Garden House

Details

THAKEHAM

957/0/10052 LITTLE THAKEHAM 25-NOV-05 Garden House

GV II Originally stables and workshops, now house. Designed in 1902 by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Ernest Blackburn's house Little Thakeham. Vernacular Revival style. It comprises two L-shaped one storey to one storey and attic ranges facing north and south. They are built of brick in Flemish bond with weatherboarded gabled and tiled roofs, half-hipped to the east and west, with brick chimneystacks. They are linked only by a central brick wall with iron gate to the west, facing the main house. EXTERIOR: The west elevation facing the main house is of a domestic character. Each range has an end one storey and attic section with weatherboarded attic and wooden ventilation aperture to the attic and a six-light stone mullioned window with leaded lights below. To the centre each range has a one storey section with hipped roof and tall brick chimney, the southern range having in addition a mid C20 curved bay. The north elevation of the north range was covered by vegetation but appeared to be unaltered with no openings. The east elevation has a weatherboarded gable with plank door to original hayloft approached up a flight of wooden external stairs. The south elevation of the north range has been painted and the eastern part has later C20 weatherboarding and double doors inserted for residential use. The western part is as built with a casement window and plank door in the one storey section, together with built-in seat and triangular mounting block, then a large Diocletian window and double doors. The south elevation of the north range now has four later uPVC windows, double doors and a late C20 angled conservatory. The east elevation has a late C20 window and cast iron balcony replacing original attic access by external staircase.The southern elevation has been painted but is otherwise unaltered with three large Diocletian openings, the western one also containing a door and with the same arrangement of seat and mounting block as the north range. INTERIOR: The western part of the north range has two queenpost trusses with additional arched braces. The eastern part was not seen but original rafters were reported. The one storey section to the south west had a small painted stone fireplace and could have been a tack room originally. The southern range retained no visible original fittings but original rafters were reported and a well under part of the structure. HISTORY: The Garden House was designed in 1902 by Sir Edwin Lutyens as part of the Little Thakeham estate which also included the main house (listed grade I) and the garden (II* on the Gardens Register). Little Thakeham was designed for Ernest Blackburn, a keen amateur gardener who carried out his own planting within structures designed by Lutyens. The original Lutyens drawing shows the Garden House marked as "Stables " with a range of glasshouses to the south which are no longer present. The plan shows the two ranges joined but this was probably altered during building. The plan also shows a plan for a kitchen garden radiating out from a dipping well but the land was laid out to commercial orchards from the 1950s. In 1919 the house, gardens and grounds were sold to the Aggs family. In 1975 some alterations were carried out to the Garden House and in 1979 the main house was sold and became a country house hotel but reverted to private ownership in 2000. The northern range was at one time used as stables and coachhouse but was later used for storage and the southern range was used as an estate forge and workshop.

Vernacular Revival style stables and workshops designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens as an integral component of the Little Thakeham estate.

[Nairn and Pevsner "Buildings of England: Sussex" (1965) pp349-50. Lutyens Arts Council Catalogue of Hayward Exhibition 1981 pp103-106. Jane Brown "Lutyens and the Edwardians" pp77-83. Plan in "Edwin Lutyens. Architectural Monograph."]

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

494539

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Lutyens (catalogue of an exhibition), (1981)
Pevsner, N, Nairn, I, The Buildings of England: Sussex, (1965), 349-50
Brown, J, Lutyens and the Edwardians, an English architect and his clients, (1996), 77-83

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