Rush Court

Description

Lutyens wrote to his wife on December 19, 1900 that Mr Faber of 52 Sloane Street intended to build, and that he hoped he would get the job. The design is one of his first to show his transition to the Wren manner. (Amery et al, 1981, Cat no.474)

This proposed, stone country house project turns away from the vernacular. The preliminary designs for a large country house continue the ‘Wrennaissance’ theme used by Lutyens in his asymmetrical addition to Crooksbury of 1898. It can be dated to c. 1901-02: the leaded light, transomed windows and classical detailing of the doorways are all reminiscent of his alterations at Abbotswood.

Anticipating such houses as Heathcote and Nashdom, this is one of the earliest examples of a simple symmetrical exterior concealing a highly complex arrangement of internal volumes in both plan and section. The articulation of the service accommodation as a separate disengaged wing, so as not to disrupt the symmetry of the main body of the house, is similar to the treatment of both Little Thakeham and The Salutation.

In many respects the design is overloaded and incoherent, but this is typical of Lutyens in his preliminary design drawings. As seen in the development of Nashdom, Castle Drogo and Ednaston, subsequent design stages usually involved considerable simplification of initial proposals. (Inskip, 1986, p.44)

Bibliography

“Amery, C., Richardson, M. and Stamp, G., (1981) Lutyens, the Work of the English Architect Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944): Hayward Gallery London, 18 November 1981 – 31 January 1982. London: Arts Council of Great Britain.

Inskip, P. (1986) Edwin Lutyens: Architectural Monographs 6. 2nd edn. London: Academy Editions.

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