1 And 2 Beacon House

A large detached house built in 1927 by architect E. Blunden Shadbolt (1879-1949) for Mr da Costa, later subdivided into two residences. The building is designed in Neo-Tudor style with Arts and Crafts influences, notable for its reuse of reclaimed timbers thought to originate from the Maidenhead area and salvaged 17th-century or earlier Flemish panels.

The exterior is timber-framed with curved tension braces and eclectic brick infill panels. The eastern gable exemplifies this eclecticism, combining herringbone, chevron and curved brick panels within a single gable. The roof is tiled with brick chimneystacks, including an external stack to the west. The entrance or south front presents two storeys or two storeys with attics, while the garden or north front rises to three or four storeys due to sloping ground. Fenestration is irregular throughout, predominantly mullioned and transomed casements with leaded lights, though some late 20th-century replacements follow the original style. The south front features three projecting gables, including a tall western gable with recessed centre and a projecting gabled porch supported on wooden piers. The north front has two western gables with upper floors projecting on brackets and two projecting bays to the east, supported on square brick piers.

In number 1, the staircase-hall contains a 1920s oak well staircase with moulded balusters and square newel posts with acorn finials, opening into a gallery with exposed ceiling showing two tiers of purlins and rafters. The hall features 20th-century oak panelling of 17th-century plank and muntin type, and a wooden-bolection-moulded fireplace with brick surround and cast iron firegrate. The western ground floor Drawing Room has an Arts and Crafts style fireplace recess with 20th-century stone fireplace and plank and muntin panelling, with an overmantel incorporating seven high-quality salvaged 17th-century or earlier probable Flemish panels, plus two further examples in the wall panelling. The ceiling incorporates reused beams including a 17th-century spine beam alongside 20th-century examples. Number 1 also retains two brick fireplaces to bedrooms, two-panelled doors and an attic staircase with turned balusters and square newel posts.

Number 2 contains a large Lounge/Music Room on the eastern ground floor with pine bolection-moulded fireplace, dado-panelling, moulded cornice and six-panelled doors. The adjoining Dining Room has a deep fireplace recess to the north with stone fireplace with brass hood and carved overmantel. The oak panelling, a 20th-century reproduction of plank and muntin type, features a series of fine-quality figurative panels and two hunting scenes, all probably Flemish in origin, with two doors also bearing a mutule frieze. A plain oak staircase with flat balusters descends to a basement room level with the back garden, containing a brick fireplace with wide hood. An upstairs bathroom retains original white tiles with blue borders, period bath and built-in cupboard.

This represents a principal work by Blunden Shadbolt in Neo-Tudor style, distinguished by its construction from reclaimed timbers and its Arts and Crafts interiors incorporating high-quality reused Flemish panels.