Building record TQ 55 SW 373 - Otia Tuta, Grassy Lane, Sevenoaks

Two storey white painted house with Dutch style gable and green roof tiles, retaining original windows and chimneys. Alongside the lane it has a rendered brick gateway with a tiled roof and within a wooden gate with the house name carved on it, all in art deco style. Inset tiles are set in the ground in front of the gateway. (1)

The building was considered for Listed Building status in 2020 but rejected. Otia Tuta, Sevenoaks, was built in the 1920s to designs by CW Bowles, a local architect who is known for a number of well-regarded Arts and Crafts influenced houses. In the early C20 the town of Sevenoaks saw
considerable expansion. Although some of the most extensive areas of development occurred to the north, including the Wildernesse estate which attracted many well-known Arts and Crafts architects, other pockets of development occurred to the south, including the area within which Otia Tuta was constructed and which consisted of several detached dwellings laid out in large garden plots.

The exterior of Otia Tuta has varied elevations typical of domestic house design of this date and intended to give the appearance of an evolved plan, with features including an asymmetrical design. The building's footprint has been unaltered since its construction and it retains all of its original windows and doors. However, despite possessing architectural features associated with domestic dwellings of this date, the appearance of the building is more an unusual amalgamation of several individual design components that lack the coherence of the more accomplished designs in this tradition. In addition, the rear elevation is much plainer than the front or sides; it lacks the variety in its fenestration and includes a very simple garden door covered by a modest porch roof. It seems that given the building's location at the back of the plot, unlike many houses of this style and date, considerably less architectural attention has been given to this rear aspect. Although the building does display some notable features, including the variation of window forms and the prominent Dutch gable with some plasterwork detailing and rubbed-brick window surrounds, the largely rendered walls and tall chimney stacks lack the quality and subtle detailing found in the better
examples of this type of housing. In terms of its wider context, the house retains some brick lined steps and pathways within the garden and a contemporary detached gateway which, although simple, does somewhat advertise the architectural style of the main house beyond. However the site has lost an earlier ancillary outbuilding along with a large proportion of its garden, and the current garage is a very plain late-C20 construction.

The interior has been subject to very few alterations since it was first built and it retains a large proportion of original joinery. Although it is recognised that level of intactness is an important consideration for a dwelling of this date, a good level of survival does not automatically confer special architectural interest, and quality of design and materials must also be addressed. The linear plan is typical of this style of house, with a large central hall and surrounding principal rooms. The ground floor has some features of note including the personalisation of the ironwork within the hallway arcade, the ship-motif tiles (although it is not clear if all of these are in their original location), the rubbed-brick fireplace and window surrounds in the dining room and
evidence of plasterwork within the ceilings and walls. The drawing room has an elegant but more standard Georgian-style fireplace with some plaster detailing in the ceiling, although part of this has been removed with the insertion of a later lift. The other principal room to the rear, the breakfast room, is decorated with animal plasterwork motifs around the tops of the walls; however, it has lost its fireplace. The doors leading off the entrance hall have distinctive geometric panelling with scroll latches, although the moulding detail to these doors is fairly shallow; the rest are plainer painted panel doors with more typical circular ironwork handles. The stairway has some unusual detailing in the hollow newel post heads but otherwise its form is not of particular note. The first-floor decoration scheme retains its fireplaces, all of a very similar style and detailing,
again typical of this period. Like the exterior, internally the decorative scheme, particularly on the ground floor, is an amalgamation of several styles. Although it displays a good level of intactness, it does not show sufficient leve ls of quality in the terms of the finishes or use of materials to raise the building's level of architectural interest. (2)

Historic England, 2020, Case Name: Otia, Tuta and detached gateway, Grassy
Lane, Sevenoaks (Unpublished document). SKE53593.

<1> Sevenoaks District Council, Sevenoaks District Council Local List of Heritage Assets (Index). SKE53505.