Description

BEECHES AVENUE
1.
4430
CARSHALTON BEECHES
TQ 2763 33/246 No 40
II
2.
2 storey, 2-bay house built 1903-4 for Frank Dickinson [1874-1961] to his own
design; he also designed and mostly constructed the fittings of the interior.
Very plain exterior; roughcast walls and green slate roof; northern bay projects
forward and is gabled with 4-light window above and 5-light splayed bay window
below. Southern bay is constructed at right angles to it with the roof descending
low over the porch; 4-light dormer above; door with handsome letter box and side
lights below. Interior is furnished completely in the prevailing styles of the
Arts and Crafts at that time. Painted doors in vestibule; ornate door handles.
In living room/sitting room carved beams showing owl, squirrels and rabbits over
bay window of living room; carved beam in centre bearing on one side the inscription
"Serve Humanity the Gods we know not" and on the other side representations of
a fox in vine tendrils. Fireplace in living room has a "round red brick arch
with hand painted tiles, each side framing the arch, above is a copper panel
in hammered relief depicting a landscape with setting sun .... the whole is framed
in polished red pine"; surmounted by a painted triptych. Panelling. Panelled
staircase balusters pierced with heart motif. Sitting room fireplace with a Tudor
arch in red brick and similar hand-painted tiles; "panel over arch in moulded
plaster representing dancing nymphs and piping pans"; painted triptych. In the
principal bedroom a fireplace with "hammered steel framing with slightly raised
ornament all hand-wrought .... over which is a plaster panel representing a group
from the famous picture "The Sleeping Beauty" by Burne-Jones, and inscribed with
the title "How they all Slept" .... depicting sleepers at a loom" .... "the whole
scheme framed in polished pine." [Quotations taken from autobiography of Frank
Diakinson]. Listed on account of interior fittings. Gate-posts ornamented with
motifs in same style; wooden gate with "Little Holland House" carved in ornamental
letters, decorated bird-bath.

Listing NGR: TQ2748163389

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• 40, Beeches Avenue official website
• Wikidata Q26318746

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings