Hillcroft

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105/0/10028

KNEBWORTH DEARDS END LANE 7 Hillcroft

16-DEC-09

II Two storey house, built 1901 as a pair of semi-detached cottages designed by E. Lutyens who converted it into one house in 1904 adding a rear extension. Additional mid C20 two storey extension to the south.

MATERIALS: red brick, laid in stretcher bond, with a gable roof and plain tile covering.

PLAN: 'T' shaped with front range and projecting rear extension.

EXTERIOR: there are two central angled ridge stacks each with three interlocking flues and pots. The façade has a central recessed porch with contemporary two leaf, part glazed entrance door and three dormers. The rear elevation accommodates the single storey, double height, rear extension with an end stack. Timber casement windows throughout, some of which are later C20 replacements.

INTERIOR: the interior reflects the 1904 conversion, although the plan-form of the 1901 cottages remains legible. The brick-built inglenook fireplace on the ground floor is flanked by recessed, arched panels. A second fireplace, with cast-iron grate,remains in the first floor bedroom. There are contemporary battened doors throughout. The Lutyens rear extension is partly double-height and has a brick built fireplace against the rear wall, the stack being recessed above the fireplace, providing emphasis to the casement window above.

HISTORY: Hillcroft was designed by Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) in 1901 for his brother-in-law, Earl Lytton of Knebworth House. Lytton planned other houses and the golf clubhouse in Deards End Lane before World War I and commissioned Lutyens to design them. Hillcroft was designed as a pair of semi-detached, interlocking cottages for estate workers in 1901, but in 1904 Earl Lytton commissioned Lutyens to design a conversion of the building into one residence, adding a substantial extension to the rear.

SOURCES: R. Meredith, History of Hillcroft (1997) [copy with the Lutyens Trust]