Houses and gardens by Sir Edwin Lutyens, R.A.;

Front matter

HOUSES & GARDENS BY SIR EDWIN LUTYENS, R.A.

SIR LAWRENCE WEAVER, x.pe., F8.A., HonA.RLB.A.

hr aught ed es

Preface To The Third Impression

'T is alike usual and fitting that the reprint of a book, as distinct from a new edition, shall go out with no more to mark its newness than the date of its issue. ‘‘ Houses and Gardens by E. L. Lutyens”” was first published in 1913, and a kindly public demanded a second impression in 1914, before the war-cloud burst. By r1g2r that issue had long been exhausted, and the Cenotaph had brought its designer’s name within the ken of thousands to whom it had hitherto meant nothing. I therefore prepared an abridged edition with the title “Lutyens Houses and Gardens” and wrote in its preface that the larger work would be replaced in due course by a more complete record. Urgent pre-occupations have delayed me in setting about that task, and meanwhile the demand for a re-issue of the original work (with its 580 illustrations as against 144 in the abridgement) has not abated and needed to be met. But the change of my subject’s “style and title” called for a correction in the name of the book itself and in the printing of Sir Edwin’s name throughout. ‘These changes have been made, but no others. I am at pains, in Sir Edwin’s interest and my own, to mark the facts that this re-issue records no work of his done later than 1912, and that my estimate of Sir Edwin’s place in modern architecture stands as I wrote it twelve long dividing years ago.

In the interval the art of Sir Edwin has developed notably, and, I hope, my appreciation of it, and of architecture at large. The book as written covers twenty-one years of work, including the juventlia which are of historical rather than esthetic importance.

Had I been able to make a new record covering thirty-four years, the proportion of mature work would have been so much greater that the balance of the book, and the impression given, would have been wholly different.

This apologia seemed due to the reader, to my subject, and to myself, and explains a second preface.

LAWRENCE WEAVER.

February, 1925.

viii. HOUSES AND GARDENS BY SIR EDWIN LUTYENS.

ORIGINAL PREFACE.

RCHITECTURE is the most vital of the arts with which we, as a nation, have to do. The work of the men who practise it is the most important factor in the enlargement of the public mind on esthetics generally. A foreign critic said not long ago that the domestic architecture of Great Britain to-day is not only

a finer thing than that of any other country, but better than that of any period of history. It is a large claim, which it would be immodest for an English writer to repeat, were it not made by an outside observer. As it was, it may be examined in a detached spirit. The praise is strictly limited to domestic work. In the larger field of civic building and in the planning of towns, in the exercise of the Grand Manner, Great Britain lags deplorably. The very individualism that is expressed so intimately in domestic building may be a handicap to us as a people when we come to deal with schemes of a municipal or national sort. Our street architecture from that point of view is too often a confused expression of unrelated eclecticisms. The Palladian manner stands cheek by jowl with Tudor fancies, which are so much constrained by the urgent bands of Building Acts and commercial needs that they lack the life and sincerity of the originals. One massive clubhouse in the dress of the French Renaissance competes with another that recalls an Italian palazzo. Quiet elevations that have survived from the days of Robert Adam and of the English Regency are overshadowed by towering monuments of a nondescript classicism, tortured to fit the plans demanded by business enterprise. The quiet and regular brick facades of the eighteenth century disappear with alarming rapidity and are replaced by a restless assortment of warring elements. It is all very gloomy, and it is not clear whence help will come.

We turn, therefore, with refreshment, as did the foreign critic, to the field where individual taste may find its just expression in building without running the risk of destroying a neighbour by unhappy contrast—to the country house. In this direction the debt which the twentieth century owes to the nineteenth and to such great architects as Norman Shaw, Eden Nesfield, George Devey and Philip Webb cannot be exaggerated. hey relit the torch which is being carried on by a new generation of men, among whom Sir Edwin Lutyens fills a large place. They were essentially pioneers. They not only re-established principles of traditional domestic design which had been drowned in the fervours of the Gothic Revival, but they set out to rediscover the right uses of material. As men of their own time, they had to adjust the new outlook to an infinite variety of pressing problems in the planning and equipment of houses. An ever-increasing standard of comfort demanded of them a machinery of living which, could an Elizabethan or Georgian architect revisit us, would leave him dumb and nerveless. A mass of mechanisms has to be built into walls and floors without making its ugly presence known. The house must show fronts unsullied by a wealth of contrivance. How well such practical difficulties have been solved is clear when we remember how ingeniously the necessities of modern comfort are kept from obtruding their presence. It is an aspect of house-building which quite escapes the amateur and the doctrinaire.

When we turn to the greater question of design, it is wiser to look on each succeeding style as, in its way, the just expression of its generation. As the inheritors of a great tradition of long development, we are at liberty to ransack the centuries for the architectural expression which best represents our outlook on life and manners. It seems unreasonable to choose any one moment in the centuries and claim for it an essential rightness of inspiration to be denied to others. Rightness in modern design can best be shown by the wise handling of these varying motifs, by the absorption of their essentials, and by a fresh expression of the chosen outlook in the same language, but in new phrases. Architecture can no more invent a new style than

PREFACE. IDK, iterature can create a new language. Just as a modern writer will abjure the precise imitation of Elizabethan forms, though he may seek to express as richly and strongly the spirit of his day out of a vocabulary but little changed, so does the architect set his skill to solve new problems with old materials, and from the same elements to create new compositions. Guided by tradition, but stimulated by fresh needs to make a new architecture rather than mere copies of the old, the architects of to-day deserve well of their generation. Among them are many men of outstanding ability. Each has his own gift and personal note. To one some early phase of traditional building most appeals by its welding of simplicity with elasticity of plan. Another is at home with the more restricted opportunity given by the balance, symmetry and sobriety that came in with the full Renaissance. It is because Sir Edwin has achieved a large and equal succ im many manners that his work is especially worthy of close study. His wide range and fertility of invention provide the critic with a long series of illustrative texts on which may be built a general discussion of the aims and tendencies of modern domestic architecture.

It is from no lack of appreciation of the widespread ability which informs the house-building of to-day that I have now attempted a separate monograph on the work of one man. I may, perhaps, claim to have done something to enlarge public appreciation of the admirable houses which are being built up and down the land, by illustrating and describing the work of nearly two hundred architects in the pages of Country Life.

It is because the influence of Sir Edwin is good, strong and increasing, and because his art gives me a large personal pleasure, that I have ventured on the difficult task of presenting his domestic work as a whole. The moment seems appropriate. He has lately been elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, at an age when that honour has come to few, but there is a more cogent reason for publishing the book at this comparatively early stage in his career. ‘The year 1913 sees him in some sort at a parting of the ways. After nearly twenty-five years of work almost entirely devoted to houses and gardens of many types and sizes, he has been appointed joint architect with Mr. Herbert Baker of the new Imperial City of Delhi. As he has an amazing capacity for work, we may believe, as well as hope, that he will continue to build fascinating houses and that this side of his work will show a continuous development.

This is a convenient time, therefore, to attempt a survey of his past achievement in domestic architecture. Perhaps this word of personal explanation may be allowed to a writer who has attempted an unusual task, unusual because it is our habit to bury Cesar before we praise him. I could not have attempted to publish this book if I had not a deep, but I trust not uncritical, admiration for what Sir Edwin has done and is doing. My only complaint is that he has hindered rather than helped me, by being very sparing of information and by refusing to read proofs. While this does honour to his modesty, it is somewhat disconcerting to a writer who attaches importance to accuracy of detail, which in this case he has not always been able to check. What I have written about the houses illustrated has followed visits made to them in all but a few cases, and those not very important.

The list of his works (page 318) is believed to be reasonably complete and accurate. It is so long that I have not attempted to illustrate more houses and gardens than seemed needful o explain the development of Sir Edwin’s art. Chapters XXII. to XXVI. are given up in part to work in other fields than domestic architecture, in order that his outlook on different problems of design may be indicated, but the scope of the book forbade any attempt at full illustration or description.

Many of the subjects discussed are now illustrated for the first time. Others have appeared in various technical papers and in the pages of Country Life. I have to thank my friend Mr. H. Avray Tipping for allowing me to incorporate in my chapters, notably that on Hestercombe, some parts of articles written by him.

LAWRENCE WEAVER.

‘

November, 1913.

CHAPTER

Wl

JOU.

TV

VIL.

VIII.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

HOUSES AND GARDENS BY SIR EDWIN LUTYENS.

GONE No.

PAGE INTRODUCTION.

A General Review of Sir Edwin Lutyens’

Work - - - - - - - XVii.

TYPICAL EARLY WORKS: Crooksbury House ;

Ruckmans ; Garden at Woodside, Chenies; Sullingstead ;

Munstead Wood ; Fulbrook House - - ir FOUR SURREY HOUSES OF 1899.

Orchards, Godalming ; Goddards, Abinger

Common; Tigbourne Court, Witley ;

Littlecroft, Guildford - - - - 23 TWO NORFOLK HOUSES, 1899.

Overstrand Hall and The Pleasaunce,

Overstrand = - - - - - - 48 WORK DONE IN 1g00-1.

Deanery Garden, Sonning; Fisher's Hill,

Woking ; Homewood, Knebworth ; Abbots-

wood, Gloucestershire —- - - - 53 MARSHCOURT, HAMPSHIRE, 1901 - - 95 GREY WALLS, GULLANE, i901 - - 94 WORK DONE IN 1902-3.

Little Thakeham, Sussex; Papillon Hall,

Leicestershire ; The Hoo, Willingdon ;

Daneshill, Hants Monkton, Sussex - - 103 LINDISFARNE CASTLE, HOLY ISLAND: RESTORATION BE! 1903 AND FINISHED 1912 - = = 2 = = zy) THE GARDENS AT HESTERCOMBE, 1904 140 ASHBY ST. LEDGERS, NORTHAMPTON- SHURE ADDITIONS TO MANOR HOUSE (r904) AND COTTAGES (1909) - 158 THREE SMALLER HOUSES, 1905-7.

Millmead, Bramley ; The Dormy House,

Walton Heath; Barton St. Mary, East

Grinstead - - - - - - 164 NEW PLACE, SHEDFIELD, HANTS, 1906 175 HEATHCOTE, ILKLEY, x906 - - - 183 THREE ALTERED HOUSES, 1906-9.

Copse Hill, Gloucestershire ; Wittersham

House, Kent ; Whalton Manor, Northumb-

CHAPTER XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XXII.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXYV.

SALUTATION, SANDWICH, 1912 - -

GREAT DIXTER, SUSSEX, 19r0; AND HOWTH CASTLE, CO. DUBLIN’ - -

FOLLY FARM, BERKSHIRE, 1906 AND I9i2 - - - - - - - -

WORK AT THE HAMPSTEAD GARDEN SUBURB.

St. Jude’s Church ; The Institute ; The Vicarage ; Houses in

The Free Church ;

North Square - - - - -

TOWN Houses

BUILDINGS.

Westminster; Parliament at

16, Lower Berkeley Street and 28 and 15, in Chamber, Inner Temple; Interiors Queen Anne’s Gate; A Garden in Chelsea ; St. John’s Life Building ; Theosophical Society's Headquarters; Art Gallery, Johannesburg ; Designs for Dublin Art Gallery -

Institute ; Country

DESIGNS FOR PUBLIC The Schemes for Edward

MONUMEN

Regiment’s Memorial

Rand ; Two VII. Memorial on Piccadilly Site ; Scheme for Edward VIT.

Memorial in Trafalgar Square - -

EXHIBITION BUILDINGS.

Paris, 1900; Rome, r9tr; ‘‘ Shakespeare’s England,” 1912 - - - - =

DESIGNS FOR FURNITURE - - - LIST OF WORKS BY SIR EDWIN LUTYENS FROM 1888 TO 1913 -

APPENDIX. detail Drawings of Important Houses and Gardens - - S a 2 a

INDEX - - ‘ 2

PAGE LAMBAY, IRELAND, 1905-12 - - - 204 TEMPLE DINSLEY, HERTS, 1909 - - 221 THREE SMALLER HOUSES, 1908-9.

Middlefield, Great Shelford; Chussex, Walton-on-the Hill; Knebworth Golf Club House - - - - - - 232 NASHDOM, TAPLOW, BUCKS, 1909 - 238 GREAT MAYTHAM, KENT, 1910; THE

2Qg1

HOUSES AND GARDENS BY SIR EDWIN LUTYENS. sal,

List Ok

FRONTISPIECE: HEATHCOTE, ILKLEY.

Introduction

I. Early Picturesque Manner: Crooksbury, 1890.

II. First Important Garden Scheme : Woodside, 1893.

III. Fireplace in Farmhouse Manner at Munstead.

IV. Half-timber and Tile-hanging, Sullingstead, 1896.

V. Early Picturesque and More Classical Treatment.

VI. Nonconformist Chapel: Overstrand, 1898.

VII. Le Bois des Moutiers, Varengeville, 1808.

VIII. Early Use of Brickwork in Garden Architecture.

IX. Picturesque Manner Developed and Broadened.

X. Use of Massive Mate XI. Elaboration of Garden Details, r899 : Goddards.

XII. and XIII. Sliding Sashes and Hipped Roofs, 1902.

XIV. Use of Material—Chalk, Flint and Brick, roor.

XV. Monkton, Singleton, 1902.

XVI. Mingling of Early and Later Renaissance Motifs.

XVII. A Brick Fireplace: Daneshill, 1903.

XVIII. Typical Work of Restoration : XIX. An Example of the Exclusive Use of Brick.

XX. A Large Garden Scheme: Hestercombe, 1904.

XXI. House Relying Wholly on Mass and Proportion The Salutation, Sandwich, r912 XD Granite Oriel at Howth Castle, rgro.

XXIV. and XXV._ Kentish Brickwork : Lodge at Knowlton.

XXVI. Folly Farm, Sulhampstead, 1906 and rgz2.

XNXVITL. Additions to Roehampton House, 1913.

CHAPTER TI.

CROOKSBURY.

x. Garden Porch on South Side of West Wing, 1890.

2. Paved Garden and Corridor between Wings.

3. Fig Court—xz8go on left ; 1898 on right.

j. Plans.

5. East Wing, added in 1898.

6. 1898 Wing from the South-East.

RUCKMANS.

7. Garden Front from the South-West, 1894 g. Older Part (1894): Music-room (1902).

Io. Staircase, 1894.

ur. Fireplace in a Bedroom.

12. 1 jlace in the Dining-room.

13. Plan of Cottage.

14. View of Cottage.

GARDEN AT WOODSIDE, CHENIES, 1893.

15. The Sundial.

16. From the Pond Court, looking East into River Garden.

17. Plan.

18. Pergola in Pond Court.

1g. Pond Court, looking South-East.

SULLINGSTEAD. 20. Half-timber work on North Side, 1896. 21. Entrance Front from West, 1896. 22. Gabled Drawing-room and Hipped Music-roam.

3. Plans.

2 South-West Side of Music-room, 1903. 25. From the East.

MUNSTEAD WOOD, 1806. 26. From the South-West.

Garden Plan. 8. Munstead Wood. g. South Front seen Through the Wood.

2 2 s, I900: Deanery Garden.

Lindisfarne Castle.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

30. The Tank.

31. Paved Court and Steps on North Side.

2. Tank and Steps on North Side, Looking Westwards. 33- On the South Side, Looking Westwards.

34. Thunder-house.

35. Lally

36. House Plans.

37. Upstairs Corridor.

FULBROOK, 1897. 38. Entrance Front. 39. West Wing with Octagonal Turret. 40. East Front. 41. South Front. 42. Hall and Staircase.

Chapter II

ORCHARDS, GODALMING. 43. Entrance. 44. House Plans. 15. Entrance to Courtyard. 46. Porch and Cloister in Courtyard. 47. Within the Cloister. 48. Looking North-West to Kitchen Wing. 49. ipping Well in Kitchen Garden. 50. The South-East Corner. 1. Garden Plan. 2. A Garden Archway. 3. Arch in Kitchen Garden Wall. 4. House and Garden from the East. 5. Tile-built Wall Fountain. 6. From the East. 7. Stairway to the East Loggia. 8. A Map in Tiles in the Study. 59. The Dining-room. 60. Staircase to Studio. 6x. Main Staircase and First Floor Corridor.

GODDARDS. 62. Entrance Front. 63. Brick Mullions and Horsham Heeling, 1899. 64. Plans of House. 65. Garden Court from the North-West, as Built in 1899. 66. Paving of West Court. 67. The South Wing, as Built in 1899. 68. Dipping Well in West Court. 69. New West End of North Wing, added in rgro. 70. From the South-West, Showing Additions to Wings.

7z. The Common Room. 72. The Skittle Alley, 1899. 73. Door to Common Room.

TIGBOURNE COURT, 1899. 74. Plans of House. 5. From the South-East. 6. The Dining Loggia. 7. Pergola and Well. 8. Entrance Front from the Road. 79. The Balcony on the West Side. 80. The Terrace.

LITTLECROFT, GUILDFORD. 81. Entrance Front. 82. Staircase from Front Door. 83. Garden Front from South-West. 84. Stairs from Lower Hall. 85. Plans of House.

Xi.

SIR

EDWIN LUTYENS.

CHAPTER HALL.

DT OVERSTRAND

86. In the Fountain Court.

87. Entrance Front from South-West.

88. From Entry to Fountain Court.

89. From the North-East.

go. Plans of House.

gt. The Hall Fireplace.

g2. The Staircase.

93. Drawing-room.

94. North Loggia on East Front.

THE PLEASAUNCE, OVERSTRAND.

95. The Pleasaunce.

96. The Paved Garden.

O7) dubeseorch:

Chapter IV. Deanery Garden, Sonning

98. In the Tank Court, Looking South-East.

99. On the Upper Terrace.

too. South-West Side: Looking up to the Terrace. ror. Garden Front from the West.

102. The Canal and Terminal Pool.

103. ‘Tank at North-West End of Garden.

104. Hall Window and Terrace Bridge from South-West 105. Retaining Wall and Steps.

106. Site Plan.

107. LookingNorth-West: Archway Leading to Court. 108. South End of Pergola.

109. House Plans.

iro. The Hall Fireplace.

rir. The Hall from the Entrance.

FISHER’S HILL, WOKING.

112. The Porch.

113. On the Terrace. 114. The South Front. 115. From South-East. 116, Plans of House.

HOMEWOOD, KNEBWORTH.

117. Twin Gables on South-West Front. 118. Steps on South-East Front.

121. South-East Side.

122. First Floor Corridor.

123. Entrance Door from South-West. 124. Hall and Stairs.

ABBOTSWOOD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

The Main Entrance Door.

TDS

127. Entrance Front from North-East.

128, The West Front.

129. Inthe Paved Garden: Looking North. 130. The Pergola.

131. The Lily Pool and Fountain.

132. Garden House Overlooking Tennis Lawn. 133. Garden House from Lower Lawn.

135. The Dining-room.

136. The Hall Arcade.

CHAPTER V. MARSHCOURT, HAMPSHIRE, igor

137. From Porch to Forecourt.

138. The North Side.

139. From the West.

140. The East Wing.

141. The Loggia.

142, The Hall Bay from South th

143. Part of South Front Seen Across Pool Garden. 144. Entrance Front from North-West.

145. The Sunk Pool Garden,

146. From the South-West. 147. Pool Garden: Looking South. 148. The Tile-built Pergola. 149. Garden Plan. 150. Little Pools Under Pergola.. 151. Plans of House. 152. The Vestibule. 153. First Floor Corridor. 154. Staircase from Billiard-room. 155. An Upper Stair. 156. Stair Down to Basement. 157. Main Staircase. 158. Billiard-room. 159. Dining-room Door. 160. The Dining-room. 161. The Hall Screen. 162. The Hall: Looking East. 163. Stone Sundial with Lead Inlay.

Chapter VI

GREY WALLS, GULLANE. 164. The House from the Outer Court. 165. From the North. 166. Garden Plan. 167. Entrance Front from South-West. 168. Entrance Front. 169. South-East Side. 170. ‘Tea-room from the Formal Garden. 171. Through the West Window of the ‘Tea-room. 172. Part of the North-West Front. 173. Ground Plan of House. 174. Corridor Sitting-room. 175. Garage. 176. ‘Two of the Lodges. 177. Gardener’s Cottage : North-East Corner. 178. Gardener’s Cottage from the South-West. 179. Enlarged Plan of Lodges.

Chapter VII

LITTLE THAKEHAM, SUSSEX, 180. Within the Forecourt. 181. The Staircase Landing. 182. The Hall Bay. 183. House Plans. 184. Hall and Screen. 185. Library Fireplace. 186. In the Parlour. 187. ‘The South Front and Pergola. 188. Garden Plan. 189. Garden Front from the South-West. 1g0. South-West Descent from the Pergola. 1gt. Lily Pool and Iris Mor 1g2. North Front from the Road.

PAPILLON HALL, LEICESTERSHIRE. 193. Ground Floor Plan. 194. The Basin Court. 195. From Porch to Basin Court. 196. East Front. 197. Garden House and Gate Piers. 198. Lily Pool on South Side. 199. Drawing-room,. 200. Dining-room. 201. Stairs. 202. Hall.

THE HOO, WILLINGDON. 203. Garden House and Terrace Balcony. 204. Gables and Steps. 205. Entrance Court. 206. The Two Pavilions from Middle Level. 207. Steps and Pavilion from Lower Level. 208. Seat and Sundial. 209. Ground Floor Plan. 210. The Garden Front,

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Xili.

DANESHILL. 211. West Side. 212. Plans 213. Brick Fireplace. 214. Entrance Front. 215. Garden Front from South-East.

MONKTON, 216.

Pio

LINDISFARNE

SINGLETON.

From the South-East.

Loggia and Balcony.

The Balconies.

Under the Loggia.

The East Garden Room.

Plans.

Entrance Front.

A Bedroom.

The Head of the Stair.

. From the South.

CHAPTER

CASE R EOI: From the South-East.

The Castle in 1 From the North- The Way Up to the Lower Battery.

Look-out from Entrance to Lower Battery Stair.

From the North-West.

The Entry Hall: Looking South-West.

The Entry Hall: Looking North.

Plans.

WOM ISLAND.

Dining-room.

Ship Room.

Stairway up to Gallery : A Com Gallery : Looking East.

One of the Bedrooms.

On the Upper Battery :

Looking West.

r in the Gall

Looking West.

Chapter IX. At Hestercombe

Looking South from Within the Rotunda.

Main Terrace and Retaining Walls Below the House.

Plan of the Gardens.

Looking North into the Rotunda.

Rill and Arbour in Rose Garden : Walled Pool Enclosure, West Water Garden.

Looking Northwards into the Pool Enclosure.

The Great Plat : The West Water Buttressed Retaining Wall.

Steps at South-West corner of Great Plat.

Tank at South-West Corner of Great Plat.

Looking Eastwards Under the Pergola.

Looking North-East Across the Great Plat.

Look The Orangery from the South-West.

West End of Orangery.

East End of Orangery and Stairway.

At West End of Dutch Garden.

Looking Westwards Across the Dutch Garden.

Looking Southwards.

Garden