10 Dorchester Drive and boundary walls, Herne Hill, London

Summary

A detached house in the moderne style, designed by Leslie H Kemp and Frederick E Tasker and built by Cyril and Stanley Morrell 1935-1936. The design featured in the Ideal Home Exhibition of 1934.

Description

A detached house in the moderne style, designed by Leslie H Kemp and Frederick E Tasker and built by Cyril and Stanley Morrell 1935-1936. The design featured in the Ideal Home Exhibition of 1934; the accompanying brochure provides detail about the intended original form and fittings of the house and is referred to below.

MATERIALS: the house has external walls of rendered brick, with metal casement windows and a flat, concrete roof.

PLAN: the original house is rectangular on plan, with a projecting, curved bay to the south elevation at ground floor level. The front (east) elevation is at an oblique angle to the street while the adjacent garage to the north is perpendicular to the street. A ground-floor link housing a utility room was built off the single wall between the north elevation of the house and the south-west elevation of the garage between 1951 and 1966 and now provides direct access between the kitchen and garage. The first-floor rear extension, added in or shortly after 1966, projects from the west elevation and is raised on square columns providing a covered area over part of the patio. The house has four main rooms to the ground floor arranged either side of a hall with a central, dogleg staircase rising to a landing, which provides access to four bedrooms and a bathroom. The fifth bedroom in the rear extension is accessed via the half-landing of the staircase. The flat roof is accessed via a trap-door with a loft ladder.

EXTERIOR: the house has two storeys, with external walls of rendered brick and a flat roof. The original fenestration mainly comprises horizontal, steel casement windows in timber frames with projecting, oak sills. The principal (east elevation) has a central front door set in a canted indent and sheltered by a projecting canopy supported on square columns, which are probably post-war replacements for the original, slender oak posts described in the brochure and which survive at 77 Addington Road. These columns rest on a curved step of composite stone with a decorative border. The original door survives and has a ribbed panel of translucent glass set within a timber surround with an Art-Deco-inspired scrolled grille of cast iron. The door is flanked by a pair of narrow windows of similar design, the one on the right incorporating a letterbox. Either side of this entrance there are tripartite casement windows with three-by-six horizontal panes. The first-floor of this elevation has three windows: the one to the centre is a dual-casement window four horizontal panes in height, while those either side are similar but slightly wider with a narrow, central pane. The window to the north is entirely original with chevron glazing bars to this central pane, but the one to the south has had its central pane replaced with no glazing bars. The brochure shows that the intended design was for three identical chevron windows at first-floor level, an arrangement which survives at 77 Addington Road. Above the first-floor windows there are traces of a horizontal band with four ventilation grilles. This may have previously been the position of a shallow canopy depicted in the brochure and which appears at 77 Addington Road as no more than a decorative strip.

The entrance canopy continues, cantilevered, towards the south elevation where it wraps around the semi-circular end bay and then continues straight across the rest of this elevation before turning the corner to the west elevation and terminating in a small curve. At ground-floor level the semi-circular bay has exposed red brick laid in Flemish bond and a continuous, curved window. Above the canopy this curved bay has a rendered parapet with a simple, metal guard rail forming a balcony that would originally have been accessed via the master bedroom. The original door from that bedroom has since been replaced by a single-pane window in a timber frame, probably post-war. The west half of this elevation has a flat wall with another tripartite window to the ground floor and another replacement, single-pane window on the floor above.

The west elevation faces over the back garden. On the north side the ground-floor windows and door to the kitchen and utility room are modern uPVC units but the rest of the windows to this elevation are metal windows with horizontal panes similar to those on the front elevation. The later extension to the first floor is supported on an open cluster of three square columns to each corner and has a metal-framed window to each of its external walls which are similar in design to those on the original parts of the building but with slightly larger panes. The flat roof of the extension is set lower than the roof of the original building and just above it is a rectangular window lighting the staircase, which has another decorative grille similar to that on the front door. Set just below the extension are two small ground-floor windows, one with ribbed, translucent glass and the other with replacement frosted glass, both in timber frames.

The north elevation has two original, narrow windows to each floor, each comprising a vertical arrangement of six horizontal panes. Extending from this elevation is the ground-floor link to the garage, which has a flat, asphalt roof. The front wall of this link, facing the street, appears to be original and has a door and window with an iron, scrolled grille similar to that on the front door. The brochure suggests this originally functioned as a tradesmen’s door providing access to a coal store without coming through the house.

The flat roof has two chimney stacks of rendered brick, with exposed brick to the top and now blocked up. The roof is bordered by a low parapet of rendered brick topped with a metal balustrade, which appears to be a post-war addition. Towards the centre of the west parapet is a flat-roofed structure housing the water tank and the loft ladder which provides access from the first-floor landing.

INTERIOR: the front door opens into a hallway with the staircase directly in front. A pair of linear mouldings to the centre of the ceiling visually connect the front door to the staircase. These mouldings terminate in two concentric semi-circles facing the stairs, which the brochure suggests may originally have been the position of a bowl light fitting. There is also a moulded cornice around the edge of the hallway ceiling. Although a dog-leg staircase, when viewed from the ground floor the position of the first flight of stairs in the centre of the hallway gives the impression of a grand, imperial staircase (i.e. with two flights rising from the half-landing). The staircase has metal handrails with a moulded profile and scrolled at the ends, and a balustrade formed of flat, horizontal bars. Either side of the front door there are curved cupboard doors of timber. According to the brochure, originally one of these would have been for coats and the other a cabinet for the telephone the wireless radio connected to speakers in the principal ground-floor rooms. To either side of the first part of the hall there are sets of double-doors leading to the lounge and dining room. These timber doors each have a vertical arrangement of five, horizontal lights with moulded frames and mottled glass. The doors can be folded back into their respective rooms to create a single, long, open plan across the lounge, hall and dining room. Either side of the staircase the hallway widens, with doors leading off to the study and kitchen at the back of the house. Beneath the stairs is a broom cupboard that can be accessed from both sides via timber doors with hexagonal, metal knobs. Behind the staircase is a small bathroom, which contains a pedestal basin with chamfered corners, probably original but with replacement taps.

The lounge has two windows to its east wall and the semi-circular ‘sun-trap’ bay window facing south, which spans the width of the room. There is a stepped and fluted cornice to the ceiling. In the niche to the right of the chimney breast there is a half-height, built-in cupboard that is probably a post-war addition. To the other side of the chimney breast, a projecting pier suggests the former location of a doorway that would have led into the small sun porch, as mentioned in the brochure. If this feature existed at 10 Dorchester Drive, the doorway has since been blocked up. The dining room has two narrow windows to its north wall and one large window to the east. The wall between the two narrow windows is boarded over. An illustration in the 1934 Ideal Home Exhibition brochure suggests there may have been an integrated mirror here originally. To the left of the chimney breast there is a serving hatch with a chamfered surround and a hexagonal doorknob linking this room to the kitchen. The central part of the ceiling is raised slightly higher than the surrounding edges in much the same form as shown in the brochure but incorporating a fluted cornice.

The study faces over the rear garden. One of its west windows has been replaced post-war with a full-height glazed panel. Projecting piers in the study are load-bearing and indicate the position of the first-floor external wall above. They also would have been at the edges of a partition wall with double doors leading into the small sun porch as described in the brochure (if this version of the house had this feature).

The kitchen retains some original built-in cabinets and half-height ceramic wall tiles. A larder with a replacement window is positioned opposite the kitchen door. This room also retains what would originally have been an external doorway with metal windows either side, but now leads into the utility room, which has similar floor tiles to the kitchen. Beyond the utility room is the garage, which has a west-facing metal casement window with nine panes, and double-doors of timber leading to the driveway, which may be original. An original doorway leading from the garage into the garden has been blocked.

The bedroom in the post-war rear extension is accessed via the half-landing of the staircase. It has a sliding door of timber, and match-boarded walls either side of the door. The other upstairs rooms are accessed via the top-landing. The master bedroom to the south-east corner of the house would have had access to the balcony over the semi-circular bay, but the door has been replaced with a window post-war. The rear bedroom has a post-war built-in cupboard to the right of the chimney breast, and the north-east bedroom has a built-in wardrobe with a mirror that also appears to be post-war, with skirting and coving continuing behind it. There is another small bedroom between the master bedroom and north-east bedroom.

The bathroom retains many original fittings. It has an integrated porcelain bathtub and a separate, standing shower, which the brochure describes as ‘an outstanding feature’. The bathtub has a recessed soap dish and grip, with a mirror above etched with stylised sea creatures and ocean waves. The walls are panelled with vitrolite and glass in contrasting shades of green, as is the lowered ceiling over the bath which has an integrated light fitting comprising a metal-framed flap with a translucent panel. The pedestal basin is very similar to the one in the downstairs bathroom but is thought to be a later replacement. The toilet is in an adjacent room which has ceramic tiles in similar colours.

Applied consistently throughout the house the joinery to the skirting boards and door frames has a simple, stepped moulding and chamfered corners. All the original fireplaces have been removed and covered over, but the chimney breasts survive in all the main rooms. Many of the radiators may also be original. Original hardwood floors are reported to survive underneath the carpets, but these were not observed during the site inspection.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the boundary walls to the front garden are thought to be original features. They are constructed from red brick laid in English bond, rendered above the bottom four or five courses, with an angled coping and topped with rowlock bricks. Un-rendered brick piers flank each of the two driveways.

History

10 Dorchester Drive was constructed in 1935-36. It was designed by architects Leslie H Kemp and Frederick E Tasker in collaboration with the builders Cyril and Stanley Morrell. The house is one of three built versions of the architects’ and builders’ design for the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition of 1934, which was exhibited at Olympia, Kensington in the Exhibition’s pioneering Village of Tomorrow. Another built version of the house, now altered and extended and functioning as a health centre, stands at 77 Addington Road, London Borough of Bromley (Grade II). The third surviving version currently known about is called Stansted and is located in Mount Merrion, Dublin, although it is attributed in some sources to Irish architect Arthur Seymour Rice who built the house for himself, probably after seeing the design at the exhibition or its sales brochure.

The Daily Mail first conceived the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1908 as a way to increase the newspaper’s advertising revenue and with the aim of promoting new fashions for the home whilst stimulating debate on the wider issue of better housing. At the time the vast majority of the population rented their homes, but some people were beginning to have a greater disposable income that could be spent on furnishing their rented dwelling or perhaps owning their own home. In the early years of the exhibition, visitors could admire life-size houses, often in the Tudorbethan style, and gardens created at Olympia. But the 1934 exhibition turned away from the historicist architectural styles of previous years and introduced the Village of Tomorrow exhibit. The decisively modern streetscape was organised by the architect R A Duncan, who for the 1928 exhibition had designed with S Rowland Pierce the first House of the Future. The Daily Mail promised that the Village of Tomorrow would ‘demonstrate examples of housing entirely novel to this country’ with ‘smart clean-cut walls devoid of fussy or elaborate ornamentation’. The houses’ clean looks and flat roofs – designed for sun-bathing – reflected a new way of living, ‘more distinctive in appearance, more ahead of the times, and more delightful to live in than any yet erected’ (Daily Mail, 15 March 1934). The Village contained ten model dwellings, each a close collaboration between architects and builders. Two of the designs were widely published at the time: Olympia House designed by Arthur Kenyon with the builders John Laing and Son, and Sunspan, designed by Wells Coates and David Pleydell-Bouverie with the builders E and L Berg.

Kemp and Tasker’s modern house design was exhibited in the Village of Tomorrow as a result of them having won a competition to design an ‘ideal home’ the previous year. The Ideal Home Exhibition brochure advertised the house as a structure that could be built to order in any part of the country with the option for clients to customise aspects of the design to meet their individual requirements, and described its appearance as one of ‘dignified simplicity’. Notable features of the design included: a large, semi-circular bay window to the ‘sun-lounge’; a sunbathing terrace; a labour-saving kitchen; a ‘luxurious’ bathroom with a separate shower; and a flexible plan that allowed for the lounge and dining room to be opened out into one room 40ft long for entertaining, which could be fitted with speakers connected to the wireless radio at both ends. The version of the design built at 10 Dorchester Drive retains many of these features, and has ornamental ironwork to some windows and doors mentioned in the brochure but not found on the other built versions of the house.

10 Dorchester Drive has undergone a number of alterations since its original construction. Plans dated February 1966 submitted to the London Borough of Lambeth indicate that a first-floor extension was added to the rear of the house in 1966 or shortly after to incorporate a fifth bedroom. The extension is visible on Ordnance Survey (OS) maps from 1973 onwards. Between 1951 when the previous edition of the OS map was published and 1966 when the proposal for the first-floor extension was submitted, a ground-floor extension to the north elevation linking the kitchen and garage was added, and now contains a utility room (the 1951 map depicts a single screen wall between the kitchen and garage, which would have had the tradesmen’s door, with the later extension apparently built off this wall). Some built-in cupboards in the house probably also date from this period, as well as some of the alterations to original windows and doors. For the sake of simplicity, the description below describes all these alterations as post-war. The brochure also mentions a glazed sun porch to the flank of the building that could be accessed via both the lounge and the study. 10 Dorchester Drive no longer has this feature, although it may once have done: piers to the walls of the lounge and study suggest former doorways that have since been blocked up.

The practice Kemp and Tasker was formed by two English architects Leslie Hagger Kemp (1899-1997) and Frederick Edward Tasker (1906-1992) at the beginning of the 1930s. Kemp was admitted as an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1922 but Tasker did not join until 1949, although he became a freeman of the City of London as early as 1925. The practice is best known for its cinema designs, mainly for small operators in London suburbs such as Eastern Cinemas (later part of Odeon) and Shipman and King, who specialised in elegant, smaller cinemas for middle-class patrons. Surviving examples of the firm’s cinemas include the Ritz, Hereford (1938; now a church) and the Capitol, St Albans (1934; now Odyssey Cinema). The practice seems to have ended by the Second World War: by 1954 Kemp was working in Canada while Tasker had taken over the practice run by his father, the architect and London County Council politician Sir Robert Tasker (1868-1959).

Twin brothers Cyril and Stanley Morrell were born in 1908 and initially built houses aimed at potential home-owners of modest means in the Bromley area. Until 1935 they had been trading on their own account but that year they raised £450,000 and formed a limited company, enabling a considerable expansion of their building activity. But by 1941 both brothers had been declared bankrupt following a mortgage payment strike by owners of Morrell houses at Coney Hall, south of Bromley. During their brief period of success, the Morrell brothers constructed all but one of the 1930s houses on Dorchester Drive, collaborating with Kemp and Tasker on two developments that are now listed Grade II: the moderne blocks of mansion flats at Dorchester Court, built 1933-34 and Dorchester House, built 1936.

Reasons for Listing

10 Dorchester Drive and its boundary walls, constructed 1935-1936 are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the survival of the compact but flexible plan, which cleverly allows for the ground floor rooms to be opened out into a single entertainment space, and maximises sunlight into the lounge;
* for the good survival of its exterior, which blends unmistakably modernistic detailing with subtle references to the more traditional surrounding houses with the use of un-rendered brick;
* for the elegant simplicity of its original interior fixtures and fittings including the staircase, cornices, built-in cupboards, and bathroom fittings.

Historic interest:

* as a well-preserved and relatively early example of a modernistic house marketed towards adventurous clients as an affordable way to obtain a modern lifestyle;
* for its rarity as one of only two built versions known to exist in England of the competition-winning design for the 1934 Ideal Home Exhibition.

Group value:

* together with Grade II listed Dorchester Court and Dorchester House, this important group of mid-1930s buildings designed by Kemp and Tasker in collaboration with the Morrell brothers represents a range of approaches to residential buildings on a single street.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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