Description

HARPSDEN
SU78SE BOLNEY ROAD
1209- /7/10011 The White House
II

Detached house. 1908 by George Walton for Mr and Mrs George Davison; built by T.H.
Kingerlee & Sons of Oxford. Later single bay addition to north. White-rendered brickwork.
Tiled mansard roof with southern cross gable, all with projecting eaves; gable eaves have a
modillion cornice; dormers and tall rendered chimney stacks with projecting modillion
cornices. 2 storeys and attics. Irregular grouped fenestration. Central double height,
projecting, semi-circular porch with 1st floor balcony having steel columns, paired to ground
floor, on which the exposed bolting forms part of the design. These are reflected in the
balustrade design to both floors. Porch/balcony constructed of cantilevered RSJs clad in
concrete. Entrance of metal-framed, rectangular panel glazed doors, repeated on 1st floor,
and approached by curved steps to either side with further balustrading. Mostly French
windows with patterned, louvered shutters and diagonally crossed guards to both floors and
all elevations, mostly corresponding; those to gabled bay arranged 1:2:1 with an attic oculus.
Southern elevation has a verandah forming a 1st floor balcony beneath overhanging and
upswept eaves; 2 windows to each floor. Eastern elevation with a chimney stack forming the
gable apex and 2 windows to each floor. To the right, the roof extends to 1st floor level
with dormers. Enriched lead rainwater heads, one inscribed "GD" and two inscribed "George
Walton, Architect, MCMVIII". INTERIOR: this was always fairly plain. Some alteration
but retains some features including a fine original polished timber open well staircase with
simplified column newel and balusters having exposed joints. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES:
the garden retains some of the original layout with brick and tile walls. HISTORY: Walton,
born in Glasgow, was primarily a designer and decorator, having trained by evening classes
at the Glasgow School of Art. He decorated Miss Cranston's Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow
for which C R Mackintosh and his wife were also designers; also the dining room of C F
A Voysey's home, The Orchard, Chorleywood. He opened a London shop in 1897 and
through George Davison, head of European sales for Kodak, did the interiors of Kodak's
Clerkenwell Road offices and shops in Britain and on the Continent. Walton had no
architectural training and designed few houses; The White House is extraordinary for its
date, especially the porch/balcony. It was designed for summer entertaining and the nautical
feel was clearly influenced by the proximity of the River Thames. Walton designed a small
cottage for George Davison further down river at Bourne End and a magnificent house boat.

George Walton - Designer & Architect by Karen Moon, 1993; George Walton, His Life and
Work by Sir N. Pevsner, RIBA Joumal, 3.4.39, pp537-48; Plans and elevations in the RIBA
Drawings Collection.

Listing NGR: SU7772180443

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26542044

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

• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings