Site:  

6 Church Green East, Town Centre (Beech House)

Grid Reference:    

SP 0417 6774

Description:

Large town house, now offices. Mid 19th century with mid 20th century alterations and addition. Orange brickwork in Flemish bond with rendered stone dressings and hipped machine-tiled roof with brick stacks. Square block with main fa�ade of 3 bays. 2 storeys with rendered plinth, sill band at first-floor level and dentilled eaves cornice with panelled soffit. Rusticated end quoins. Ground-floor windows have flanking Doric pilasters with entablature above and are tripartite with central 4-pane sash, now with single pane of glass in lower sash. First-floor windows have eared and shouldered architraves and 4-pane sashes, each with a rendered panel beneath that appears as a blocking course to the entablature above the ground-floor windows and porch. Central entrance has a Doric porch with arched side openings and a recessed panel beneath. Round-arched doorway with moulded architrave, double half-glazed doors and glazed fanlight. Rear elevation has a central arched stair window at first-floor level and a central entrance with a canopy on console brackets.

Mid 20th century, flat-roofed, two storey addition adjoins right side of building  

Significance:

Large imposing house in the High Victorian classical manner that has retained its striking fa�ade and forms an important part of the mid/late 19th development that occurred around the church green following the construction of the new parish church by Henry Woodyer between 1854-5. Together with Nos. 3-5 (qv), which is of a similar date and detail, it makes a strong statement at the northern end of the green.

History:

Number 6 Church Green East was Beech House, (number 7 today) and represents one of the Green’s most imposing properties. It was the home of the Warrins from the date it was built in the 1850’s until 1931. (see the Warrin Family Tree.) Joseph Warrin – who was born in Redditch - was a needle and fish hook manufacturer and prior to moving into Beech House lived on Fish Hill. He seems to have a place of work on Chapel Green in the 1840s. By the 1861 Census he was living at Beech House with his wife Elizabeth (Elisa) Spawforth and their four children, two boys and two girls. The family business was conducted at the Eagle Works which was on the Green, possibly behind Beech House. Next door at the then number 7 lived, James Warrin and his sister, Sophronia, brother and sister to Joseph. James was classified as a fish hook manufacturer and also worked at Eagle Mills.

Joseph and Elisa’s children were Emily Beatrice, Ellen Rose, Edward Spawforth and Joseph Horsfall.  By 1871 the two boys were classified as needle makers and the 1872 Post Office Directory shows the family as Joseph Warrin and Son, Needle Manufacturers, Church Green.

Although the sons married and moved away the company name remained the same and  continued to be at the Eagle Works. Joseph died in 1879 and Elisa in 1886 but the 1888 Kelly’s Directory still listed the Eagle Works as Joseph Warrin and Son. It is likely that the family were still taking an income from the company but it was being managed by others.

The daughters did not marry and remained in the family home for the rest of their lives, Emily dying in 1925 and Ellen in 1931 at the age of 88. Beech House had been the Warrin family home for over 70 years. It is clear that the Warrins were a wealthy family living in a substantial property in a prime location. The Warrin daughters owned property and had servants and it seems that the sons were also able to live a good life by owning property. When Ellen died she left over £22,000, a substantial sum in 1931.