A HOUSE AT HADLEY WOOD
This delightful house, designed by Mr. Wontner Smith, F. R. I. B. A., provides still more evidence, if evidence were needed, that the modern standard of domestic planning is a very high one. Never before the time in which we live has the private house, both large and small, provided such a degree of comfort and convenience. The plan here illustrated shows an arrangement of rooms with which it would be difficult to find a fault. Approaching the house by a vestibule, one enters a spacious hall looking on to a terrace with steps down to the garden. To the right and left are lobbies giving access to the drawing-room and diningroom respectively, the latter being in separate communication with the kitchen quarters
The style of building may be described as Regency, and it is proved once more what a charming style this is and how well it can be adapted to modern usages. The white stucco frontages, with their long parapet walls and orderly array of windows, adorned with delicate architraves, contribute to an effect which is genuinely aristocratic in its refinement and restraint. The appropriate distinction between the main front and the garden front is admirably achieved, for while the former is marked by a certain severity in the pattern of its fenestration, the latter exhibits a greater freedom of treatment expressed in the projecting wings with bays and the round-headed windows in the central portion. It is noteworthy that the difference of level between the ground floor and garden is expressed architecturally by means of the delightfully designed terrace with formal staircases and balustrade. The approach to the house from the road is of special interest, inasmuch as we have here an example of the American method of displaying a
private house in the frankest manner possible without the intermediate screens, walls or hedges which have traditionally been employed for so long in English country houses. As in this instance none of the principal rooms face on to the road, no sacrifice of privacy is entailed by the arrangement, while undoubtedly the public are the gainers by being given an unobstructed view of a very pleasant and gracious house. The entrance gateway has on either side of it substantial pylons faced in stucco to match the rest of the building, while the boundary of the road is marked by a series of white posts united by nothing more than a well-detailed metal chain. Mr. Wontner Smith has here made a notable contribution to modern domestic architecture.
The general contractors were Messrs. Allen Fairhead & Sons, Ltd., Enfield, who also executed all the joinery, plumbing and plastering. The following were the sub-contractors: Messrs. J. Wontner-Smith, Gray & Co., Ltd. (heating and hot water); Mr. G. G. Whitelegg (garden lay-out); Messrs. C. E. Welstead, Ltd. (casements); Messrs. John Bolding & Sons, Ltd. (bathroom fittings and sanitary work); Messrs. Blunt & Wray (door furniture); Messrs. Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Co., Ltd. (rubber flooring); Messrs. Marels & Co., Ltd., Swinton Street, W. C. (fibrous plaster work); Messrs. A. H. Herbert & Co., Ltd. (supplied and laid roof tiles); Messrs. Van Straaten & Co. (tiling work); Messrs. Thomas Elsley, Ltd. (rain-water heads); Messrs. Burt, Escare & Denelle, Ltd. (electrical fittings); Messrs. Burnet & Co. (curtains and draperies); Messrs. G. A. Lawford & Co. (asphalt); Messrs. Bratt, Colbran & Co. (fireplaces); Mr. A. W. Peacock (carving). HOUSE AT CAMLET WAT, HADLEY WOOD.
C. Wontner Smith, F. R. I. B. A., Architect.
This delightful house, designed by Mr. Wontner Smith, F. R. I. B. A., provides still more evidence, if evidence were needed, that the modern standard of domestic planning is a very high one. Never before the time in which we live has the private house, both large and small, provided such a degree of comfort and convenience. The plan here illustrated shows an arrangement of rooms with which it would be difficult to find a fault. Approaching the house by a vestibule, one enters a spacious hall looking on to a terrace with steps down to the garden. To the right and left are lobbies giving access to the drawing-room and diningroom respectively, the latter being in separate communication with the kitchen quarters
The style of building may be described as Regency, and it is proved once more what a charming style this is and how well it can be adapted to modern usages. The white stucco frontages, with their long parapet walls and orderly array of windows, adorned with delicate architraves, contribute to an effect which is genuinely aristocratic in its refinement and restraint. The appropriate distinction between the main front and the garden front is admirably achieved, for while the former is marked by a certain severity in the pattern of its fenestration, the latter exhibits a greater freedom of treatment expressed in the projecting wings with bays and the round-headed windows in the central portion. It is noteworthy that the difference of level between the ground floor and garden is expressed architecturally by means of the delightfully designed terrace with formal staircases and balustrade. The approach to the house from the road is of special interest, inasmuch as we have here an example of the American method of displaying a
private house in the frankest manner possible without the intermediate screens, walls or hedges which have traditionally been employed for so long in English country houses. As in this instance none of the principal rooms face on to the road, no sacrifice of privacy is entailed by the arrangement, while undoubtedly the public are the gainers by being given an unobstructed view of a very pleasant and gracious house. The entrance gateway has on either side of it substantial pylons faced in stucco to match the rest of the building, while the boundary of the road is marked by a series of white posts united by nothing more than a well-detailed metal chain. Mr. Wontner Smith has here made a notable contribution to modern domestic architecture.
The general contractors were Messrs. Allen Fairhead & Sons, Ltd., Enfield, who also executed all the joinery, plumbing and plastering. The following were the sub-contractors: Messrs. J. Wontner-Smith, Gray & Co., Ltd. (heating and hot water); Mr. G. G. Whitelegg (garden lay-out); Messrs. C. E. Welstead, Ltd. (casements); Messrs. John Bolding & Sons, Ltd. (bathroom fittings and sanitary work); Messrs. Blunt & Wray (door furniture); Messrs. Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Co., Ltd. (rubber flooring); Messrs. Marels & Co., Ltd., Swinton Street, W. C. (fibrous plaster work); Messrs. A. H. Herbert & Co., Ltd. (supplied and laid roof tiles); Messrs. Van Straaten & Co. (tiling work); Messrs. Thomas Elsley, Ltd. (rain-water heads); Messrs. Burt, Escare & Denelle, Ltd. (electrical fittings); Messrs. Burnet & Co. (curtains and draperies); Messrs. G. A. Lawford & Co. (asphalt); Messrs. Bratt, Colbran & Co. (fireplaces); Mr. A. W. Peacock (carving). HOUSE AT CAMLET WAT, HADLEY WOOD.
C. Wontner Smith, F. R. I. B. A., Architect.