Greene House at the National Society for Epilepsy

Greene House, part of the National Society for Epilepsy, is a house designed as accommodation for male residents. It was designed in 1897 and built in 1899 to the designs of Maurice B Adams, with Mr Darlington acting as contractor, and was erected at the expense of Frederick Greene. The building is brick with stone banding to the ground floor and tile-hanging to the first floor, set within a sweeping tiled roof. Single-storey wings to the sides and rear were part of the original construction.

Greene House exemplifies the distinctive planning found at the Chalfont Centre, featuring a central two-storey range containing communal living areas on the ground floor and staff accommodation above. Single-storey wings to either side formerly housed dormitories, now bedsitting rooms, and a service range to the rear, which has since been extended. Upper windows have leaded lights, with rendered gables. Some casement windows have been replaced, while those to the ground floor centre are in round arches set either side of engaged columns, framing a further arch with a moulded keystone and containing a part-glazed door. Former sash windows to the side elevations were replaced with modern casements. A plaque on a pilaster at the side commemorates Frederick Greene. The interiors are understood to have been altered and were not inspected.

The former Chalfont colony was founded in 1894 to provide a normal, healthy village life for people with epilepsy and pioneered the concept of a village community for patients with mental conditions; this was widely adopted by other epilepsy hospitals and institutions serving other mental conditions during the inter-war period. Greene House, along with Milton and Pearman Houses, represents the most architecturally significant and least altered villas at Chalfont Common and demonstrates the plan of the colony.