The Cottage at Chalfont Park

The Cottage at Chalfont Park is an estate cottage built in 1913, designed by Edwin Lutyens for Mrs. Edgar. The building is constructed of red brick in stretcher bond, with alternate courses featuring one header for every three stretchers. It has a swept hipped roof covered with plain clay tiles, and the former central chimney has been removed. The cottage is laid out in a T-plan, with an entrance and stair wing projecting on the north side and an outshut under a catslide roof at the rear right, which originally included coal and log stores as well as a WC.

Architectural features include a plinth, a plat band, stepped tiles at the eaves, and knob finials on the gutter brackets. The windows throughout have pegged wooden frames, leaded lights, metal casements, and tile dripmoulds, with ground floor windows recessed under shouldered arches. The north elevation is two storeys high and has three bays. At the center, there is a stone step leading up to a door with two fielded panels, which is sheltered by a corniced hood supported by large ashlar modillion brackets. Above the entrance is a two-light window, with three-light windows in the flanking bays.

The right return of the entrance wing features a tall, double-transomed, two-light stair window, while the left return has a two-light window to the former pantry, complete with decorative open-work grilles and wire mesh inside. The right return also has a four-light window on the ground floor and a two-light window above. The left return mirrors this, but includes a three-light window below and an inserted two-light window in the outshut.

At the rear, the outshut has a small light on the right and an inserted two-light window on the left, along with a two-light dormer featuring a hipped roof. There is a side entrance with a two-panel door under a deep moulded hood supported by a large wooden S bracket, and to its right is a wooden board that once supported a pump. On the left side of the outshut, there is a two-light window, with two additional windows on the first floor.

Inside, the cottage features two-panel doors with brass door knobs, decorative window catches, a moulded fireplace surround, and a wooden stair with diagonally-set balusters and a plain handrail and newels. This cottage is recognized as a good-quality smaller example of Lutyens' work.