Ferrum House With Garage, Terrace And Pool

TL 11 SW 270/11/10020

HARPENDEN GRANGE COURT ROAD (South side) Ferrum House, with garage, Terrace and pool

II

Private house. 1963 (principal rectangular section), with later extension, by John S Bonnington for himself. Steel-framed upper storey resting on light yellow brick cross walls extending into garden. Flat roof. Largely rectangular building, with open plan, influenced by Mies van der Rohe. Entrance under overhanging upper storey with columbian pine boarded soffit. Windows of aluminium and double glazed, to full storey-height. First floor partly infilled with vertical cedar boarding. Three bays of tripartite glazing to garden front. Attached garage part of composition. Interior features Swedish white glass mosaic floors throughout. Hardwood sliding doors and internal partitions. Open stair with timber treads and steel string and handrail, from hall to dining area, which connects to kitchen and living room. Sitka spruce boarded ceilings throughout together with certain internal partitions. Teak kitchen wall-to-wall counter-top and sink unit clear of floor and windows with white laminated cupboards below. Hi-fi recess in living room with built-in speakers in panelling. Fitted storage cupboards and wardrobes in bedrooms and ground floor passages. Portland stone paved terrace surrounding house, extending to garden pool. One of the first examples of a steel-framed house in England. A fine and disciplined example with a rigorous open plan, surviving in immaculate condition.

SOURCES: Architectural Design (May 1965) p257-8 Architects' Hournal (2nd September 1970) Hertfordshire Association of Architects; Architecture in Hertfordshire 1929-1979 (1979)

Listing NGR: TL1423312512