Description

787/0/10200

Chiswick
SUTTON LANE SOUTH
59, Former vicarage to the Church of St Michael Sutton Court

12-JAN-06

GV
II
Former vicarage, c1909, by William Douglas Caröe. A two storey, plus attic level house of red brick in English bond, with a hipped clay tile roof, and a single storey service block on its north side in Flemish bond. The vicarage is roughly contemporary with the adjacent Church of St Michael Sutton Court, also by Caröe, and displays a combination of Arts and Crafts and Queen Anne/Neo-Georgian styles.

EXTERIOR: the garden front is the most architecturally striking. It is symmetrical and of two bays, with two large bow windows at ground floor level (one with an inserted door), with a decorative rainwater head in between and two large small-pane casements at first floor level under overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends. At roof level a central pair of tile-hung dormer casements sits either side of a prominent stack with a curved tile top. The other facades are less regular. The entrance front to the west is of three bays with a part glazed front door with a small-pane glazed surround, and a large carved wooden canopy with scrolled iron work. There is a small-pane casement above the door and two larger casements at ground and first floor levels to the left of the door, but the wall to the right is blind. There is also a dormer casement. The north façade has another prominent central stack, behind a central dormer casement. The single storey service block extends from this front. The eastern façade has two small-pane casements to the ground and first floors, with a six-pane small casement between the two first floor windows. All of the windows have projecting tile and brick lintels. The single storey service block is of Flemish bond, and has plank doors with stylised leaf door furniture different to that used in the main house. This block may be a slightly later addition.

INTERIOR: the interior corresponds with the typical layout of vicarages designed by Caröe pre-1914. The lobby is divided from the central hall by a part-glazed door and screen, with a study to one side which has an entrance from the lobby and the hall, which would have allowed parishioners to enter the study without coming into the main body of the house. To the other side of the hall are two spacious rooms which would have been the drawing and dining rooms, with a kitchen to the rear. A scullery, pantry and various store rooms in the service block are entered via the kitchen. The lobby has a parquet style clay tile floor, the same as those in the entrances to St Michael's Church. The study appears to have lost its original fireplace although it retains the red glazed tiles in the hearth. All of the doors to the rooms leading off the hall have a distinctive diamond shape panel, used in other Caröe vicarages, except for an unusual three-panelled door under the stairs, consisting of one long and two short panels. The hall retains its fireplace with green glazed tiles and stone mantelpiece, but those in the drawing and dining rooms have been removed. Cornices, picture and dado rails are retained in places. The utility room to the rear retains part glazed cupboards, which may be a slightly later addition, whilst the kitchen has lost its fireplace but retains a built in cupboard. The service block has plank doors and stylised leaf door furniture through out, with the scullery retaining its simple fireplace, and the pantry its long slate work top. A simple but fine open well stick baluster staircase, with moulded treads, ramped handrail and drop finials rises from the hall.

The vicarage continues to follow the plan for larger Caröe builds, with four bedrooms on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second. All of the first and second floor doors are of the unusual three panelled variety described above, and each bedroom retains its original fireplace. The two most decorative are one in a front bedroom on the first floor, with green glazed tiles in the hearth, and red, green and blue square tiles in the fire surround; the second is in a rear bedroom on the same floor and has a Delft tile surround. The fireplaces on the second floor are lower with cast iron grates with a diamond motif. Dado and picture rails are retained in places on the first floor. All of the windows throughout the house retain their decorative metal catches in an Arts and Crafts interpretation of a late C17/early C18 design.

HISTORY: the Vicarage is by the same architect as the adjacent Church of St Michael Sutton Court, William Douglas Caröe (1857-1938), and is thought to be contemporary in date. W. D Caröe was the senior architect to the Church Commissioners from 1895 until his death. Many of his commissions for new churches included associated vicarages or parsonages.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: an extremely complete example of an Edwardian vicarage of c1909 by W.D Caröe, a prominent architect of the late C19 and early C20, which skilfully combines the Arts and Crafts and Queen Anne/Neo-Georgian styles. It retains the typical Caröe vicarage plan form, as well as a wealth of original internal fixtures and fittings, including a number of his trademark features such as the diamond panelled doors. It also has strong group value with the adjacent Church of St Michael (qv), which is contemporary in date and also by Caröe.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26670827

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)