Usherwood

Usherwood is a detached single-storey house in Moderne style, designed by Basil Ward and Amyas Douglas Connell in May 1934 and built between 1934 and 1936. The client was Tom Usherwood, a commercial artist and friend of Basil Ward. The builders are thought to have been B Radford of London.

The house was constructed with four-inch internally insulated concrete walls and slab ceilings on raft foundations. The concrete blocks were experimentally cast to coincide with the celotex boards of the insulation. The casement windows were of mild steel, specially ordered from the Lion Works at Guildford.

The plan comprises a rectangle with a large projecting curved bay window to the west and a smaller, taller semi-circular stair tower to the north side. A flat sunroof with part concrete canopy crowns the stair tower, and a rectangular garage block is attached at the north-east corner. Internally, the house contains one large open-plan living room and kitchen to the north and two bedrooms divided by a bathroom to the south.

The north or entrance front features the semi-circular staircase tower, which projects several feet above the roof parapet and has an attached flat concrete canopy to the sunroof with a glazed windscreen to the north. Another flat concrete canopy extends further east to the main entrance. The doorcase is set back with a horizontally glazed door; to the east are three small vertically placed porthole windows. The flat-roofed garage at the north-east corner has a west wall of opaque glass tiles. The western part of the north elevation slopes down, revealing part of the large curved living-room bay window. The western elevation comprises the curved bay, which has a door with horizontal glazing bars facing south; part of the parapet above has metal balustrading. To the south is the projecting bedroom block, symmetrical with a small central four-light bathroom casement flanked by small porthole windows, and wraparound four-light casement windows at the ends. The east elevation has a low wide kitchen window of six lights and an adjoining half-glazed door. The projecting garage to the north has a five-light window and plank door in the south return.

Inside, a small vestibule leads to a large open-plan room comprising a lounge to the west, dining area to the centre, and kitchen to the east. To the south-west is a brick fireplace with tiled top, built-in bookcase and projecting flue. The lounge area retains two original radiators, and between the kitchen and dining area is a large curved radiator. A south-facing internal door is flush-panelled with a circular cut-out. Ceiling tiles, wallpaper and wooden panelling were added to the living room in the later 20th century, and the kitchen was also refitted at that time. To the west, the bedroom block has a small vestibule with cork-lined walls added in the later 20th century and original flush doors. Each bedroom retains the original full-height built-in wardrobe, although wooden veneer was later applied to the doors. Wooden wall panelling and ceiling tiles were also added in the later 20th century. The original bathroom fittings have been replaced. The staircase tower retains the original staircase with solid balustrading.

This was the last building designed by Basil Ward and Amyas Connell before Colin Lucas joined the firm. The design was completed in May 1934, but construction was not finished until 1936 for several reasons. There was some difficulty over the supply of services, as this was the first house on a new site remote from the nearest road. Additionally, the firm had numerous commissions in 1934 at Hayling Island, Saltdean, Ruislip and Amersham, and consequently used a different building firm from their usual practice. Problems arose with the shuttering work to the roof canopy. The experimental alignment of the concrete walls with the celotex insulation boards resulted in water penetration, later cured by pointing with aggregate. Another experimental detail involved running water pipes from the central heating coke boiler up the kitchen wall and under a hole in the ceiling below the water tank on the roof to prevent freezing. The supporting hollow columns on the staircase and bow windows rested on mild steel plates over the concrete cills. The provision of only two bedrooms led the client later to build a small wooden pre-fabricated house in the garden to accommodate visitors.