Horder House

Steep nr. Petersfield, Hampshire.
Edward Cullinan, 1958-1960
Unlisted, put forward for spot listing in January 2005 but turned down

Horder House was built in 1958-60 to designs by Edward Cullinan for his uncle Mervyn Horder. The house’s primary purpose was for a studio for composing and playing music and entertaining guests. In many ways, Horder House resembles Team 4’s successful design of the secluded private house Creek Vean in Feock, Cornwall, built in 1964-7 and listed at Grade II*; both buildings form part of a dramatic, sloping landscape which they address with their glazed façades. The site, says Cullinan, “bask[s] long, thin and south-facing in a crease in the landscape of Hampshire where a steep-wooded bank joins a flattish grassy valley floor.”

The plan of Horder House is simple – a large studio space is flanked on either side by bedrooms, one for guests on the east side and the master bedroom located west of the studio. The studio space is at the heart of the building and comes forward, with pivoting doors on either end allowing access onto a terrace.

Most astonishing is how the house was constructed. Ted Cullinan, who at the time worked with the architect Denys Lasdun, describes how the building was put together without the help of contractors. A contemporary article stresses how ‘each building operation had to be completely self-contained as if it were prefabricated’ (House and Garden, May 1963). First Cullinan and Horace Knight, a retired gardener, put down ten asbestos pipes in the ground, filled them with concrete and then erected ten concrete beams on top. On these short beams a rectangular floor deck was laid down; the house hence seems to float. Next came two concrete door frames that would form the exit from the studio to the terrace - important elements to stabilize the structure. The walls surrounding kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms were built by Knight from six inches thick insulated block work which supports the exposed joists and the aluminium-faced bitumen roof. The extensive south facade of the studio was then covered with patent glazing -the planes extending either side to overlap the master and guest bedrooms. Cullinan also glazed the kitchen ceiling while sliding windows were installed in both bedrooms so that ‘sleeping out’ was possible.

Even though Cullinan used mainly readily available building materials, the result is highly original. The grand gesture of the single studio space is translated to the outside by means of the extensive glazing which by stepping forward translates the importance of the central studio space to the outside. The glazing in the kitchen provides natural lighting while the sliding windows in the bedrooms are very much part of the idea to build a house which would incorporate the surrounding landscape. The pivoting timber doors onto the terrace are both a practical response to the leaning south façade and an aesthetic design solution.

Although the house is a variation on a Miesian box and a pavilion as favoured by Le Corbusier, it represents a break from European modernism; right angles are notably absent, lending an air of spontaneity and quirkiness to the design. Cullinan also acknowledges a debt to Californian architect Rudolf Schindler, whose houses often contained local detritus such as seashells in their fabric.

It is ironic, given the cultural climate in which DIY is all the rage, sustainability is talked about everywhere and prefab housing is being given another serious hearing, that Cullinan's house looks likely to be demolished. The Twentieth Century Society has put Horder House forward for spot listing, being clearly a pivotal design within Edward Cullinan’s oeuvre. The concept of the self-built home was further elaborated by the architect in his own house on Camden Mews (1963-4) which he again put together himself over weekends. While Camden Mews is being considered for listing at Grade II* at the moment, no recommendation has been made public for the Horder House. No other houses by Cullinan have yet been listed, despite the architect’s importance. Cullinan has been short listed for this year’s RIBA Gold Medal for his achievements in twentieth century architecture of which his private houses are a vital part.

The present owners are offering this house for sale with the benefit of a planning permission to construct a larger 'replacement' house on the site. (This planning permission, which can be implemented at any time prior to December 2008, will permit the construction of a 4 bedroom house to replace the present relatively modest 2 bedroom structure.) The purchase price being asked is £850,000. We have reason to believe that the house could now come into immediate peril as there is the very real prospect that it will be purchased by someone intent on demolishing the house and redeveloping the site.

The architect himself has joined forces with the Twentieth Century Society in a campaign to save Horder House, alarmed by the demolition of his Marvin House in Marin County, California (1958-60). Penoyre & Prasad Senior Partner, Sunand Prasad, said on hearing that the house was threatened with demolition: “I had expected that it was securely on its way to being listed as a really important early example of a key period in British Modern Architecture.” In June 2005 the request to list Horder House was also supported by Sir Richard Rogers who said: “I believe that it is one of the most outstanding 20th century European houses and that everything should be done to conserve it.”

If you want to support the listing of Horder House, please write to Elaine Pearce, DCMS Listing Branch, 2-4 Cockspur Street, London NW 5 2NR, or email elaine.pearce@culture.gsi.gov.uk.

Michael Willoughby

Status–January 2006
English Heritage turned the building down for spot listing in 2005, arguing that the building was designed to lower specification and with poorer materials than other private houses by Cullinan. Now little hope remains that the small dwelling will be retained; the site has allegedly been sold to a Swiss bank. Meanwhile four more of Ted Cullinan’s private houses are under consideration for listing and we hope that those will be protected.

Further reading
Another publisher builds a riverside studio in Hampshire, in: House and Garden, May 1963
Kenneth Powell: Edward Cullinan Architects, Academy Editions, London 1995

Contacts
Knight and Frank Estate Agents, T 01962 850 333

Image credits
Brian Housden (b/w photograph),
Courtesy Edward Cullinan Architects (colour images)
Kenneth Powell: Edward Cullinan Architects, Academy Editions, London 1995 (axonometry)