Martins

Martins is a private house completed in 1954, designed by the architects Powell and Moya. A fourth bedroom was added shortly afterwards, with minor alterations made in the late twentieth century.

The house is constructed with cavity walls of brick and concrete block. The garage and living room are faced with cedar boarding on battens. Windows are timber and metal framed. The flat roofs are formed of pre-cast, pre-stressed clay planks with hollow clay filling pots and concrete topping.

The plan is L-shaped, with the garage positioned towards the road and an adjacent box room (now used as a studio) above the main living and sleeping areas, which face outwards towards the Weald.

From the southeast, three main parts compose the external appearance, set comfortably into the hillside. The left section contains the living room range, which includes a veranda at the corner. The living room itself is generously glazed with wood-framed square sliding panes that meet at the corner, supplemented by additional fixed panes. This section is completed with weather-boarded walls, and the plinth is also weather-boarded. The flat roof above is supported by a slender post at the veranda and sits over the weather-boarded plinth. Set back and above is the weather-boarded study and garage range, with a three-light vertical window to the left, this element being a later addition. A wide chimney stack with three tall chimney pots occupies the right side, as originally designed. The left-hand return is now weather-boarded at first floor level, though originally most of this elevation was glazed; windows survive at ground floor serving the dining room. A set-back link with one wide window bay connects to the bedroom range, which is advanced from and slightly lower than the living room. This is weather-boarded and features a wide centrally placed range of metal-framed windows, one for each bedroom, each comprising a wide fixed pane flanked by casements. The roof oversails above the windows only. The northeast return is mostly blind weather-boarding with one window of square fixed pane and casement. To the north of this is the later bedroom extension, with full-width windows and a single window on the return.

The interior survives in very good condition, with the original plan form and most fittings intact. The living room fireplace comprises a long low brick wall with metal-framed openings and a polished stone cill, accompanied by fitted bookcases. The dining room has a hatch to the kitchen, which retains many original cupboards. Steps down from the front door to the hall retain built-in cupboards. Bedrooms feature built-in wardrobes with transom overlights on the doors, and there is a skylight at the end of the hall.

This largely intact house of 1954 by Powell and Moya was built shortly after wartime restrictions on private building were lifted, giving it historic interest. It is a rare surviving example of the domestic work of these important post-war architects. It has special architectural interest for its planning and use of materials, responding boldly to its dramatic Wealden site while retaining much of the original character and high-quality fittings of a purpose-built house of the period.