Description

DARTINGTON SX7962 DARTINGTON HALL 13/136 High Cross Hill House

16.1.81 II*

House. 1932 by W E Lescaze of Howe and Lescaze of America for W B Curry, the headmaster of Dartington School. Whitewashed rendered brick cavity walls. Originally the front (North) block was painted blue and the south block painted white in contrast. Concrete coping to the parapets which conceal the flat roof. Plan: An International Modern Style house, carefully planned. The house is basically a long rectangular front block interlocked with a taller square block behind and a small lower rectangular block with a curved corner in the rear right-hand angle. The ground plan consists of an entrance hall the servants' room and kitchen. The large drawing room and the slightly higher level dining room are in the square rear block which has cut away in the left-hand rear corner a verandah, and in the angle to the right the study occupies the small low block with a curved corner and a roof terrace above. On the first floor the guest bedrooms at the right- hand end of the front range have access to this roof terrace and the maids' bedrooms and linen cupboards etc. are at the left-hand end of the front range. The principal bedroom is in the rear block with its bathroom and writing room and the headmaster's daughter's room to the left had access to a roof terrace over the left-hand corner but this has been converted into another room. The stairs rise above the roof into a tower which gives access to the flat roof terrace of the taller rear block. Exterior: 2 storeys and stair tower. The house is conceived basically as 2 interlocking blocks with a smaller block with a curved corner in the rear right-hand angle. The long 2 storey north block has the entrance at the centre the kitchen to the left and garage to the right at a lower level. The entrance is to right of centre with a concrete cantilevered canopy over a boarded double doors with a flashing wall and seat projecting to the left; high level cloakroom windows to right of doorway, band of windows and doorway to left and a long continuous shallow band of windows across the first floor above. The garage doors are at a lower level in the right-hand (west) end of this north block. A large, taller, almost square block projects to the rear facing the garden to the south; the right corner is cut away to form a verandah on the ground floor and a roof terrace above supported on very thin steel tube posts; a glazed sun room been built later onto the terrace; to the left the large drawing room window continues around the corner into the verandah at the back of which the dining room has a French window. Rising from the left side of this rear block, the stair tower with an integral stack gives access to the roof terrace which has a tube steel and wire net balustrade. In the angle to the left the single storey block containing the study has a curved left-hand corner around which the window band continues, and above a roof terrace overlooked by the windows of the first floor rooms in the long front range. Many of the windows are in horizontal bands and they all have steel frames and plate glass and the cills are painted steel. Interior: All the walls are white plastered and the curved corners in the hall and on the landing are in contrast to the straight stairs with their solid wall balustrade with a chromium plated tube hand rail. The staircase rises up to the first floor and from the first floor into the stair tower which gives access to the roof terrace; here the balustrade is wooden with round stick balusters and square newels. The 'servants' quarters and kitchen are confined to the front left-hand (north east) corner of the house and here the ceiling heights on both floors are lower. Concealed sliding door from the hall to the drawing room. The drawing room has a fireplace with a large marble-faced lintel asymmetrically placed in the chimney breast. Wide hardwood steps lead from the drawing room is smaller and has French doors to the verandah and plywood cupboards with sliding hatch doors to the kitchen. The servants stair is similar to the top stage of the main stair and rises from the servants' living room. The study has an asymmetrical block glazed tile fireplace surround. On the first floor there are plywood cupboards and drawers in the servants' quarters and a large fitted wardrobe outside the principal bedroom which has a small fireplace in a curved corner. Generally all the doors are plywood, some with hardwood veneer, in painted steel doorframes. The heating radiators are set in the walls flush with the wall surface. High Cross Hill House was the first of the International Modern Style buildings to be built at Dartington References: C Hussey, Country Life 11 February 1933. Architect's drawings in Dartington Hall archive.

Listing NGR: SX7936062488

External Links

• Wikidata Q17533967

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