Inside, the lobby has terrazzo flooring. The drawing room features decorative oval plasterwork to the ceiling, which opens onto a cross-shaped room below marked by fluted timber pillars and an inglenook. A two-bay arcade with a central timber column connects the central hall to the principal stair. The curved timber stair has square newels and balusters, a curved timber handrail, curved gallery landing and an oculus rooflight. Timber three-panel doors lead to the principal areas, while four-panel timber doors characterize the service areas. Timber chimneypieces are present throughout, some with stucco detailing, Arts and Crafts copper grates, and glazed, tube-lined ceramic tiles. Cornices are both plain and decorative. Decorative cast-iron radiators are also present. A Shanks low canopy bath is within the property. Boarded timber cupboards are found in the butler’s pantry.