2007 visit to The Red House, when extensive restoration works were underway
The abstract building line is reminiscent of Castle Drogo, whilst the tiered chimney stack is recognisable from Lutyens’s early work in the Surrey vernacular style.
How to get there
By train: the nearest station is Dorking or Dorking Deepdene. Taxis are available from Dorking Station.
By car: Turn south off the A25 at Wotton, into Hollow Lane, with a clear sign pointing you to “Leith Hill, Friday Street, Abinger Common”. The lane is narrow, single-track in places, with steep banks. After just over 1 mile you will reach a grassy triangle on the right with a well with a Horsham stone roof over the pump. The chimneys and red roofs of Goddards can be seen behind the well. Indicate right into the sharp turning back but don’t actually turn into the lane – the entrance to the car park is off Hollow Lane on the right at the far end of the road junction and takes you into a yard with outbuildings. Landmark Trust car park signs will indicate where to park.
Goddards Study Day 2024
Wednesday, 12 June 2024, 10:45am-4:30pm
Event address: Goddards, Abinger Lane, Abinger Common, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6JH
Coffee
The day will begin at Goddards at 10:45am with coffee.
The Talk
Stuart Martin will present his talk, explaining how Lutyens developed the plans for his houses – the layout, accommodation, circulation spaces, entrance sequence, etc. Stuart will discuss a selection of his designs and will show how, beneath the complexity and surprises which made his houses famous, they share the discipline of strict geometry.
Our Speaker
Stuart first encountered Lutyens through the Patrick Nuttgens TV programme that coincided with the Hayward Gallery Exhibition in 1981. He pursued this interest at University, writing a dissertation on Lutyens’s classical architecture, and beginning his own solo visits to the houses when he could. In his subsequent career as an architect of country houses, Stuart has sought to combine his reverence for Lutyens’s work, with its love of traditional forms and materials with sensitivity to the varying contexts of our own times. He has been a member of the Lutyens Trust for 20 years, and a member of the Events Committee for more than 10 years. In 2023 he was elected a Trustee.
Lunch
The price includes a two-course buffet lunch, to be held at 12.30. Lunch will be served with wine.
Afternoon Visit
This year with kind permission of the owners, we are being welcomed to The Red House at Godalming.
The Red House (1897), built for a retired assistant master and honorary chaplain of Charterhouse School who probably moved in the same circles as the Jekylls, is one of the first Lutyens houses to face the challenge of a steeply sloping site. The two storey entrance front, facing the road, is relatively unremarkable, at first sight, while the opposite (garden) side is completely different, runs down the hillside and, with an added storey, rises almost cliff-like before you. Inside, the central feature is an impressive central stair-well, with shallow risers on deep treads, which takes up the full height of the house. Of particular interest are the unusual and impressive early Lutyens fireplaces in the drawing-room and dining-room. The current owners have been there since 1975 and have done much to restore the house from the dilapidated state in which it was bought.
Tickets are £65 per person.
Please note that due to personal reasons (of the owner), we may have to cancel the visit to The Red House at short notice. In this instance, we will make alternative arrangements.
This event is for members only – join here to book.
Online bookings
Please make your booking online through PayPal using your credit / debit card or PayPal account.
Manual bookings
If you wish to pay with a cheque, please use the online booking facility above, and then choose the “pay by cheque” option on the payments screen. This will reserve you a ticket(s) and give you instructions on where to send your cheque to. All cheques should be made payable to “The Lutyens Trust” and made to the sum of £65 (please add £3.00 per cheque, this is the charge the banks make to us for banking cheques).
