Award Winner for Best House of One or Two Storeys
PERFECTION IN PETERSHAM
House No 3, River Lane, Petersham, Surrey TW10 7AG
Ever since the time of the Romans in Britain - and long before that in other parts of the world - courtyard houses have afforded privacy and security to those who live in urban or rural locations. So why are there comparatively few of them in Britain? Mainly because most builders and estate agents think they are not as saleable as conventional houses. Architects and owners think otherwise, as do a very few housebuilders.
This award-winning courtyard house is one of three in a secluded development close to the Thames in Petersham. Designed by Terry Farrell & Partners, and originally commissioned by a subsidiary company in the Berkeley Group, Thirlstone Homes, this and its two neighbours amply demonstrate all the advantages of a courtyard house, especially one as well designed and constructed as this, using the finest materials and the latest technologies.
The five-bedroom house has some 5,500 sq ft of floorspace, with double-height spaces, crisp white rendered walls and an abundance of plate glass allowing the maximum amount of natural light to flood the house without any lack of privacy, as the house is arranged around its private courtyard garden.
Floor-to-ceiling sliding walls enable the open-plan ground floor to be subdivided into separate areas if required. Exterior sliding glass walls also allow the house and garden to merge visually and physically. Full-height internal doors open on pivots instead of hinges.
As one approaches the house from the discreet gravelled entrance drive to the development and passes through the cedar-panelled double security gates, all that is visible is a two-storey windowless end wall, the double garage with its electronically operated cedar doors, a single-storey link wall and the extra-wide cedar-panelled solid front door.
Nothing prepares one for the volume and scale of the interior that is revealed behind the front door. Not only is there a vista through the whole length of the house, but what would normally be an entrance hall or corridor is a double-height space open to a fully-glazed roof, with all the ground-floor rooms opening off it to one side. Even the single-storey links between different parts of the house are top-lit with circular lightwells.
With the exception of the cloakroom and the utility room, all three ground-floor reception rooms and the kitchen/breakfast room are open plan. The master stroke is the drawing room, which is a double-height pavilion linked to - but separate from - the rest of the house, with glass walls on two sides, most of which slide open to integrate the house and garden seamlessly. The drawing room also has a 12-foot-long gas fire built into one wall, which can be programmed to give a variety of effects.
While open-plan living spaces are acceptable, most people want their bedrooms to be private, as they are here - though each bedroom has a glass wall overlooking the garden. Four bedrooms are reached by the main staircase in the centre of the house, the master bedroom having a fully fitted dressing room and a wet room with twin basins, bath and twin showers.
The master bedroom is on one side of the large landing, with the other three bedrooms opening off a galleried landing overlooking the hall. One of these bedrooms has an ensuite shower room, and all three can use a family bathroom, which also has a separate shower.
A second staircase at the far end of the house leads to the guest suite of double bedroom and ensuite fitted dressing room and bathroom, with a separate shower. Sliding solid walls allow this guest suite to be shut off completely from the rest of the house. All five bedrooms have sliding glass walls that open, with a toughened glass balustrade to ensure safety. While the glass walls allow natural light into the bedrooms, indirect light also enters the bedrooms from the glazed hallway by way of a glass panel immediately below the ceiling.
A palette of natural materials is used throughout the house. The whole of the ground floor has grey limestone flooring, which is complemented by walnut staircases and landings, and by walnut worktops in the kitchen, which has a comprehensive range of Miele and Kuppersbusch appliances and units with sable doors and glass splashbacks. All the bathrooms have white mosaic tiled floors and walls.
High-tech applications are to be expected in a house as contemporary as this. Not only does it run as a machine with a number of integrated systems operated by touch-screen controls, such as the underfloor heating or the air-conditioning, but it is wired for almost any combination of television, video or home cinema equipment, allowing programmes to be heard or viewed throughout the house.
A single telephone system handles room-to-room communication and the video entryphone, and there is a broadband internet connection plus a data socket in all main rooms. Most rooms have ceiling-mounted speakers, and an Audio Access system allows different music to be relayed to different rooms at the same time.
The lighting system throughout the house is also programmable, allowing a variety of different effects at different times of the day or night, which can be called up at the touch of a button. The lighting in the garden is also co-ordinated, allowing special trees or garden features to be illuminated, with downlighters in the overhanging roof beamed down onto the teak decking. It goes without saying that the house also has a comprehensive security system.
The living accommodation is as far away as possible from the site boundaries and neighbouring properties, ensuring complete privacy. It does not overlook - nor is it overlooked by - any of the surrounding properties.
The sale price of £4 million may seem high to many people, but in this exclusive part of Richmond, close to the river and to Richmond Park, it offered a contemporary alternative to period properties of a similar value owned by aristocrats, celebrities and entertainers.
HomeBuilder: Berkeley Homes (Southern)
Broadlands Business Campus, Langhurstwood Road, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 4QP
Tel 01403 211240
Fax 01403 211753
Website www.berkeleyhomes.co.uk
Contact: Sam Pullen, Marketing Manager.
Email sam.pullen@berkeleygroup.co.uk
Architects: Terry Farrell & Partners
The Old Aeroworks, 17 Hatton Street, London NW8 8PL
Tel 020 7258 3433
Fax 020 7723 7059
Website: www.terryfarrell.co.uk
Contact: Mike Stowell, Project Director.
Email m.stowell@terryfarrell.co.uk
.gif)