29 Storey's Way, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

Summary

Georgian-style house built in 1922 to the designs of M. H. Baillie Scott. The attached conservatory, and the garage and shed in the north corner of the garden are later additions and are excluded from the listing.

Description

Georgian-style house built in 1922 to the designs of M. H. Baillie Scott.

MATERIALS: buff-coloured brick laid in English cross band, partly painted white, with brick dressings and a brown plain tile roof covering.

PLAN: approximately square double-pile plan with a small service projection on the north corner.

EXTERIOR: the house is one of Baillie Scott's essays in the Georgian style. It has three bays and two storeys, the upper contained within the mansard roof which has hipped gables on the end bays of the two main elevations, and a simple moulded eaves cornice. Four tall chimneys of exposed brick with delicate capping project from the gable ends, two on each side positioned just inwards from the corner. The south-west elevation, which forms the frontage, is painted white except for the dentilled band that runs above the lintels. The fenestration is set flush in the wall and consists mostly of six-over-six pane horned sashes in moulded frames with gauged arches of exposed brick. The central bay contains double-leaf French windows with a window either side, all with jalousies. The upper floor has three wedge-shaped dormer windows with two-light casements above the eaves line. The north-east elevation is similar except the roof over the central bay sweeps downward below the eaves line. The central and right bay, which light the service areas, have casements; and the left bay has a new door (replacing a sash window) leading out to the late C20 conservatory (this does not appear on the 2014 Ordnance Survey map).

The front door is on the north-west gable end which has a central, slightly recessed painted section between the two chimneys. The centrally placed six-panelled front door has a rectangular fanlight with delicate batwing pattern and a classical doorcase which has square pilasters with moulded capitals and a pagoda-shaped canopy. This is flanked by oval windows with radial metal glazing bars set in moulded wooden frames with brick surrounds. The upper floor is lit by three four-over-four pane sashes. The south-east gable end is similar except that it has two six-over-six pane sashes and two casements above. The flat-roofed single-storey service block projecting from the north corner has a partially glazed door and sliding sash window on the north-east side, and a casement on the south-west side, all under gauged brick arches.
INTERIOR: this has good quality fixtures, fittings and painted joinery in an elegant, understated Georgian style. There are two-panelled doors in moulded doorframes, the reception rooms have narrow moulded skirting boards and cornices, and (with the exception of the study) have floors laid in narrow boards. The central staircase hall provides access into the drawing room, study, dining room and kitchen which each occupy a corner of the house. The hall is divided spatially by a pair of square pilasters with moulded capitals, the same effect that is used in the long sitting room. The fireplace in this room has a classical surround with an ogee frieze and delicately patterned floral tiles (the grate has been replaced with an electric fire). The dining room and study have plain fireplace surrounds with a raised tablet (neither retain tiles nor grate); and the latter has built-in bookcases and cupboards. The dogleg stair with winder at the turn rises elegantly from the hall. It has an open string with decoratively carved tread ends with two stick balusters per tread supporting a mahogany handrail that is ramped up at the turn and twists at the bottom; the balusters also coiling around the circular newel posts. The handrail attached to the wall is a later addition. There is a domed ceiling on the landing formerly lit by a sky-light which has since been boarded up as it leaked.

In the service area the kitchen retains some original built-in cupboards (with replaced handles) and the service hatch to the dining room. The scullery has a red tiled floor and a deep ceramic sink with teak surround and draining board. The three small rooms arranged on the north-west side of the scullery, labelled on the original plan as W.C., fuel and larder, do not retain any original fittings. On the first floor, the three principal bedrooms have deeply coved ceilings rising from moulded picture rails. The one remaining fireplace has a plain surround with brackets supporting the mantelshelf and beautiful tiles with a bird and floral design. Some of the bedrooms have built-in cupboards and there is a built-in linen cupboard on the landing.

The attached conservatory, and the garage and shed in the north corner of the garden are later additions and are excluded from the listing.

History

Cambridge is situated on the southern edge of the Fens at the highest navigable point of the River Cam. The original Celtic settlement had grown up on the north bank but the Romans established the small town of Durovigutum at the strategically important junction of four major roads. The Saxon occupation spread to the south of the river, and the Normans reaffirmed the strategic importance of the site by building a castle which led to the expansion of the settlement. Cambridge soon became a prosperous town in which several religious houses were established, and these attracted sufficient students for Henry III to recognise the town as a seat of learning in 1231. Most of the fifteen colleges in existence before the Reformation had evolved from the cloistered world of monastic scholarship. Additional colleges and university buildings have continued to be established up to the present day and much new housing was built during the inter-war period and post-war period.

The development of the former medieval West Fields began around 1870. This land, covering approximately 200 acres, was owned primarily by the colleges, notably St John’s, which had always strongly resisted any building west of the Backs (the stretch of land which runs along the back of the riverside colleges). It was the loss of college revenue from the agricultural depression that led to their decision to lease the land in building plots. Three new institutions were established – Newnham College in 1875, Ridley Hall in 1877, and Selwyn Hostel (now College) in 1879 – and suburban houses in various styles from Queen Anne to Arts and Crafts and neo-Georgian were built piecemeal over almost half a century. The demand for such large family homes was partly fuelled by a new statute passed in 1882 that finally allowed dons to marry without having to give up their fellowships. The main arteries of development were West Road, Madingley Road and Grange Road which forms the central spine road running north-south through the suburb.

A plan for an estate of about 35 acres on the northern boundary of West Cambridge was laid out in the early C20 for the Trustees of Storey’s Charity, which had been allotted an L-shaped plot of land in the 1805 Enclosure Award. Storey’s Way, the main roadway of the new estate, was constructed in 1911 and 74 freehold plots were offered for sale, varying from a quarter of an acre to an acre. The Trustees were determined to keep a strict control over the residential development and imposed numerous restrictions in the leases, including minimum building costs of £800 on smaller plots and £1000 on larger plots. To put this in context, in 1906 the sum of £1000 was considered well above the price of a substantial suburban villa. The majority of building leases in West Cambridge and Storey’s Way were taken up by individuals who commissioned many architects who are now considered to be amongst the finest of the late Victorian/ Edwardian age, notably M. H. Baillie Scott who designed nine houses in west Cambridge, E. S. Prior, J. J. Stephenson, and Ernest Newton.

29 Storey’s Way was built in 1922 for the Reverend Asquith. It was designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (1865-1945), an eminent Arts and Crafts architect who designed thirteen houses in and around Cambridge (nine of which are listed at Grade II), mostly for academics who appreciated his ability to create artistic, yet practical houses for various budgets. Baillie Scott was the eldest son of a minor but wealthy Scottish aristocrat and attended the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester before deciding to pursue an architectural career. He was articled to Major Charles E. Davis of Bath and in 1889 moved to the Isle of Man where he established a successful domestic practice. In his own house, the heavily half-timbered Red House in Douglas (1892-93), he used a new way of planning – in which the large hall, or ‘house place’ as he called it, was separated from the drawing and dining rooms by folding screens – thus allowing a fluid, adaptable living space that became a hallmark of his work.

Baillie Scott’s designs received extensive coverage in 'The Studio' from 1895, resulting in commissions from clients all over England as well as the Continent. In 1901 he moved his practice to Bedford, the home of the Pyghtle Works, for whom he designed furniture, and he soon took on Arthur Edgar Beresford as his assistant. Baillie Scott’s fame spread even wider after the publication of 'Houses and Gardens' (1906) in which he illustrated his work and explained his ideas on house planning and design, focussing on the importance of function and drawing out the character of materials. In 1919 he re-established his practice in London, now in partnership with Beresford, and in 1933 they produced an updated 'Houses and Gardens' with photographs and plans, including those of 29 Storey’s Way. Baillie Scott is well represented on the statutory List which contains around sixty of his buildings, almost all houses, including five at Grade II*, and the Grade I listed Blackwell (1899) at Windermere, Cumbria, his finest surviving work in England and a masterpiece of the Arts and Crafts movement.

29 Storey’s Way has been subject to some alterations. In 1959 the large heavy pantiles were replaced with brown plain tiles. Many of the fireplace surrounds have lost their tiles, notably those in the dining room and study; and in the latter room part of the original built-in bookcase was removed to make room for a coat cupboard. The wall between the kitchen and larder has been removed; and the French windows leading out onto a tiny balcony in the central bay on the south-west side have been shortened. In 1992 a conservatory was built against the north-east elevation, involving the replacement of a sash window with double-leaf doors. The design for the garden was included in the 1933 edition of 'House and Gardens' but the original layout has not survived.

Reasons for Listing

29 Storey’s Way, built in 1922 to the designs of M. H. Baillie Scott, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design: it is a good example of the finely crafted Neo-Georgian style that Baillie Scott adopted later in his career;
* Architectural interest: it has a well-proportioned composition enlivened by subtle variations in plane, towering chimney stacks, and delicate Georgian-inspired detailing;
* Interior: this displays the same high level of design and craftsmanship in an elegant Georgian style, and the survival of the configuration and fittings of the service area further enhances the special interest of the house;
* Architect: Baillie Scott is one of the most accomplished and prolific architects of the late C19/ early C20 and has around sixty listed buildings to his name;
* Context: the house forms part of an exceptional suburban development in West Cambridge which encompasses the work of some of the most notable architects of the day;
* Group value: it is one of an important cluster of five listed Baillie Scott houses in Storey’s Way with which it has considerable group value.

External Links

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