16 Warley Way

Detached house in the International Modern style, designed in 1934 by Oliver Hill FRIBA and built in 1935, with later 20th-century alterations.

The house is constructed of white-painted rendered brick with metal-framed windows and a bituminous felt roof. It is a two-storey building of roughly L-shaped plan with a sweeping curve to the front north-east elevation and a flat roof.

The principal elevation is characterised by a sweeping segmental curve on the left-hand side, featuring mid-20th-century strip windows to the ground-floor living room and first-floor principal bedroom. Below the first-floor window is a plymax front door with a port-hole window. To its left are two late-20th-century port-hole windows inserted into the blocked-up entrance of the integral garage, all sheltered by a first-floor sun balcony. To the right of the ground-floor window is a loggia with a metal-framed glass door with horizontal glazing bars. A further plymax door with a port-hole window set within a rendered brick surround provides access to the rear of the house. On the first floor, two sun balconies with late-20th-century tubular steel rails flank the principal bedroom window. The left-hand balcony is accessed from both the principal bedroom and the double bedroom over the former garage by metal-framed glass doors with horizontal glazing bars, while the right-hand balcony is accessed from a further double bedroom by a metal-framed glass door with sidelights and horizontal glazing bars.

The rear elevation's ground floor includes an off-centre left plymax door with a port-hole window to the former maid's bed-sitting room, linked by a concrete hood to a small fuel store. To the left of the door is a single-light casement with top opening lights, and to its right a pair of mid-20th-century French windows with horizontal glazing bars. Further right are a pair of single-light casements with top opening lights. At the right-hand end, the former integral garage features late-20th-century sliding glass doors replacing its original rear wall. On the first floor, a three-light staircase window sits off-centre right, with a further three-light casement with side-hung outer lights placed slightly higher to its left. The rounded corner to the side elevation is turned by another three-light casement with side-hung outer lights. At the right-hand end, the flat roof to the projecting garage was converted into a sun balcony in the late 20th century, furnished with contemporary tubular steel rails and metal-framed French doors with horizontal glazing bars.

The right-hand return has two three-light casements with side-hung outer lights on the ground floor. On the first floor are, from left to right, a two-light casement with side-hung outer lights, a port-hole window, a three-light casement with side-hung outer lights, and a single-light casement with horizontal glazing bars. The left-hand return has a late-20th-century garage adjoining its ground floor and a three-light casement with side-hung outer lights above.

The interior is characterised throughout by Hill's simple treatment, with unbroken wall surfaces, plain surrounds to flush-faced doors, pitched-pine block floors and polished Biancola window cills.

The front door opens into an entrance hall where the wood block floor is arranged in parquet pattern, from which all other ground-floor rooms can be reached directly. To the right is an L-shaped living room with a recessed dining area at its inner end, adjacent to the kitchen. The original serving hatch between the two has been blocked up. The room retains an original fireplace with a marble-effect surround edged in silver. To the left of the entrance hall is a long, narrow lavatory, and to its right is a kitchen which has been opened out into the former maid's bed-sitting room. Both have wood block floors laid in running bond brick pattern, though the kitchen is now fitted with modern kitchen units.

A dog-leg staircase with half-landing rises between the lavatory and kitchen, containing a series of curves: around the end wall at ground-floor level, around the stairwell, and in the solid balcony and handrail where it turns around the stairwell to meet the first-floor corridor.

On the first floor are five bedrooms arranged around the landing and corridor: two double bedrooms and a single double bedroom placed over the living room and former garage respectively, and two single bedrooms above the now enlarged kitchen. All double bedrooms retain their original built-in cupboards (none were provided in the two single bedrooms), and the linen cupboard in the corridor also survives, all with original flush doors. The separate bathroom and lavatory have been combined to create a single bathroom with modern sanitaryware.