Description

TQ 2887 FITZROY PARK
No8A
798/5/10216

II

Private house. 1965-7 by Hal Higgins of Higgins and Neyfor Peter Epstein, engineer. Hand-made brick with concrete block inner skin, steel-frame for living room painted black; with reinforced concrete slabs and flat roofs to living room, gallery and bridge links, steep-pitched slate roofs to adjoining pavilions. Complex plan on steeply-sloping site of central double-height living room over semi-basement with garden terrace overlooking garden on one side, on the others five pavilions housing separate elements in semi-independence, with bridge links and with separate staircases from gallery giving on to living room -save to dining room at south-east corner which is entered directly. Next to it -running from east to west -the kitchen with children's playroom over; adjoining is the housekeeper's room with children's rooms over; next the guest room with nanny's accommodation over; this pavilion also has bathroom linked to master bedroom over study and garage at the entrance to the site. The house is entered below this link up steep brick ramp. Aluminium units mainly renewed with similar double-glazed units; broad fascias to living room terrace, which has thick balustrade and some additional awnings to shade the sun and large projecting concrete water spout.
INTERIOR. Living room with exposed black-painted steel frame, exposed brickwork and exposed timber ceiling; built-in sofas. Steps rise to balcony with brick balustrade, whence staircases lead up or down to two-storey pavilions. Living room leads to dining room, which extends into roof space (concealed window in roof casts etherallight across white plastered walls, which contrast with black and white marbled floor). Kitchen with exposed brick, central featured free-standing stove in steel surround under hood. Exposed brick and exposed timber ceilings, whose rafters are complemented in slats of timber screens, to gallery which provides a half-landing to the lounge, and which links the remaining rooms. Bedrooms with fitted cupboards with natural timber finishes complementing areas of matchboard panelling; fitted cupboards also in link between master bedroom and bathroom; the study also panelled. Semi-basement swimming pool in tiled surround. Included as a rare example of a luxury house in the modern style. Epstein had seen Higgins and Ney's earlier house in Spaniard's End (now in LB Barnet), and commissioned what was to be their major private house. While the living room is reminiscent of the romantic Case Study' houses of Los Angeles, widely published in the 1950s, the thicker scantling of the steel and the planning of the semi-independent pavilions shows that the design is entirely of its time -and one of the most adventurous in terms of complexity and in its method of separating the different functions of the house.

Source
Architects' Journal, 4 Apri11973, pp.795-810

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27082125

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability