Building record 7198/0/61 - Avenue House (now SATRA House), Rockingham Road

Avenue House originated as a villa in the late 1890s and was substantially enlarged in 1914. The house was built for the managing director of the Kettering Coal and Iron Company in relative proximity to Kettering Furnaces. In the 1940s it ceased to be a residence and was used as a research centre for the shoe industry.

{2} A level 2/3 historic building record was undertaken prior to the building's conversion to residential care apartments.

The house was built and owned by the Kettering Iron and Coal Company, which operated Kettering Furnaces. Avenue House was a substantial villa with an M-shaped roof. It was built in full view of the furnace works, about 380m to the east. Its name was probably derived from the tree-lined track and footpath which ran beyond the northern boundary of the property; the main route to work for most of the furnace men. The house was constructed between 1888 and 1899 and was lived in by the company's managing director, H J Preston, and his family. After his father died, Preston received substantial shares in the company and a re-development of Avenue House followed with the addition of a grand east-west wing, with a datestone of 1914 marking the completion of the enlargment. At the same time, additional land was acquired to create extensive gardens and grounds which stretched westwards as far as the Slade Brook. Preston died in 1923 and in July of the following year his widow auctioned many of the furnishings. The history of much of the 1920s is unknown, but it appears to have been lived in by a number of private individuals. After WWII, the property was purchased by SATRA (British Boot, Shoe and Allied Trades Research Association) to construct a new research centre. The villa was renamed SATRA house. In the late 1940s, substantial laboratories with an E-shaped footprint were built to the immediate west and south-west of the villa, and linked to its western elevation by means of an internal walkway.

Large two-storey detached villa with an L-shaped plan; a north-south wing (constructed late 19th century) and an east-wing (constructed 1914). It is built in brick with limestone dressings and a tiled roof. The southern elevation has two sub-octagonal stone-dressed turrets situated at the southern corners and two, two-storied and stone-dressed bay windows, all of which are united by an ashlar parapet and moulded stringcourse. Each bay window has a gable, which is set back from the parapet. A complementary single-storey stone-dressed bay window with ashlar parapet is located on the north side of the wing.

<1> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 1996-2013, Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group Newsletter, Issue 110 p.3, Issue 112 p.6 (unchecked) (Newsletter). SNN55360.

<2> Wilson, M., 2018, Avenue House, Rockingham Road, Kettering, Northants (A Victorian Villa & early 20th century Mansion at the former SATRA Innovation Centre): Historic Building Record (Report). SNN111369.

<3> Crank, N. (Editor), 2019, South Midlands Archaeology (49), p. 84-5 (Journal). SNN111755.

Record last edited

Nov 29 2019 10:34AM