Lutyens Houses on the Market
Richard Page’s regular property column
Wilmere Lodge, Middleton Park, Bicester, Oxfordshire
Towards the end of his career, Lutyens collaborated with his son Robert on Middleton Park, acknowledged as being Lutyens’s last great house. It was commissioned by the 9th Earl of Jersey and completed in 1938. The second Lady Jersey was American actress Virginia Cherrill, previously married to Cary Grant. The classically styled house has a French feel due to its tall windows with shutters, the elevations being of golden Clipsham stone. Four lodges, each a cube with a pyramidal roof and central chimney stack, stand near the house, two of which are linked by gate piers with guardian eagles carved by Scottish sculptor William Reid Dick. One of these, the Grade II*-listed Wilmere Lodge (pictured on previous page on right-hand side of image to the left, and on left-hand side of image, right), is currently available for sale. Offering 1,776 sq ft of accommodation, it has five bedrooms, two bathrooms and an L-shaped living/dining room incorporating two fine stone columns. The lodge has use of the communal gardens, tennis court and swimming pool.
Guide price: £625,000 through Cridland & Co.
Ridgeway House, Near Streatley, Berkshire
In 1917, Major JA Morrison, who had inherited the Basildon Park estate, commissioned Lutyens to design a new village layout to include a church, almshouses and school. This wasn’t realised, but Lutyens did build Park Farm Cottage and a pair of cottages for Morrison at Westridge Green, near Streatley. One of this pair, Ridgeway House (pictured in foreground), is now for sale. Built in 1920 and extending to 1,946 sq ft, it has three bedrooms and three reception rooms. There is a double garage and garden measuring one-third of an acre. Although modernised, the house retains period features including herringbone flooring and pine doors.
Guide price: £799,950 through Sara Batting.
Flats
A number of Lutyens’s larger country houses have since been converted into flats. There are currently some available for sale, including at Great Maytham Hall, Rolvenden, Kent and Nashdom, Taplow, Buckinghamshire.
The Great Maytham apartments are part of this Lutyens house built from 1909 to 1912 in his “Wrenaissance” style for HJ Tennant. Approached through the entrance gateway under a hipped roof with a clocktower, it has elevations of blue-grey brick with red-brick dressings under a hipped tile roof with dormers and brick chimneys. Now Grade II*-listed, it stands in 17 acres of communal gardens including a walled garden, the inspiration for The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. A number of apartments are currently available, ranging from £485,000 to £600,000. All are listed on Rightmove.
Nashdom was designed by Lutyens from 1905 to 1909 for the Secretary of State to Czar Alexander II, Prince Alexis Dolgorouki and his wife, Princess Frances. In 1929, the house was bought by Benedictine monks and became known as Nashdom Abbey. It was converted into apartments in 1997, with residents now able to enjoy the 17 acres of communal grounds, tennis court and swimming pool. A selection of flats in this Grade II*-listed building are available through Chewton Rose, with prices between £275,000 and £635,000.
Agents’ contact details:
Chewton Rose: www.chewtonrose.co.uk Cridland & Co: www.cridlands.co.uk
Sara Batting: www.sarabatting.co.uk Rightmove: www.rightmove.co.uk
Richard Page is marketing director for the London & Premier brands of Countrywide plc, and has advised on the sale of many Lutyens houses. Do please contact him with any Edwin Lutyens-related property news at rpage@countrywide.co.uk
Disclaimer: prices and availability correct at time of going to press.
