81, Swains Lane

81 Swain's Lane is a private house built between 1967 and 1969 by architect John Winter for himself and his family, with structural engineer Herbert Heller. It stands on the garden of the former superintendent's house at Highgate Cemetery.

The house is a three-storey detached building with a steel frame of the 'skin' variety, where the internal frame is separated from the external cladding by insulation to reduce cold and damp problems. The external walls are clad entirely in welded Cor-Ten, a weathering carbon steel containing manganese and vanadium that rusts to create a protective layer of consistent rich brown colour. This was the first domestic use of Cor-Ten in the United Kingdom. The external walls are completely glazed in double-glazed units with narrow full-height pivoting opening lights on the upper floors and sliding units at ground level. Angled quarry tiles form a plinth at the foot of the house to allow rust-stained water to run off. The floors are concrete slabs containing under-floor heating, with internal partitions of concrete block. The flat roof is well insulated with wood wool and polystyrene, topped with glass-fibre felt and chippings.

The plan is rectangular with a modular grid of 8 feet by 12 feet by 20 feet, making efficient use of the tight site. The top floor is an open-plan quiet living space and study with a central stair and fireplace island. The first floor contains bedroom and bathroom cells, with doors from the landing set at 45-degree angles. The main bedroom and dressing room occupy the north third of the first floor. The ground floor is entered from the street via the south-east corner, with a bathroom, stair and guest bedroom to the left. An open-plan family kitchen, dining and playroom occupies two-thirds of the floor space and opens directly onto the garden. A central service core and chimney runs through the house.

All elevations receive the same treatment, with facades completely glazed between steel elements with the grid clearly expressed. Overhangs are eliminated to allow the Cor-Ten to rust effectively and consistently. Ceilings and blockwork walls throughout are rendered. Floors are quarry-tiled downstairs and carpeted on the upper floors. On the top floor, the white-painted inner steel frame, concealed elsewhere in the house, is revealed. The study side of the upper floor has a long built-in desk along the stairwell. Bedrooms feature built-in benches, bookcases and cupboards. On the ground floor, fitted units divide the kitchen and living areas.

A single-storey extension dating to the early 21st century is not of special interest.

John Winter is a key post-war architect of the Modern school. After studying at Yale, he worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and with Charles and Ray Eames in San Francisco, and with Ernö Goldfinger in London. Small private houses have been an important element of his practice. He had already built a small house for himself in Camden in the early 1960s, and his first steel house was built at Wentworth in 1963. No. 81 Swain's Lane was seen as an important marker in the history of the steel house in Britain, and represents a successful handling of the steel frame for this climate. It remains a model for minimal housing, as influential today as when it was built.