Ashcombe Tower

Ashcombe Tower is a small country house built between 1933 and 1936 by architect Brian O'Rorke for Major Ralph Rayner, MP. It is notable as the only private house O'Rorke is known to have designed; his other commissions included interior fittings for the liner Orion, the General Steam Navigation Company's office on Lower Thames Street (1936-60), and the New Barclay Hotel, Knightsbridge (1965-71).

The design incorporates a former folly originally part of the Mamhead estate, possibly designed by Salvin, who built Mamhead House in 1833. This 1830s tower serves as a water tower to the 1930s house, receiving water pumped from the mains into the valley below.

The exterior presents a stylistically distinctive composition that blends Vernacular Revival influences with Modern Movement principles. It is constructed of local grey limestone, mostly plastered but with idiosyncratic rusticated dressings, and roofed in green Westmorland slate with gabled ends. Chimney stacks have rusticated stone rubble shafts. The building is two storeys and attic with regular fenestration combining 18-pane sashes and small-pane casements.

The plan forms an irregular H-shape with west and east crosswings around a central core. A kitchen block extends to the north-west at right angles to the west crosswing, and a former squash court (now converted to domestic use) adjoins the east crosswing to the north-east. The principal living room occupies the centre, with a morning room and study in the east crosswing, and dining room in the west crosswing opening via a loggia to the garden. The stair hall is positioned in the base of the tower. The south-facing garden elevation is roughly symmetrical, featuring four windows to the centre block flanked by the gabled ends of the crosswings. A 2-leaf French window with glazing bars opens from the centre block, while other ground floor windows are sashes; first floor windows are casements set high under the eaves. The crosswings feature round windows in their gables and wide 4-light first floor casements. The west wing has a recessed loggia at the south end with French windows to the dining room. The kitchen block is set back at the left end with a small swimming pool in front, enclosed by a pergola feature to the south and a west wall containing a circular summerhouse with a conical thatched roof. The east crosswing's right return has an unusual ground floor bay window to the study with rounded shafts on either side.

The rear elevation is more imposing and asymmetrical, dominated by the massive, squat water tower at the left (east) side. The kitchen block at the far right is enclosed behind a tall wall. The principal entrance is positioned to the right of centre with steps up flanked by sculptured reindeer. The door is a 2-leaf panelled design, deeply recessed with ashlar stone reveals; rusticated stonework above incorporates armorial bearings. The water tower presents an impressively severe aspect with battered walls, flush parapet, and deeply recessed slit-like windows. It features a deeply recessed doorway on its inner (west) face with a contemporary clock face, and on the north face a first floor French window lighting the stair with a balcony and long projecting stone gutters below the parapet.

The interior is a remarkably complete expression of the Modern Movement aesthetic, reflecting O'Rorke's experience in fitting out British liners. Fittings remain substantially as described in Country Life in 1937, including furniture and textiles by Marian Dorn. The principal living room ('the big room'), originally spanning the full width of the centre portion, has been partitioned axially along the line of two massive columns that formerly provided a nominal division between the heated part and the space leading to the stair hall. A plain glass screen wall with sliding doors now divides the room across its width. The interior is characterized by concealed lighting, fitted cupboards, pale wood, and shiny textures of glass, veneer and gloss paint. An impressive stair features a timber lattice balustrade and round section newel post with a chromium-plated ball finial. Minor alterations include conversion of the former squash court to domestic use and repartitioning of the big room to create an axial passage between the vestibule and stair hall. The house was connected to mains electricity from the beginning.

Ground and first floor plans were published in Country Life in February 1937, with the building remaining in excellent condition and substantially unaltered otherwise. The listing includes the forecourt and kitchen block walling, paving to the south of the house, and a garden pool against the south wall of the former squash court. The house remains the residence of the Rayner family and represents an important and unusually well-preserved example of 1930s domestic architecture combining traditional materials and vernacular forms with progressive interior design.