66, Frognal

CAMDEN

TQ2685NW FROGNAL 798-1/26/523 (East side) 01/08/73 No.66

GV II*

Detached house on corner site. 1937-8. By Colin Lucas with Amyas Connell and Basil Ward. Roughcast on reinforced concrete monolithic structure with floors supported on freestanding reinforced concrete pilotis. Flat roof over hanging 2nd floor; post-war alterations filling in sundeck on top floor by Trevor Dannatt. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, 13 window continuous strip. Main facade with projecting central rectangular staircase, to full height, with glazed rectangular panels to each return. Ground floor left forms an open carport with garage; staircase to extreme left leads to 1st floor entrance with plain canopy. Ground floor right, glazed. Upper floors have continuous strips of large pane sliding windows, those at 1st floor with round tie-plates above and 2nd floor slightly recessed. Right hand return has glazed, recessed ground floor, the upper floors supported on pilotis and having a continuous raked flower trough; a small rectangular window to each floor. Rear elevation with stair to right hand 1st floor terrace with tubular railings; central plate-glass bay with strip window bay to left. 2nd floor with continuous balcony having tubular railings; 2 left hand bays with plate-glass French windows overhung by flat roof. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORICAL NOTE: a pioneer work of the Modern Movement in the UK. Connell and Ward were early admirers of Le Corbusier; Lucas, similarly influenced and frustrated by conventional builders, had set up his own company to develop ideas for reinforced concrete. The three worked as a team from 1933, for six years producing a series of houses that no contemporary firm could match.

Listing NGR: TQ2610385548