Description

1688/0/10039 UPPER GUILDOWN ROAD
26-JUN-07 8
Littleholme Cottage

GV II
Cottage. Designed by C F A Voysey (1857-1941) in 1911 as the gardener's cottage to Littleholme. Vernacular Revival style. The later C20 porch and extension to the north west are not of special interest.

MATERIALS: Whitewashed roughcast with Bath stone dressings and plain tiled roof with central brick chimneystack with open panels at the top revealing four terracotta chimneypots.

PLAN: The original plan was a lobby entrance house of two bays of one storey with attics in the gable ends, almost central entrance and chimneystack with two main rooms on each floor.

EXTERIOR: The south-east or entrance front has two hipped dormers (not shown in the original elevational drawing) and an unusual small central window to the upper floor just below the eaves lighting the staircase. The ground floor has two triple windows with wide Bath stone surrounds merging into a central Bath stone arch, with tile-on-edge dripmould at the top and original door with three panels at the top, nine small glazed panels to the centre and a large panel at the base. The north-east end is gabled with kneelers of stepped tiles-on-edge and a dripmould of tiles-on-edge above the triple window to the upper floor. Below is a drip moulding of tiles-on-edge over the windows, curving above the kitchen doorcase which contains the original door with two panels, three small glazed panels and hinges with spade decoration. The south-west end has a similar gable with tile-on-edge decoration above the upper floor window and two single light windows to the ground floor, each with tile-on-edge dripmoulding. The rear elevation is concealed by a later C20 extension.

INTERIOR: The ground floor has a central lobby with straight flight staircase opposite. There are a number of plank doors with large iron hinges with spade decoration and the window cills retain original glazed green tiles. The lounge to the south-west has a fireplace with round-headed brick arch. The kitchen to the south east has an axial beam and cambered opening to the fireplace. The south-western bedroom retains an original fireplace with a painted brick round-headed arch and iron firegrate.

HISTORY: This cottage was designed by C F A Voysey as the gardener's cottage to the main house, Littleholme which he built in 1907 for the builder and interior decorator G Muntzer who had worked on some of Voysey's Surrey houses. Voysey estimated that the gardener's cottage would cost considerably less than the garden at £300. The signed original plans and drawings by Voysey survive. During the Second World War the main house was requisitioned by the Home Office and the Muntzers moved into the gardener's cottage. On the 1916 Ordnance Survey map the building is shown rectangular in shape. An extension had been built by the 1962 OS map where the plan is shown as an L-shape.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: A vernacular revival style gardener's cottage desiged for one of his builders by the distinguished architect C F A Voysey. It bears the hallmarks of his style, roughcast walls, gables and leaded light window, and groups with the main house, Littleholme.

SOURCES:
Pevsner and Nairn, "Buildings of England: Surrey" (1971) p293.
S Durrant, "C F A Voysey" (1992) p93.
W Hitchmough, "C F A Voysey" (1997) p159.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671385

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability