Early 20th century house, Wild Oaks, East Hanningfield Road (EHER 80835)

Wild Oaks is a sizeable, detached property built in 1904 in an Arts and Crafts style, which was popularised in the late 19th/early 20th century. The building exhibits several features synonymous with the Arts and Crafts style including an imitation timber frame and a roof with various ridge lines. Since construction, the building has had a porch added as well as two extensions and a conservatory. The interior of Wild Oaks also retains some original features, such as the staircase, the cornicing and picture rails. An original timber arch is also present in the ground-floor hall.

May 2023. Heritage assessment. Wild Oaks is a sizeable, detached property built in 1904 in an Arts and Crafts style, which was popularised in the late 19th/early 20th century. The building exhibits several features synonymous with the Arts and Crafts style including an imitation timber frame and a roof with various ridge lines. Since construction, the building has had a porch added as well as two extensions and a conservatory. The interior of Wild Oaks also retains some original features, such as the staircase, the cornicing and picture rails. An original timber arch is also present in the ground-floor hall. Wild Oaks is a two storey house on a rough E-W alignment. It is constructed from red brick laid in Stretcher bond. The roof of the building has multiple ridge-lines at varying heights, most of which are hipped and clad in plain-tile with ceramic ridge-tiles, except the Northern end of the central range which is gabled. There is also an area of flat roof in the Western corner of the roof. The roof has probably been recovered at some point. All windows and doors are timber framed. All of the windows seem to be original to the structure while the rear patio doors and internal front door are probable replacements. The Northern elevation is the street-fronting façade, although the building is set back from the road with a large front garden. The first floor of this elevation is clad in imitation timber framing, infilled with roughcast render, in a mock-Tudor fashion. The timber is painted black and the render white. The Eastern range is a later extension also constructed from red brick in Stretcher bond and also on the East side is a modern timber framed conservatory. Much of the interior of Wild Oaks has become damp, causing an abundance of mould and fungi to grow on many surfaces. The first floor was decided to be too unsafe to enter due to volume of mould growing. <1>