Description

22/0/10200 MONTPELIER ROW
05-OCT-07 25

II
Private house, 1967-1969 by Geoffrey Darke for himself (of the architectural practice Darbourne and Darke).

MATERIALS: Buff brick, asbestos slate roofs, timber window frames and doors, lead clad porch and first floor bay window. Internal exposed brick walls, timber boarded ceilings and soffits. Solid pine joinery includes stairs, doors and folding screen, fitted cupboards and fittings, and integral but free standing bookcases.

PLAN: It occupies an infill site at the northern end of an early C18 terrace. It is a tightly planned town house on 3 storeys and semi-basement in two elements, a larger living element and a smaller stair element, leading to a rear bay at lower and upper ground floor levels. It reflects the plan form of its C18 neighbours while using offset levels devised in the practice's scissor-plan housing to create interesting interconnecting spaces and maximum use of space. It was designed to stabilise the north wall of no. 26, the cross walls acting as a buttress. The rear semicircular bay evolved to give light to the neighbouring house. The footprint of the building extends to the brick paved area to the front of the house and rear brick-paved terrace. At upper levels the enclosed spaces give onto terraces overlooking the garden, extending circulation and living areas into the garden.

EXTERIOR: The front elevation is a tall 2-window, right-hand block under a butterfly roof which has a sharply defined profile which rises slightly above the building height of the C18 terrace to the south. Windows are flush 2-leaf timber casements below vents which respond to the gauged brick arches of the C18 windows. A lead-clad porch with mono-pitched roof has a glazed door with vertically hung, hinged slatted timber panels. The left-hand bay is set back and has a lead-clad rectangular first floor bay window. Above is a narrow clerestory bathroom window beneath a shallow parapet. Ground floor windows have hinged slatted timber panels similar to the front door.
At the rear elevation, the left hand block is dominated by a tall upper storey with a crisp roofline which overhangs the first floor terrace. The upper floor has a pair of 2-leaf casements similar to the front elevation. French windows lead from the first floor living room onto a tiled terrace with a metal balustrade. Soffits and flanks of the opening are clad in timber. The kitchen has similarly detailed windows beneath a shallow overhang and leads onto a brick paved terrace. The right hand bay is dominated by a two-storey bay with a tall brick parapet enclosing an upper tiled terrace reached from the stairwell by a single glazed door. At each level of the bay is a single 2-leaf casement. Above the mono-pitched roof over the stair well is a shallow clerestory window.

INTERIOR: The interior is simply treated. Roughly finished exposed brick wall surfaces contrast with finely crafted pine joinery. Ceilings and soffits are boarded in timber. The porch, with similar vertically hung panels to the front door, gives onto a narrow hall with a folding panelled screen which opens to create a large hall-dining area. The dining area is partitioned from the kitchen by a panelled screen wall, formerly with a hatch. At first floor level, a large living area on two levels extends the depth of the building. Sliding glazed doors give onto the stairwell and into a small study. French windows lead to the lower terrace. The change in floor level is marked by vertical boarding on the wall. Some of the bookcases remain. The upper floor is divided into 2 bedrooms separated by fitted cupboards and wash basin units each of which is lit by a north facing clerestory window. Bathroom and linen cupboard fittings survive. The stair which runs from basement to upper floor is simply detailed with square cut or chamfered newels, and framed balustrades. Solid pine doors have 2 incised, or glazed panels, many retain brass door furniture. Each of the rooms in the rear bay has a small fitted cupboard.

HISTORY: Montpelier Row was developed speculatively in the 1720s by Captain John Grey, who was also responsible for Maids of Honour Row, Richmond Green and possibly Syon Row, Twickenham. Each house has a different doorcase, several have particularly fine interiors, but they are notable for the uniformity of the terraces. No. 25 was built in 1967-9 by Geoffrey Darke (b. 1929) as a family home on the site of former outbuildings and passage to the rear of the public house in Orleans Road.

The practice of Darbourne and Darke was set up in 1961 following John Darbourne's successful entry for the Lillington Street Housing competition (Westminster), and Geoffrey Darke being awarded second prize for the Harlow competition. The Lillington Street scheme is recognised as one of the outstanding housing schemes of its time, and influenced the style of public housing schemes from the mid-1960s until the 1980s. Their office was based on Richmond Green which they rebuilt in a highly sensitive, architecturally rich environment. Housing in Queens Road, Richmond (1974-77) reflects the concept devised for Lillington Street of simple practical design built on a human scale within landscaped grounds.

The practice is noted for its sensitivity to sites, producing 'simple domestic architecture on well landscaped ground'. 25 Montpelier Row is one of a group of modest private houses of the period built on an infill site in an urban context. It is a rare example of a private house by the practice and combines simplicity of form with high quality materials and craftsmanship. Juxtaposed with very fine early C18 terrace houses, it is probably the best known example of a post-war house in an early C18 context.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
* It is an intact private house built by Darbourne and Darke a practice noted for their highly acclaimed and influential public housing schemes.
* It is an infill site in a rich C18 context and shows a sympathy with its setting, an ethic typical of the practice.
* It is probably the best known example of a post-war house being contextual with the C18.
* The plan survives to demonstrate a tightly designed fluid interior with fittings of high quality joinery.
* It was shortlisted for listing in 2001 in the English Heritage Survey of Private Houses c1964-1972 report.

SOURCES:
Architecture of Darbourne & Darke, RIBA exhibition handbook (1977).
Darbourne & Darke, Synopsis of Work (1972).
Pevsner & Cherry, Buildings of England London 2: South (1983), p550.
Charles McKean & Tom Jestico, Guide to Modern Buildings in London, 1965-1975 (1976).
Bronwen Edwards, Survey of Private Houses c1964-1972, Report for the Post-War Steering Group 14 March 2001.
Geoffrey Darke, pers comm..

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27087150

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.

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