Great House, High Street, Dedham, Dedham, Essex

Summary

Town house in the classical tradition, built in 1937-38 to the designs of Raymond Erith.

Description

MATERIALS: Salvaged White Suffolk bricks and slates.

PLAN: Rectangular with narrow, single-storey wings projecting at right angles at the rear, that on the right containing the scullery and larder, and that on the left the cloakroom.

EXTERIOR: Great House is an idiosyncratic version of the local manner of building in the second quarter of the C19. It is a large, three-storey house under a shallow hipped roof with a wide chimney stack positioned in the centre of the ridge. The front elevation of three bays has a central entrance set within a shallow, painted, Ionic portico which has a panelled soffit and reveals. The six-panelled front door has a four-pane, rectangular over-light containing a small, glazed panel engraved with ‘GREAT HOUSE’. Above, at first floor level, is a lunette with a rubbed brick head. There are casement windows in the first and third bays, which have mahogany glazing bars (as do all the windows) and jalousies painted in dark green; those on the second floor are positioned directly under the eaves. The casements diminish in size as they reach the top floor, with six panes on the ground floor, four on the first, and four smaller panes on the second floor. They have narrow sills and the ground and first floor windows have straight, splayed heads, all painted in a light colour, as is the eaves band. The front door is flanked by two cast-iron boot-scrapers that survived from the earlier house, and the simple cast-iron guard rail is supported by six concrete bollards painted black. The rear elevation is similar to that at the front except there is a window in the central bay at first and second floor level, the former flanked by oculi. In the middle of the ground floor are three French windows contained within a modified doric frame which has engaged columns in the middle, pilasters at each end and guttae on its simplified entablature. The whole gives the impression of a loggia. Immediately above, at each end, are two brick relieving arches with a stone tablet in between bearing the inscription: ‘GREAT HOUSE WAS BURNT TO THE GROUND ON 1ST DECEMBER 1936 AND WAS REBUILT BY ARTHUR SPENCER JACKSON 1937-1938’. The coped side wings are each lit by a four-pane casement and are accessed externally from a door on their narrow north side. The terrace leads via a straight, wide flight of steps to the garden.

INTERIOR: This is characterised by its spare classical detailing and sophisticated handling of space. The original plan form is intact, as are all the fixtures and fittings, including the door and window ironmongery, oval brass light fittings, and wooden curtain poles with their circular brass ends. The finely crafted joinery, which survives throughout the house, includes delicate cornicing and four- or six-panelled doors, unmoulded, some with panelled soffits and jambs. The front door opens into a long, tunnel-vaulted hall, with shallow cross vaults at either end, leading to the rear hall which runs transversely along the garden front and is lit by the three French windows. Both parts of the hall are paved with York stone flags, as are both flights of stairs and the first floor landing. To the left of the main hall is the drawing room and to the right is the dining room, both laid with oak blocks. The reception rooms have simple fireplaces of white and green marble with typical Regency-style roundels in the corners. The grates, made by the Carron Company to Erith’s design, bear the letters G VI R, as do all the grates in the house. The kitchen and scullery at the rear have quarry-tiled floors and retain their fitted cupboards, water pump, service bells and the large kitchen dresser designed by Erith. The main staircase, which rises on a semi-circular plan from the west corner of the rear hall, has a continuous mahogany handrail and iron rod balusters, painted white. Half way up is a niche designed to hold a classical bust. The narrow back stair has iron balusters, which are bent outwards towards the bottom to provide more space, and a handrail made of a continuous copper pipe filled with cement grout. The original plans label the first floor rooms as two bedrooms and a study and there are a further three bedrooms on the second floor. All the upstairs rooms are laid with narrow oak boards with secret nailing, with the exception of the bathrooms which are laid with teak boards. The larger rooms have similar fireplaces to those on the ground floor, except they are white marble with slate; and those in the smaller bedrooms on the top floor are narrower and simpler with painted timber surrounds. The second floor is reached via the back stair which has a paired semi-circular arched opening at the top. The T-shape plan formed on the ground floor by the main and rear hall is reflected in the main and transverse corridor of the second floor. It runs from the bedroom on the east side to the bathroom on the west side through a series of arched doorways with semi-circular fanlights containing one vertical glazing bar, at the foot of which is a small semi-circle of red glass. This motif is used for the fanlights throughout the second floor. In the main bathrooms on the first and second floors, the bath is set into a shallow-arched alcove, panelled in pale grey marble. A third smaller bathroom on the first floor has similar grey marble wall. All the original bathroom fittings are intact.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: There is a high, buttressed red brick wall, surviving from an earlier phase, marking the boundary of the back garden.

History

Raymond Charles Erith (1904-1973) was commissioned to design Great House by his parents-in-law, Mr and Mrs A. Spencer Jackson. They bought the site on the High Street after the previous timber-framed, Georgian-fronted house burnt down in 1936. The new house was built in 1937-1938, using salvaged White Suffolk bricks from the old house and additional bricks from a demolished building in Ipswich. Two of the incorporated bricks are carved with the dates 1678 and 1746: the former a red brick, probably from the earlier timber-framed house; and the latter from the Georgian refronting. A pair of cast-iron boot scrapers from the old house were reinstated either side of the new front door, and the old cellars were also retained. Débris from the ruins was used to create the raised terrace to the garden front at the rear of the house. Erith’s working drawings show that his first design was similar to the earlier building, consisting of two storeys and an attic with dormer windows. After his client decided he wanted more space to accommodate visitors, Erith raised the roof to include a full third storey. The planning authority required him to set the new house further back but Erith insisted on maintaining the original building line in order to preserve the historic character of the High Street. As a result of the destruction of the earlier house by fire, the new house was constructed of durable materials, predominantly brick and stone. The floors are concrete, with those in the hall and landing floors paved in York stone. This material is also used for the front and back stairs which have iron balusters. Erith designed all the interior fittings, with the exception of the brass light fittings and door furniture, which he chose from Comyn Ching and Co. The builders were a local firm, W. T. Wheeler and Sons Ltd, and many of the original wallpapers were designed by John Aldridge RA for Cole and Son Ltd. Although none of these has survived, they have been replaced with wallpapers of a similar design. Great House has not been altered since it was first built and it survives almost completely intact. The full set of Erith’s working drawings and the original detailed specification survive, as does the correspondence covering all details of the commission, building process and costs, thus providing a comprehensive documentary record of the building.

Raymond Erith was one of the foremost architects working in the classical tradition in the C20. He trained at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and opened an office in London in 1928. The commission for Great House came relatively early in his career and was soon followed by the lodges at the approach to the Royal Lodge, Windsor Great Park (1939). After the Second World War Erith opened an office in Ipswich and received a variety of commissions, notably for the provost’s lodgings at Queen’s College, Oxford (1959-60); the library and Wolfson residential building at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (1961,1966); and the reconstruction of 10 and 11 Downing Street and rebuilding of no. 12 (1959-63). Other important examples of his work include the terrace in Aubrey Walk (1951), the Pediment at Aynho (1956), and Wivenhoe New Park (1962). Erith’s respect and understanding for architectural tradition meant that he was asked to restore or remodel many old houses. In 1958 he based his practice in Dedham and was joined four years later by Quinlan Terry, first as his assistant and then as his partner. Erith has twenty-eight listed buildings to this name, including those he restored or remodelled.

Reasons for Listing

Great House, built in 1937-38 to the designs of Raymond Erith, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* Architect: Erith is one of the foremost architects working in the classical tradition in the C20 and Great House is widely regarded as a seminal work in his oeuvre;
* Architectural interest: Great House is an embodiment of Erith’s ideas of how classicism could be adapted to suit modern, middle-class lifestyles. It is characterised by his interpretation of the restrained classical architecture typical of the early C19;
* Interiors: the hand of the architect is evident in every element of this meticulously detailed and beautifully crafted building which is distinguished by its sophisticated spatial quality and spare classical motifs;
* Intactness: the house has not been altered since it was first built, and its plan form, fixtures and fittings survive almost completely intact.

External Links

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