Description

790/0/10095 THE GREEN
04-JUL-03 Southgate
17
Oakbeams (including boundary walls)

GV II
Large detached house and related boundary walls. 1929-31. Paul Badcock FRIBA, architect. Two and a half storeys. Red brick with half timbering, tiled roof.
EXTERIOR: irregular front with a projecting gabled range to the right of the entrance. Rectangular windows with leaded lights and timber mullions. Herringbone brickwork infill to the central gable. Soldier course at first floor level of angle-set bricks. Small dormers to attic. Large brick chimneystacks. Rear elevation with a gabled projection at the southern end with rough elm boarding over the projecting oriel window of the master bedroom at first floor level; the high pitched roof of the central section rises up from first floor level through two rows of dormer windows. Lower ranges to either side, beneath jettied elm-boarded gable ends.
INTERIOR: features of note include a double-height entrance hall with gallery and exposed timbers, carved panels to the uprights depicting birds, flowers, women and a sentry, decorative plasterwork and a fireplace with a brick surround, tiled decoration and a tapering hood. To the left of the front door is a fine inscription tablet of Hopton Wood stone, reading 'Of earth's fullness are my parts of iron and oakbeams stone and clay to shelter hearts for aye', beneath a relief of an oak branch. Dining room with a fireplace with a granite and oak surround. Oak staircase with L-shaped landing. Upper bedrooms include one (described as the boy's bedroom in early accounts) with carved oak figures of Long John Silver and Robinson Crusoe, beneath the inscription 'O to be up and doing!'; in the master bedroom are carved oak figures of angels. A panelled room on the second floor was formerly known as the Monk's Room.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES: the brick boundary wall incorporates earlier fabric (probably 18th century) alongside gabled niches. The front wall incorporates wrought iron grilles and is inscribed OAKBEAMS MCMXXIX; on the inside of the wall is a stone panel with lettering reading 'Let me live in my house by the side of the road while the races of men go by'. Two carved oak posts supporting lanterns stand in front of the house.
HISTORY: built for George Cole, a graphic designer and artist's agent, Oakbeams is an unusually elaborate example of a 'Stockbroker Tudor' inter-war suburban house. It retains many of its original decorative fixtures which are of a high standard: the carver of the woodwork, Herbert Joseph Cribb, was an associate of Eric Gill's; he signed much of the carved work here, which is dated 1931. The fusion of tradition, sentiment and romance is noteworthy and casts interesting light on suburban culture at the time of the Great Depression. The interior was largely remodelled in 1935 by the prestigious form of Gordon Russell Ltd: some of these fittings were sold in 1973, when the dining room was acquired by the Geffrye Museum for display.
SOURCES: Decoration, May 1935; Clive Aslet, 'Heart of Oak, Veneered', Country Life Sept 15 1983, 668-69.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Oakbeams at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q24022941

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

• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)