Reasons for Designation
Parkham Wood House in Brixham, Devon, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is of particular interest in being the first of four houses by Mervyn Seal built in 1960-3, where he successfully used the butterfly roof which subsequently inspired him to develop this design concept further.
* It is a very interesting example of English modern domestic architecture that faithfully follows particular aspects of international 1930s architectural idiom and theory as expressed by Frank Lloyd Wright and in particular that of Le Corbusier.
* The way in which the overall design has incorporated its dramatic cliff setting (a challenging site to build on), and its spectacular views of Brixham, is impressive and unusual.
* Its plan flows very well, with inter-related spaces offering interesting internal vistas emphasised by the use of different materials, light, colour and changing levels.
* It contains many original bespoke features that are of a very high quality both in terms of design and use of materials.
Details
1946-1/0/10007
BRIXHAM
PARKHAM ROAD
Parkham Wood House
05-MAR-09
II
A house built in 1960 to a design by Mervyn Seal.
MATERIALS: Parkham Wood House is supported on five brick cross walls, set on concrete slab foundations bedded on the natural rock, carrying projecting cantilever beams in concrete to support the front part of the building. The floor of the house is laid in pre-cast hollow beams accommodating the reinforcement of the cantilever. The roof has timber joists laid from the rear solid wall to the front fascia, and is supported by beams over the glazed windows, and by five slender steel columns concealed between the large window frames. The roof, with a circular rooflight above the living room, is covered with 2" thick panels of compressed straw covered and sealed with cardboard.
PLAN: The house has an open elongated plan, with an entrance hall to the rear and a kitchen (set above a garage with study), at its far north end. The central part of the house consists of an open dining area and a living room and snug with a full lenghth balcony. The three bedrooms are situated on mezzanine level at the far south end.
EXTERIOR: The butterfly shaped, assymetrical west front is fully glazed with coloured vitroslabs at its north end, below the kitchen windows. The bedroom wing to the south projects slightly forward, and the distinctive form of the building is framed by deep projecting soffits that continue down the side walls, further articulated by a broad white vitreous-enamelled asbestos fascia. The central part of the facade has a rectangular shaped balcony with glass panels below the guard rail, leading to an external two flight stair constructed of a metal spine (custom made by metalworkers in Brixham harbour), supporting utile mahogany treads.
The rear elevation, facing the cliff, is almost blind, apart from a narrow rear entrance to the south bedroom wing, and a small flat roofed extension, added later in the C20. The elevation at the cantilevered south end of the building has a square window, set off-centre, lighting the masterbedroom.
INTERIOR: The interior has survived remarkably well and contains a number of features that form part of the original design, such as a V jointed parana pine ceiling from which hangs a bespoke chandelier of coloured glass, a snug at the end of the sunken livingroom with a local blue and red limestone wall terminating the vista from the open dining area, glazed sliding doors with utile mahogany frames and original door handles giving access to the balcony, a glazed bedroom on mezzanine level overlooking the living room, a custom made stair with metal spine supporting utile mahogany treads, to the same design as those to the exterior (the railings have been added later and are not of special interest), fixed metal and utile mahogany shelving units separating the dining area from the livingroom and the entrance hall, timber framed walls covered in strip v jointed solid Agba boarding, and utile mahogany pelmets. The floors are in concrete lined with polystyrene insulation and a screed providing underfloor heating.
SETTING: The house is built against a steep cliff, with natural rock formations integrated into the design, and further emphasised by a dramatic zig zag drive that has been cut through the rock. The fully glazed front of the house with its balcony offers wide panoramic views of Brixham, its harbour and the sea in the distance.
HISTORY
Parkham Wood House was built in 1960 for John Brady (owner of an adjacent hotel), to a design by the architect Mervyn Seal. The contractors, MP Kent Ltd completed the house within six months. From 1949 to 1954 Seal studied at the Royal West of England Academy, School of Architecture in Bristol. Subsequently he worked briefly at Gerrard Taylor and Partners in Bath. He then moved to the City of Bath Planning and Architects Department, for whom he designed Bath Haycombe Crematorium in 1957. Seal's first domestic designs include Lyncombe Coach House near Bath (1956-57), a conversion of a derelict coach house and stables. During this period he won an award in the Small House Design Competition held by the RIBA and Ideal Home for a patio bungalow he had designed. In 1959 he completed Bridge House in Condover, Shropshire, for his own young family. However, they moved out that same year, as Seal opened up his own architectural practice in Brixham, which he ran from there until 1996. Parkham Wood House was the first in his series of four houses with a so-called butterfly roof, all situated in the Torbay area. They include Kaywana Hall (1962, for his family), Elbury Hall (1962, for friends) and Corridon House (1963), now altered and/or extended. The four houses featured extensively in the 1963 Christmas edition of Ideal Home magazine. At Parkham Wood House, apart from the request for a three-bedroom house, Seal was given complete freedom of design. Its elongated open plan was first used by Seal in his earlier domestic work, such as Bridge House (1958). As confirmed by Mervyn Seal, his architectural style is strongly influenced by Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright.
SOURCES
Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeanneret, Oeuvre Complète 1929-1934 (first published in 1935 & reprinted in 1999 as a facsimile, ed W Boesiger).
FRS Yorke, The Modern House (1934, 3rd revised edn. 1937), p 37.
http://mervynseal.com
Ideal Home, December 1963, pp 58-64.
P Serenyi, 'Le Corbusier's Changing Attitude towards Form', published in The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 24, No. 1. (March 1965), pp. 15-23.
Magazine of the C20 Society, Winter 2007/8, p 3, pp. 6-7. (see also http://www.c20society.org.uk )
