Tudor House

Tudor House

This house was built in 1915 by Frederick Taylor, a local architect, for his own residence. Taylor was the son of William Taylor of Bierton, a noted local architect whose practice he had joined in 1894. The house stands on Wendover Road in Stoke Mandeville, originally in open countryside to the south of Aylesbury, though the surrounding area was subsequently developed for housing during the 1930s and 1950s.

The original building is aligned north-west to south-east and consists of two storeys with four bays, the northern bay forming a cross wing. The house has been extended twice to the north-west: once around the 1950s with one bay and one and a half storeys in a similar style, and later with an additional single-storey extension. A small single-storey lean-to has been added to the south, larger than shown on the 1921 Ordnance Survey map.

The exterior displays Arts and Crafts styling with hipped roofs and irregular gabled elevations. Materials include red brick with stone detail to the central bay, some half-timbering, rough cast, tile hanging to the gable ends, and clay tile roofs. The north-east front elevation is the dominant façade. The second bay from the south features a half-timbered, jettied first floor with herringbone brick infill and a long narrow timber mullioned window under the eaves. This bay is recessed to emphasise the adjacent double-height canted bay, which contains the main entrance and forms the visual centre-piece. This bay sits under deep eaves and is fronted by a deep, weathered stone plinth and randomly laid stone blocks, with a diaper pattern created by projecting blue-brick headers that contrast strikingly with the red brickwork. An open porch with a tiled roof echoing the bay's hipped shape shelters the front door, which features a circular stained-glass window. The window under the eaves is also stained glass. To the north stands the tile-hung gable of the cross wing with windows to both ground and first floors. The earliest extension to the north adopts a similar style, with a hipped dormer set in the low catslide roof above a porch.

On the south-west garden elevation, the single-storey extension projects from the north end. Below this is the tile-hung gable of the cross wing, featuring a full-height canted bay beneath the gable, with first and ground-floor windows separated by a band of hung tiles. The two adjacent bays have small canted bay windows on the first floor, with hipped part dormers above a continuous roof sheltering a timber mullioned-and-transomed window and porch or small verandah.

The entrance hall is lined with timber panelling to two-thirds height, finished with a dentilled cornice. The six-panelled front door has an upper half containing a roundel with an Art Nouveau rose design in stained glass. Throughout the main rooms, floors are parquet, contrasting with pale stone slabs at the porch threshold. To the south of the hall, the kitchen and dining area have been altered to form a single open space with two wide arches created by substantially removing the original walls, which has also removed the original fireplace. The dining area was formerly a corridor and snug; French doors from here access the garden porch and verandah.

To the north and west of the hall are the two main living rooms. The western room is lit by the long wood mullioned-and-transomed window, with a side door providing garden access. Both rooms feature chamfered ceiling beams supporting joists. The northern room contains a brick fireplace with rusticated bands of tile and brick beneath a wooden mantle, set within an inglenook with a substantial chamfered bressumer. The larger fireplace in the north room is more elaborate, featuring a moulded stone Tudor arch within a wooden frame and overmantle, with the grate flanked by bricks set in a chevron pattern. A door concealed behind a bookcase in the western room leads to the present physiotherapy rooms in the extension and the reception area. The beams and joists in the reception ceiling are reclaimed timbers recently added.

The open-well stair in the canted bay to the left of the entrance is timber-built with square newel posts terminating in hollow-chamfered tops with moulded stops, and flat balusters of alternating widths. The first-floor bay window contains stained glass in the form of a rose motif similar to that in the front door. The main bedrooms are accessed via a landing and corridor lit by the long mullioned window in the recessed bay. Only one bedroom fireplace survives.

Most internal joinery remains intact, including plain panelled doors with original door furniture. All windows retain their original latches. The earlier extension to the north, now integral to the north-east elevation's appearance, has been substantially remodelled internally and is of limited special interest. The later flat-roofed extension is similarly of no special architectural interest.

Tudor House is designated Grade II as a striking and well-composed early 20th-century house in the Arts and Crafts manner, designed by a notable local architect for his own use. The elevations are finely detailed, employing contrasting materials for decorative effect. The well-preserved interiors feature lavish use of woodwork with numerous original fittings of architectural interest.