East Wall

East Wall

A private house built in 1935-36 by Elisabeth Benjamin for Arnold Osorio, Grade II listed.

The building employs a steel-reinforced concrete frame with a red brick spine wall and cork floors. It is set within a large plot, with the distinctive east wall bounding the garden to its west. The original two-storey structure is rectangular in plan, dominated by a central internal east-west spinal wall that extends to the exterior and creates apsidal projections at the north-west and south-east corners, giving the wall a serpentine profile. The principal rooms sit to the south of the spinal wall at the front of the house on ground and first floors, whilst kitchens, service rooms and servants' accommodation occupy the rear. A roof terrace sits above the single-storey dining room. A 21st-century extension adjoins the house at the north-west corner.

The external elevations are rendered in board-marked concrete, painted white. The original steel-framed windows have been replaced throughout in the original pattern, set in plain openings with shallow cills. The main entrance, on the west elevation, is a glazed door in a plain recess within an otherwise blank wall. A full-height apsidal brick projection to the left forms the stair tower, a sculptural element that boldly juxtaposes red brick with exposed concrete.

The garden-facing elevation comprises three bays with wide, three-light full-height windows to the ground floor and smaller windows to the first floor. Two shallow steps lead to the left-hand window. A projecting square-section pier beyond the south-east corner supports the overhanging roof, creating a shallow canopy over the dining room roof terrace.

The two-bay east elevation is recessed on the left and steps forward on the right. A single-storey apsidal brick projection on the left forms the dining room, with a roof terrace above. The dining room features wrap-around multi-light windows with a deep cill and cornice that continues as a drip course. A full-height glazed door sits on the left, with windows to each storey on the right. The roof line is straight, creating a partial canopy above the terrace. The terrace has tubular balustrades with metal grilles.

The north wall has been built upon; only the left-hand portion of the original design survives, retaining a ground-floor window (originally to the kitchen) and three of an original row of five regularly spaced small windows to the first floor.

Interior

The living and dining rooms lie to the south of the central spinal wall, which is exposed red brick laid in stretcher bond. The living room features a fireplace recessed behind a round-arched surround within the brick wall, with a square tubular metal feature following the fireplace form and adjoining a low shelf along the mantel. The dining room is raised like a dais, accessed by two steps and separated from the living room by a built-in timber storage unit of shelves and cupboards. A door leads through to the kitchen on the north side, which has been opened up to incorporate several smaller service rooms, including a former maid's parlour. The cork flooring has been largely replaced, though it survives on some steps and the circular stair.

The stair features cork surfaces to treads and risers, with an exposed brick semi-circular well and round top-light creating a dramatic passage between floors. The stair rises to a solid masonry balustrade at landing level, with a central vertical wooden handrail, originally varnished but now painted.

The principal bedrooms occupy the south side of the first floor, with the bathroom and maid's room to the north. An axial corridor runs west to east, and access to the dining room roof terrace is via the south-east corner bedroom. Rooms have been reconfigured to provide an additional bathroom. Cork flooring has been replaced and cork skirtings have been lost.