Building record 1548500000 - Chartridge Hill House, 109 Chartridge Lane

HISTORY:
Chartridge Hill House was designed by James Edwin Forbes for a member of the Lowndes family, a family prominent both locally and nationally; it was built in 1909. Following the death of William Frederick Lowndes Frith Lowndes (born Frith) in 1938 the house was sold. At some time it was divided into three dwellings, and has been added to over the course of the later C20, with extensions to the north-west and south-east, and with outbuildings converted to domestic use. The grounds have also been developed as Hunters Close, which has five detached houses.
James Edwin Forbes was born in 1876 and died in 1955. As the partnership of Forbes and Tate he seems to have specialised in the restoration, conversion and extension of older houses. His most significant listed work is on the Barrington Court Estate, Somerset, following its acquisition by the National Trust in 1907. Here he not only worked on the restoration of the C16 manor house, but was responsible for several other buildings within the estate; he also drew up a scheme for the gardens with Gertrude Jekyll. Barrington Court is listed at Grade I, with at least five other buildings (designed by Forbes) listed at Grade II. The steeply pitched roofs and gables seen at Chartridge Hill House seem to have been characteristic of his work, and are also features of the buildings he added to the Barrington Court Estate.
DESCRIPTION:
Chartridge Hill House is built of red brick and tile, with some timber framing; the roofs are tile. The house has two storeys with attics. Its plan is irregular, with three wings off a long central range, and there are later single storey C20 extensions to north-east and south-west. The house is built in the Arts and Crafts tradition, with attention to the quality and use of materials. The roofs are irregular, and either hipped or half hipped, with a gablet at the end of the south-east wing above a catslide roof. The central range has a catslide roof to the rear. The main elevation forms an L-shape, with the main entrance through a porch set into the angle between the central range and the south-east wing. To the right of the porch the elevation is timber framed with tile laid both horizontally and in a chevron pattern between studs at first floor level. The ground floor is brick, as is the elevation to the left of the porch. The porch is gabled, with a gable in the roof above, and there are three further gables , within which windows are set. There is a bay window with pitched roof to the ground floor of the south-west gable end of the central range, which forms part of the main view of the house. To the rear, velux windows have been inserted into the catslide roof, and a large flat-roofed single storey extension and a smaller extension with a pitched roof have been added . Throughout the house the windows are casements, with diamond leaded panes.
The house is divided into three. A central section, No. 2, is reached through the front door; this has the hall and main staircase but otherwise occupies only first floor rooms. No. 1 occupies the greater part of the ground floor of the central range and south-west wing, as well as the attics. No. 3 is to the south-east, and has modern single storey extensions to the north-east.
In No. 2 the entrance opens directly onto the hall, with stairs and door to garden entrance directly ahead . The hall is uncharacteristically small for a house of this size and period. The dogleg staircase has splat balusters at the upper level, but a modern handrail from ground level. Either side of the equally constricted first floor landing are two corridors with rooms off. Apart from the timbers in the slope of the roofs, little original detail survives; an Art Nouveau fireplace in the living room is a modern insertion, and only one apparently original fireplace survives. No. 1 has also undergone alterations to plan and detail. The main entrance from the courtyard is a modern insertion, as is a kitchen window. The kitchen area has been enlarged by the removal of an internal wall; the study to the north-west is a modern flat-roofed extension, while the neighbouring playroom is an outhouse conversion. The elaborate panelled Tudor-style alcove fireplace in the living room was constructed by the present owner, as was the panelling in the dining room and are not original features. The windows, doors and their furniture are original. No. 3 was not seen, but the single storey additions suggest that the interior has been altered here also.
ASSESSMENT:
Chartridge Hill House was built in 1909 for a notable local family by James Edwin Forbes, a well reputed architect. Several of his buildings have been listed. The design of the house shares many features in common with his best work. However, it lacks the sturdy simplicity of form which he uses so successfully in his designs for buildings at Barrington Court in Somerset, all listed at Grade II, and at Pednor House in Bucks, also listed at Grade II. At Chartridge Hill House the design is complex and less successful. There is, however, attention to the use of materials, and to external detail, and the best feature of the house is its timber framed and tiled south-west facing elevation to the south-east wing, one half of the right-angled main elevation. This is designed to impress, and promises a good interior, which, if it had survived better, may have lifted the interest of the house. However, plan form and detail have both been lost in the process of dividing the house. For example, an open hall with rooms arranged around it - a characteristic feature of the Arts and Crafts house - is missing, and is replaced with a constricted space containing a very altered stair. The arrangement of rooms on the first floor also seems to have been altered, and no fireplaces or other details of any real interest survive; the interior design scheme is no longer discernable. Although the front elevation is intact, the balance of the design to the rear has been completely altered by later C20 extensions.
Conclusion: Chartridge Hill House is an early C20 house built in the Arts and Crafts style which has been very much altered, with loss of plan and detail; it does not merit inclusion on the statutory list.
Reasons For Designation Decision:
Chartridge Hill House is not recommended for designation for the following principal reasons:
- The design pays attention to exterior detail, but lacks the qualities of imagination and ingenuity, and the levels of craftsmanship that would make it of special architectural interest.
- Although the architect, James Edwin Forbes retains a good reputation, the design does not compare well with other listed examples of his work.
- The conversion of the house to three separate dwellings has altered both the plan and removed most of the interior detail, and the original design scheme is no longer discernable.
- The house was designed by a notable architect for a significant Chesham family, and is of local historical interest, but does not meet the criteria for inclusion on the statutory list. (B1).