Anatomy of a House No.19:The Homewood, Esher

Anatomy of a House No.19
​
The Homewood, Esher, Surrey
1939
Patrick Gwynne

The Homewood, Esher. Image via the Coulthard Collection.

1939 was a high watermark year for the private modernist house in Britain. In this blog series, we have already covered Erno Goldfinger's terrace at Willow Road and Seely and Paget's Studio House in Highgate, both completed the same year. Peter Moro’s Harbour Meadow house at Birdham in West Sussex was also completed in 1939, but perhaps the finest house that year was The Homewood in Esher, Surrey, designed by 26 year old architect Patrick Gwynne for his parents, and later to be his own home.

Gwynne was born on 24th March 1914 in Porchester, Hampshire. His parents were Naval commander Alban Gwynne and Ruby. He attended Harrow school, where he apparently saw Amyas Connell’s High and Over on a sketching trip, a pivotal moment for the young Gwynne. Avoiding his fathers plans for him to go into accountancy, Gwynne trained with former Lutyens assistant Ernest Coleridge, before joining the office of Canadian architect and Isokon designer, Wells Coates, alongside a young Denys Lasdun. Gwynne designed The Homewood just after leaving Coates, after his parents sold an inherited plot of land in Wales, allowing them to pay for the demolition of the old “Homewood” house they had lived in for 25 years and the construction of a new one. The old house was sited next to the main road which had got progressively busier since they settled here, and Gwynne placed the new house at the back of the 10 acre plot amongst mature trees. ​

The ground and first floor plans for The Homewood. Image via the Coulthard Collection.

The new Homewood Gwynne designed was a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’, a total work of art, with the young architect creating all the furniture, fittings and even detailing the landscape. The house itself is effectively a two-storey bungalow, with the ground floor built in dark purple brick containing a garage and utility rooms and the living area residing on the elevated first floor. This living area is divided into two sections, an L-shaped portion containing the living room, kitchen, dining room and staff quarters, and a rectangular section housing the bedrooms. These two sections are divided by a spiral staircase which also acts as the entrance from the ground floor. The facades of the two distinct elevations are designed using a standard vertical and horizontal unit, with the wall lengths and windows being multiples of these.

The first floor living area in The Homewood.

The first floor of the building is constructed of reinforced concrete (engineered by Felix Samuley), which also forms the piers which create a walkway in the garden area with the first floor overhanging it. The main living area runs the length of the upper level with floor to ceiling windows.The living area also has a sprung maple floor and moveable furniture, ready for dancing to begin on social occasions. The living areas, and the rest of the houses, are fitted out with a range of bespoke materials and artworks; including signature wallpapers, abstract panels by Stefan Knapp, a wall of Levanto marble incorporating the fireplace, a folding screen by Peter Thompson and a glass chandelier. No expense was spared on the house, Gwynne’s father would call it the “Temple of costly experience”. Gwynne’s old work colleague, Denys Lasdun, designed the swimming pool on the south terrace, finished in mosaic tiles. The grounds also feature a collection of ponds created out of a tributary of the River Mole.

One of Patrick Gwynne's record drawings for The Homewood, showing the design of the gardens and landscape. Image from RIBApix.

The house's patrons, Gwynne’s parents, did not live long enough to enjoy their son's designs. They both died before the end of World War II, and his sister decided not to live there, leaving Patrick as the house's inhabitant for the next 46 years, alongside his companion, pianist Harry Rand. The Homewood also acted as his office and showroom for his clients over the next half decade, with many of Gwynne’s future commissions featuring design details Gwynne first tested at his home. Gwynne also designed a few more residences neighboring The Homewood. Firstly Gwynne designed a rebuild of a garden cottage to the south of The Homewood in 1958 with an extension in 1966. He then designed two new houses, Amanda on Meadway, a circular house in 1971 (now demolished), and Winterdown, a V-shaped house with a mansard roof from 1985 (recently sold, with planning permission for redevelopment). ​

10 Blackheath Park. Designed by Patrick Gwynne for Leslie Bilsby. Image from RIBApix.

As well as commissions like the Theatre Royal York and restaurants in Hyde Park, Gwynne would sign many private houses between 1945 and the 1990s. His best client was developer Leslie Bilsby, part of the Span estates company. Gwynne designed a number of houses for Bilsby, not all of them built, but the ones that were are spectacular. 10 Blackheath Park (1968) is a black slate and glass clad intruder in the otherwise polite street in this leafy park of Blackheath. Its finish, X-shaped plan and oval entrance ramp give it an air of a supervillain's lair. His next house for Bilsby, 22 Park Gate (1979), just around the corner from the previous house, is a cluster of three linked brick polygons. 

After Gwynne turned 80 in 1993 he began negotiations with the National Trust to leave The Homewood to them. After 6 years of talks, it was agreed that Gwynne would be able to stay in the house until his death and thereafter the house would be looked after by the trust. It was also agreed that the house would be renovated and repaired, a process which began in 1999. Gwynne passed away in May 2003, and the house was occupied by David Scott and Louise Cavanagh on behalf of the trust, with the house open to the public on select days between April and October.

The Homewood and Patrick Gwynne are featured at the start of Edward Mirzoeff's 1995 film, Treasures in Trust, below.

Patrick Gwynne’s houses in Blackheath, 10 Blackheath Park and 22 Park Gate, feature in our new guidebook, Modernism Beyond Metro-Land, including the best modernist architecture from London's eastern and southern suburbs.
Get your copy HERE

References
The Houses of Patrick Gwynne'. The Journal of the Twentieth. Century Society no.4, 2000 pp.30-44
Modern. The Modern Movement in Britain. Alan Powers
The Homewood English Heritage Listing Page https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1365884