Law House

Law House, also known as Beacon Hill House, is a detached two-storey private house built between 1966 and 1968 on Beacon Hill in North Marden. It was designed by the architect Edward Cullinan with Alice Milo for Peter and Anne Law, who gave the house its name. Cullinan had been recommended for the commission by the architect Denys Lasdun, for whom he had previously worked. The quantity surveyor was Stern & Woodford, the structural engineer S. Jampel & Partners, and the main contractor was John C. Lillywhite. A small rectangular cottage previously occupied the site, first shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1912, and fabric from this cottage is understood to have been incorporated at the core of the new house. An attached but self-contained annexe in the same style was added to the west in the late 1970s by Edward Cullinan Architects.

The house is constructed of buff brick with concrete and prominent timber detailing, including fascia boards, exposed roof beams, boarded eaves soffits, and window frames. It is built on a sloping site with a flat roofscape, essentially comprising a ground floor and a smaller lower ground floor due to the slope. The main entrance is through an open brick porch to the south west, opening into the living room on the upper floor.

The upper floor contains a generous living room with extensive glazing, including a projecting window to the garden and another to the upper terrace. A striking feature is a broad, almost semi-circular theatrical staircase that sweeps down to the dining room on the lower floor. This staircase was designed to function as seating when entertaining, in addition to its primary role. The living room has a feature fireplace with a stepped fire mantel and a curving wall above the main entrance. The master bedroom is also on this floor, with extensive glazing and a projecting window over the garden. A further bedroom completes the upper floor accommodation. Both the living room and bedrooms are arranged around a private upper terrace and courtyard on the south side, accessible only from the house. Accompanying dressing rooms feature cleverly fitted cupboards and dressing tables or desks, and there are compact bathrooms. Architect-designed storage is integral throughout, including built-in corridor bookcases with lighting.

The lower ground floor contains a dining room immediately off the staircase, two further bedrooms (one now used as a study) with their dressing and bathroom accommodation, and the kitchen. The kitchen retains much of its fitted furniture, including original kitchen units, hobs, and seating. Many of the lower ground floor rooms have doors opening onto the lower terrace and into the garden. To the north of the living room are a garage, utility space, storage, and boiler housing.

The entrance façade to the south west is understated and largely blank, with the open brick porch defining the main entrance. The brickwork stops short of the soffit, exposing cantilevered timber roof beams that support deeply overhanging timber-lined eaves. The south east and north east garden façades are predominantly brick with large, dominating cantilevered oriel windows. These windows are timber-framed with vertical lights, heavy eaves, and a flat roof, with the roof-line projecting above the main roof to add visual interest. Other openings, including lower ground floor windows and doors to the terrace, feature plain white frames and canted lintels in subtle contrast. The north west façade is stepped with similarly muted window treatment. The single-storey rectangular annexe is attached to the north west, with its main façade to the south east combining brick and timber with substantial glazing. It features complementary projecting heavy timber eaves and some weatherboarding detail.

Interior finishes are of high quality. Walls are largely painted and ceilings on the upper floors are in timber. Floors are either carpeted or tiled. The arrangement of rooms around the upper terrace and the substantial glazing, particularly to the living room and master bedroom, create a strong relationship with the garden. Architect-designed fitted furniture survives throughout, including dressing rooms with dressers and cupboards, shelving units with integral lighting, bench seats with storage, radiator covers, folding shutters, and original door knobs and light switches. The kitchen and bathrooms retain much of their original fixtures, including kitchen units, tile and wooden surfaces, and original hobs.

The house is set in a sloping garden with mature trees. The lower terrace area to the south east was also designed by Cullinan and includes a hexagonal paved area, possibly echoing the polygonal staircase inside.

Law House represents an important example of Edward Cullinan's early work, designed during a period before his architectural practice came to prominence. His early private houses provided opportunities to explore domestic design themes, combining interests in Modernism and the Arts and Crafts Movement. Many were designed for family or friends, or required responses to difficult or confined spaces. Others, including Law House, benefited from rural locations where space was unrestricted but where Cullinan's designs responded to their landscape settings. Law House was probably his first larger private house commission where space was unrestricted but where the building had to accommodate and exploit a steeply sloping site with far-reaching views over the Sussex Downs. The annexe added in the late 1970s was designed and conceived such that it could be readily incorporated as part of the main house should that prove desirable at any future point.