Gatehouse at Forest Lodge, Blyth, Nottinghamshire

Summary

Former gate lodge, built around 1936 to the designs of Robert Lowry FRIBA for Francis Egerton Pegler, now a house.

Description

Former gate lodge, built around 1936 to the designs of Robert Lowry FRIBA for Francis Egerton Pegler, now a house.

MATERIALS: plain clay tile roof, red brick walls laid in English garden wall bond, red brick chimneystack, and leaded casement windows.

PLAN: the house is an oblong octagon in plan, with an attached rectangular-plan covered yard to the south, and an attached rectangular-plan fuel store to the south of the yard.

EXTERIOR: the one-and-half storey house is an oblong octagon in plan, with a central rectangular-plan red-brick chimneystack, and steeply-sloped plain clay tile roof. Both the east and west slopes of the roof have a dormer window clad with hanging clay tiles. The walls of the ground floor are constructed of red brick laid in English garden wall bond. The north (front) elevation has a tripartite window to its centre, and the north-east, south-east, south-west and north-west elevations each have a two-light window to their centre, all windows containing leaded casements. The single-storey covered yard to the rear (south), which provides access to the interior, has a shallow-pitched roof, and was altered in the late C20 to provide additional living accommodation, with a door and window introduced to its east elevation. The attached single-storey store at the south end of the yard has a hipped roof with a plain clay tile roof covering.

INTERIOR: not inspected. Plans of the proposed building, dated 8 July 1936, show the interior was planned to have a stair, scullery, living room, pantry, bedroom and cupboard on the ground floor of the house, with two bedrooms over, with an attached covered yard and fuel store to the rear.

History

In the early 1930s, the land and plantations south of Plantation Road were purchased by Francis Egerton Pegler (1890-1957), heir to the Northern Rubber Company in Retford and Peglers Ltd plumbing company in Doncaster. Pegler employed architect Robert Lowry to construct a residence and associated buildings at Hodsock Plantation, the new residence named Forest Lodge. Born around 1882, Lowry is recorded as having trained at the Architecture Association School of Architecture in London, working as an Assistant at the offices of Clyde Young and East and Mewes and Davis, before commencing independent practice in Richmond, Surrey. Lowry became Deputy Principal of the AA School of Architecture, and was recorded as a being a Lecturer in Greek, Roman and Renaissance architecture in 1924. He was awarded Associate membership of RIBA in 1916, and Fellow membership in 1925. His known works include: a house at 37 Bryanston Square, Marylebone, London W1 for the Hon Cecil A Campbell; a house in Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1 for the Marquis of Lansdowne; a concrete cottage 'White Steading' for F R Yerbury Esq, Amersham, Bucks (1921); a suburban house 'Queenslea' in Richmond, for W R Watkins Esq; 12 Frognal Lane, Hampstead, London, for J Marks Esq; and Forest Lodge near Blyth in Nottinghamshire, for F E Pegler Esq (1936).

Drawings of the proposed buildings at Forest Lodge by Robert Lowry FRIBA, approved by Worksop Rural District Council in 1936, record the architect’s address at that time as 16 Grafton Street, London, W1. Drawings included plans and elevations of the Gardener’s Cottage (a lodge most likely built in the late C18, now known as the Roundhouse), the Chauffeur's Cottage and Garage (now known as the Woodhouse), the Gate Lodge (now known as the Gatehouse), and Forest Lodge itself. The buildings were certainly completed by the time of an aerial photograph in May 1938.

Reasons for Listing

The Gatehouse, a former gate lodge, built around 1936 to the designs of Robert Lowry FRIBA for Francis Egerton Pegler, now a house, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for its design by Robert Lowry FRIBA, a respected architect and architectural educator, who designed a number of elegant residential buildings;
* as a well-composed and attractive estate building, designed to complement its associated country house;
* for the high degree of survival of original architectural features, including the original roof covering, leaded windows and window furniture, and plan form.

Historic interest:

* as a key building in an architect-designed private country estate of the 1930s, exemplifying a popular style of the inter-war period.

Group value:

* for the survival of this 1930s country estate, which also includes the associated country house (Forest Lodge), chauffeur’s cottage and garage (Woodhouse) and gardener’s cottage (Roundhouse), each listed at Grade II.

External Links

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