Rodborough Crest, The Curtal and Endover, Rodborough, Gloucestershire

Summary

An Arts and Crafts house, with accompanying formal gardens, designed in 1911 by the architect Percy Morley Horder (1870-1944).

Description

A house, in Cotswold Arts and Crafts style, dating from 1911-13, by the architect P.R. Morley Horder for Charles Apperley. It was subdivided into three dwellings later in the C20.

MATERIALS: local oolitic limestone, with Cotswold slate roofs, ashlar dressings and stone stacks.

PLAN: an irregular T-plan, later subdivided into three dwellings, and with later additions.

EXTERIOR: the building is two storeys under steeply pitched roofs with stone stacks. The windows have stone mullions and leaded panes. Some small sections of the panes open on hinges. Above the windows are stone drip moulds. The façade is of three bays with a central gabled bay set forward to form a porch. In the gable end the stonework is detailed with an imitation nesting box feature. The left and right bays have windows to both floors, with a modern inserted door opening to the right. To the left and right are gables cross wings projecting forward to create a courtyard. The wing to the left projects much further to the south and has twin gables facing east, and a chimneybreast set within the left gable. The wing to the right (Endover) has a south-facing single-storey extension of modern date* (not of special interest).

The garden (west) front is of six irregular bays. The right bay has windows to both floors, and to its left are two gabled bays. The right bay has a slate-tiled projection to the ground floor with a garden door to the right. The left bay has a canted bay window. To the left of the gabled bays is a narrow bay with a small inserted gable breaking through the eaves. The two further bays to the left (The Curtal) are gabled and set forward.

The north elevation (The Curtal) has a wide gable to the right, bisected by a projecting chimneybreast with offsets. The projection is wider to the ground floor and incorporates a three-light window. At first-floor level tall window openings are set to both sides of the chimney. To the right on the ground floor is a door. The left bay has a three-light window to the ground floor and a single-light opening above, set to the right. The attached modern conservatory*, along with a modern extension incorporating a stair on the east flank* are not of special interest. In the rear courtyard the north-facing elevation (Rodborough Crest) has twin gables. A west-facing elevation (Endover) has a central stone chimney. To the left of the courtyard the north elevation (Endover) is largely encapsulated within a part single-storey/part two-storey C21 extension* (not of special interest). The first floor of the right bay is original and gabled with a two-light window.

The east elevation (Endover) has the attached car port to the left bay, which breaks into the cill of the first-floor window in the gable. The central and right bays are of lower height and gabled. The right bay is part of a modern addition. The car port and other modern additions* are not of special interest.

INTERIOR:

RODBOROUGH CREST: the internal porch has a letterbox inset in the outer wall with a glazed metal door. The hallway is entered through a glazed door, and a door to the left leads into the inner hall, which is oak panelled and has an oak stair. The floor of the landing above is supported by large-section oak beams with bar stops and joists. The inner hall floors are of oak, and internal doors across Rodborough Crest are oak with iron fittings and studs. To the west of the inner hall is a principal room with a stone fireplace, an oak picture rail and decorative plasterwork on the ceiling. The principal room to the south is separated into two by an alcove. The north end of the room is oak-panelled with an oak window seat and a carved oak mantelpiece and overmantel above a stone fireplace. Large-section beams are carried on stone corbels and the ceiling is ornately plastered. The garden door has a hinged oak screen. The southern part of the room has a wide oak-panelled inglenook with carved detailing in the east wall. The brick-arched fire has a carved oak chimneypiece with a linenfold section that appears to be of much earlier date and reused from elsewhere. There is a servant bell fixed to the panelling on the right of the fireplace. The ceiling has decorative plasterwork, and the floor is oak with oak skirting boards. A number of the windows to both floors have iron window fittings.

The stair has twisted balusters and elaborately carved newel posts, ascending to a galleried landing. A bathroom has been inserted at the south-east end of the landing. The corridor leading east from landing has been sealed at the far end, no longer giving access to the former service wing (Endover). In the north-west corner of the landing there are two steps to a sealed doorway formerly leading to further bedrooms (The Curtal). The three principal bedrooms have stone fireplaces and the master bedroom has an adjoining dressing room and bathroom.

The fittings and fixtures in Rodborough Crest contribute to the special interest of the principal building and are included in the listing. An inserted cloakroom on the first floor gallery* is of later date and not of special interest.

THE CURTAL: a large stone fireplace is in the principal ground floor room, and four original doors remain. These fittings contribute to the special interest of the principal building and are included in the listing. The proportions of the ground floor rooms have been altered and partly-extended to the east to provide room for a stair. No fittings of particular historic note remain on the first floor, except for iron window catches. All modern fittings and partitions* are not of special interest.

ENDOVER: remaining original fittings include the door to the principal ground floor room, and the fireplace and French window with shutters contained within it. These fittings contribute to the special interest of the principal building and are included in the listing. In the late C20 and early C21 the other parts of this former service wing, including the stair, have been replaced and all modern fittings and partitions are not of special interest*.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the stone gateway and walling at the west end of the garden probably dates from the original construction of the building, with the cast-iron gate installed in 1914. This structure contributes to the special interest of the principal building and is included in the listing. Some other parts of the garden wall may also date from 1913, along with the terrace to the garden front. The gazebo* in the north of the garden is much-altered, along with the attached pergola* (The Curtal). A modern garage* has been built in the north east corner of the gardens (Endover). These structures are not of special interest.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

Rodborough Crest, an Arts and Crafts house, was built in 1911-13 to the designs of the architect Percy Richard Morley Horder FRIBA. It has previously been known as Cotsmoor, and should not to be confused with another house on this road, called Lotus in 2013, which has previously used both of these names.
P. R. Morley Horder (1870-1944) was a notable architect of his day who is quoted describing himself as “a specialist in domestic architecture and the restoration of old buildings and churches” (The Architect, 1944). He was articled under George Devey and James Williams, and began independent practice in 1895. His houses appeared in the professional press from about 1902, and in the early part of his career most of his commissions were for private houses in the Home Counties, Cotswolds and Dorset. Horder placed importance on the relationship of the house to the garden, and on occasions worked closely alongside the most eminent landscape designers of the day. Later, he also designed commercial and educational buildings, including improvements to a number of colleges in Cambridge and Oxford. Among his buildings listed at Grade II are: Greys Mallory, and its West Lodge, East Lodge and Archway (1903), the Church of St Peter, Nuneaton (1909), The Vicarage, Ealing (1910) and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1926-8, with Verner Rees). A good example of his later remodelling work can be found at Steeple Manor, Dorset (listed at Grade II*). Rodborough Crest is one of a number of domestic commissions Horder completed in the wider Stroud area.

Rodborough Crest (formerly called Cotsmoor) was designed for Charles Apperley, a wealthy clothier and Justice of the Peace for Gloucestershire. Horder was related to the Apperleys by marriage and had designed the extension to Sir Alfred Apperley’s Rodborough Court (listed at Grade II) in 1899. Permission for Cotsmoor was granted in 1911, although it was not completed until 1913, the year Sir Alfred died. The delay may have been in part due to Horder’s involvement with other commissioned work at the time, including Pinfold, Surrey (1912, listed at Grade II), the house built for David Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, that was infamously damaged by a suffragette bomb during its construction. Further possible factors for the delay include the large quantity of bespoke handmade interior fittings ordered for the buildings (including ironwork probably commissioned from Alfred Bucknell, Ernest Gimson’s blacksmith), and the installation of electricity (the Apperley’s having been early pioneers of the domestic use of electric power at Rodborough Court). Charles Apperley was in residence at Cotsmoor by 7th September 1913, the date of his daughter’s birth. In the following year, a dated ornamental gate was installed at the end of the garden.

Rodborough Crest first appears, as Cotsmoor, on the Ordnance Survey map of 1923, standing in an extensive plot with outbuildings and associated cottages. It is shown and described in sales particulars of 1923 and 1935, and during the subsequent sales parts of the plot and additional buildings was sold on to separate ownership. By 1935 Cotsmoor was known as Rodborough Crest. The subdivision of the house into three separate dwellings called Rodborough Crest, The Curtal and Endover has been attributed to architect Thomas Falconer, and carried out in the 1930s (Pevsner). However, this reordering may have taken place later. In the later C20 and early C21 a number of internal alterations and extensions were made, principally to those parts of the house now forming the separate addresses of The Curtal and Endover. The gardens have also been subdivided between the three ownerships, and a number of the original garden features lost or altered.

Reasons for Listing

Rodborough Crest, including The Curtal and Endover, an Arts and Crafts house of 1911 by Percy Morley Horder, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: the house is a good example of Horder’s Arts and Crafts interpretation of Cotswold vernacular building, with excellent massing, careful proportions, limited but good external detailing and strict adherence to traditional materials and craftsmanship;
* Design interest: the house demonstrates clear quality in its architectural style, with attention to detail throughout the building;
* Intactness: although the house has undergone a substantial alteration and extension, a large proportion of the original fabric, including high quality interiors, remains in the principal part of the house, now called Rodborough Crest. Most fittings have been replaced in The Curtal and Endover, except for some doors and fireplaces, however, these changes have not significantly impacted on the level of survival of the original building.

External Links

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