The White House

HARPSDEN SU78SE BOLNEY ROAD 1209- /7/10011 The White House II

Detached house. 1908 by George Walton for Mr and Mrs George Davison; built by T.H. Kingerlee & Sons of Oxford. Later single bay addition to north. White-rendered brickwork. Tiled mansard roof with southern cross gable, all with projecting eaves; gable eaves have a modillion cornice; dormers and tall rendered chimney stacks with projecting modillion cornices. 2 storeys and attics. Irregular grouped fenestration. Central double height, projecting, semi-circular porch with 1st floor balcony having steel columns, paired to ground floor, on which the exposed bolting forms part of the design. These are reflected in the balustrade design to both floors. Porch/balcony constructed of cantilevered RSJs clad in concrete. Entrance of metal-framed, rectangular panel glazed doors, repeated on 1st floor, and approached by curved steps to either side with further balustrading. Mostly French windows with patterned, louvered shutters and diagonally crossed guards to both floors and all elevations, mostly corresponding; those to gabled bay arranged 1:2:1 with an attic oculus. Southern elevation has a verandah forming a 1st floor balcony beneath overhanging and upswept eaves; 2 windows to each floor. Eastern elevation with a chimney stack forming the gable apex and 2 windows to each floor. To the right, the roof extends to 1st floor level with dormers. Enriched lead rainwater heads, one inscribed "GD" and two inscribed "George Walton, Architect, MCMVIII". INTERIOR: this was always fairly plain. Some alteration but retains some features including a fine original polished timber open well staircase with simplified column newel and balusters having exposed joints. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the garden retains some of the original layout with brick and tile walls. HISTORY: Walton, born in Glasgow, was primarily a designer and decorator, having trained by evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art. He decorated Miss Cranston's Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow for which C R Mackintosh and his wife were also designers; also the dining room of C F A Voysey's home, The Orchard, Chorleywood. He opened a London shop in 1897 and through George Davison, head of European sales for Kodak, did the interiors of Kodak's Clerkenwell Road offices and shops in Britain and on the Continent. Walton had no architectural training and designed few houses; The White House is extraordinary for its date, especially the porch/balcony. It was designed for summer entertaining and the nautical feel was clearly influenced by the proximity of the River Thames. Walton designed a small cottage for George Davison further down river at Bourne End and a magnificent house boat.

George Walton - Designer & Architect by Karen Moon, 1993; George Walton, His Life and Work by Sir N. Pevsner, RIBA Joumal, 3.4.39, pp537-48; Plans and elevations in the RIBA Drawings Collection.

Listing NGR: SU7772180443