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==Background and history==
==Background and history==
31 Madingley Road was among the first [[Modern architecture|Modernist]] houses to be completed in Cambridge.<ref name=Pevsner /><ref>Architectural History Practice, p. 11</ref><ref name=Rawle_p62>Rawle, p. 62</ref> Twelve Modernist houses in the town dating to the interwar period are listed in a 1996 gazetteer;<ref name=Gould /> the earliest – White House in nearby Conduit Head Road, designed by [[George Checkley]] for himself – dates from 1930–31 and is an example of a [[concrete]] Cubist construction drawing direct inspiration from [[Le Corbusier]]'s work in France.<ref name=Pevsner /><ref name=Rawle_p62 /> Brick, as opposed to concrete rendered to appear white, was an unusual choice for a Modernist building of this date.<ref name=Sturgis />
31 Madingley Road was among the first [[Modern architecture|Modernist]] houses to be completed in Cambridge.<ref name=Pevsner /><ref>Architectural History Practice, p. 11</ref><ref name=Rawle_p62>Rawle, p. 62</ref> Twelve Modernist houses in the town dating to the interwar period are listed in a 1996 gazetteer;<ref name=Gould /> the earliest – White House in nearby Conduit Head Road, designed by [[George Checkley]] for himself – dates from 1930–31 and is an example of a [[concrete]] Cubist construction drawing direct inspiration from [[Le Corbusier]]'s work in France.<ref name=Pevsner /><ref name=Rawle_p62 /><ref name=Gould /> Brick, as opposed to concrete rendered to appear white, was an unusual choice for a Modernist building of this date.<ref name=Sturgis />


The architect, [[Marshall Sisson]] (1897–1978), had set up his practice in 1928 in London.<ref name=Fawcett /><ref name=Bettley /> In his early career he designed several Modernist buildings in Cambridge and elsewhere, some of which – 31 Madingley Road being the best known – married modern design with traditional materials. They are influenced by James Burford (1895–1967), one of his teachers at [[University College, London]].<ref name=Bettley /> Sisson characterised 31 Madingley Road (as well as similar buildings) as "Essentially 'Traditional' in that it ... represents a serious attempt to find a contemporary expression for the directional character of Western culture ... predominantly realistic and factual, expressed in the emphatic horizontality, simplification and rigid systematization".<ref name=Powers>Powers, pp. 214–15</ref> He uses concrete in his later Modernist house in Cambridge: 26 Millington Road, built in 1934–35 for another classical archaeologist, [[Alan Wace|A. J. B. Wace]].<ref name=Fawcett /><ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 39, 168, 334–35</ref> Sisson turned wholly to traditional styles after 1935, including the Neo-Georgian Orchard Building at [[Pembroke College, Cambridge|Pembroke College]] (1954–57).<ref name=Fawcett /><ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 39, 168, 334–35</ref>
The architect, [[Marshall Sisson]] (1897–1978), had set up his practice in 1928 in London.<ref name=Fawcett /><ref name=Bettley /> In his early career he designed several Modernist buildings in Cambridge and elsewhere, some of which – 31 Madingley Road being the best known – married modern design with traditional materials. They are influenced by James Burford (1895–1967), one of his teachers at [[University College, London]].<ref name=Bettley /> Sisson characterised 31 Madingley Road (as well as similar buildings) as "Essentially 'Traditional' in that it ... represents a serious attempt to find a contemporary expression for the directional character of Western culture ... predominantly realistic and factual, expressed in the emphatic horizontality, simplification and rigid systematization".<ref name=Powers>Powers, pp. 214–15</ref> He uses concrete in his later Modernist house in Cambridge: 26 Millington Road, built in 1934–35 for another classical archaeologist, [[Alan Wace|A. J. B. Wace]].<ref name=Fawcett /><ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 39, 168, 334–35</ref> Sisson turned wholly to traditional styles after 1935, including the Neo-Georgian Orchard Building at [[Pembroke College, Cambridge|Pembroke College]] (1954–57).<ref name=Fawcett /><ref>Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 39, 168, 334–35</ref>

Revision as of 02:46, 15 October 2022

31 Madingley Road: front façade

31 Madingley Road is a Modernist red-brick house in Madingley Road, west Cambridge, England, designed by Marshall Sisson for the classical archaeologist A. W. Lawrence in 1931–32.[1][2][3] It is one of the first Modernist-style houses in Cambridge,[3] and is listed at grade II.[1]

Background and history

31 Madingley Road was among the first Modernist houses to be completed in Cambridge.[3][4][5] Twelve Modernist houses in the town dating to the interwar period are listed in a 1996 gazetteer;[6] the earliest – White House in nearby Conduit Head Road, designed by George Checkley for himself – dates from 1930–31 and is an example of a concrete Cubist construction drawing direct inspiration from Le Corbusier's work in France.[3][5][6] Brick, as opposed to concrete rendered to appear white, was an unusual choice for a Modernist building of this date.[2]

The architect, Marshall Sisson (1897–1978), had set up his practice in 1928 in London.[7][8] In his early career he designed several Modernist buildings in Cambridge and elsewhere, some of which – 31 Madingley Road being the best known – married modern design with traditional materials. They are influenced by James Burford (1895–1967), one of his teachers at University College, London.[8] Sisson characterised 31 Madingley Road (as well as similar buildings) as "Essentially 'Traditional' in that it ... represents a serious attempt to find a contemporary expression for the directional character of Western culture ... predominantly realistic and factual, expressed in the emphatic horizontality, simplification and rigid systematization".[9] He uses concrete in his later Modernist house in Cambridge: 26 Millington Road, built in 1934–35 for another classical archaeologist, A. J. B. Wace.[7][10] Sisson turned wholly to traditional styles after 1935, including the Neo-Georgian Orchard Building at Pembroke College (1954–57).[7][11]

31 Madingley Road was commissioned by the classical archaeologist A. W. Lawrence (1900–91), who had been appointed to the Laurence readership in classical archaeology at the University of Cambridge in 1930.[2][12] He and Sisson were friends.[12] Lawrence's household then comprised his wife, Barbara née Innes, their young daughter and a female servant.[2][12] The Madingley Road site belonged to St John's College, and the approval of the college's building committee was required for the design. The house cost more than £4,000, which is relatively expensive for a house on Madingley Road at the time.[2] Lawrence considered that the traditional building material and the expense would be factors promoting St John's approval of the design.[2] The house was constructed in 1931–32.[3] The family did not remain at 31 Madingley Road; in 1951 Lawrence took up a post in the Gold Coast and on his return to the UK, lived in Yorkshire.[12]

The building was listed at grade II in 1996.[1]

Location

The house is at TL 43676 59080 on the south side of Madingley Road, at the junction with Wilberforce Road, in the western outskirts of Cambridge.[1][3] It lies within the West Cambridge conservation area.[13] No 31 is set back from the road on a medium-sized plot with a line of large trees obscuring it from Wilberforce Road.[14] Its near neighbour 35 Madingley Road, a large red-brick building of around 1750, is one of the oldest buildings in the conservation area and is also listed at grade II.[3][15] No 31 stands opposite some of the original accommodation blocks of Churchill College, which are listed at grade II.[1][3] Behind no 31 is 1 Wilberforce Road, a single-storey house built in 1965.[14][16]

Description

31 Madingley Road is in red brick with dressings in cast stone, a form of concrete. There are two or three storeys under a flat roof.[1][3] The style is described as "Early Modern Movement" in the listing.[1] The historian Matthew Sturgis describes the building as a "stylish essay in brick", with a "long, low" profile that he considers relates to Sisson's view that "modern architecture [draws] its energy from the horizontal".[2]

The front (north) façade has an asymmetrically placed inset entrance reached by two shallow brick steps, which is surmounted by a plain horizontal canopy, significantly wider than the doorway.[1][17] Vertically above the entrance, a series of horizontal cast stone bands of the same width as the doorway run up to the base of the second storey.[17] The ground floor has five relatively small two-light wooden windows to the left and one to the right of the entrance. The windows are surmounted by a prominent decorative lintel made of cast stone, with three bands, which is continuous over the series of windows and interrupted on the ground floor at the entrance.[1][2] Sturgis describes these banded lintels as "touches of restrained detail" that draw attention to the building's profile.[2] The first floor has eight similar windows, also surmounted by a three-banded lintel, with a series of seven to the left (offset compared with the ground-floor windows) and one to the right.[1][18] The long series of repeated windows with uniform spacing is typical of Sisson's style in both Modernist and traditional buildings.[7] There is a three-storey section at the west end, above and to the right of the entrance; the second floor has four similar windows, which are topped by a lintel with just two bands.[1][18]

The garden (south) front has an uninterrupted series of ten similar windows at the first-floor level, again surmounted by a long continuous three-banded lintel. At the ground level the seven windows are interspersed with French doors and a doorway; they are surmounted by a three-banded lintel and offset from the first-floor windows.[1][18] The pattern of ground-floor windows and doors on this face has been altered from the original design, with the addition of entrances.[9][a]

The original design was for a roof garden with a pergola at the west end (visible in a 1932 photograph[19]) and a partly enclosed area that covered the access stairway; both the pergola and the stairway area were later fully enclosed to form the three-storey section.[2][3] The current flat roof is covered with roofing felt, and has an undecorated parapet; a chimney stack rises at the east end.[1]

On the interior, the ground-floor accommodation includes sitting and dining rooms, a separate small sitting room for the maid, a study, and a large kitchen.[2][9][21] The original built-in cupboards in the kitchen were present at the time of listing. The large hall is internal and receives its illumination from the upper storey; it has an open staircase with chromium banisters.[1][2] The first floor has four bedrooms and a playroom.[9]

References

  1. ^ Compare the 1932[19] and 2003[20] photographs archived at RIBA.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 31 Madingley Road, National Heritage List for England, Historic England (accessed 20 September 2022)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Matthew Sturgis (12 July 2003). 1932: the century makers: 100 years of houses: 31 Madingley Road, Cambridge. The Daily Telegraph, p. 4
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 34–35, 342
  4. ^ Architectural History Practice, p. 11
  5. ^ a b Rawle, p. 62
  6. ^ a b Jeremy Gould (1996). Gazetteer of Modern Houses in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Twentieth Century Architecture (2): 112–128 JSTOR 41859593
  7. ^ a b c d William Fawcett (2013). Post-War Traditionalists in Oxford and Cambridge. Twentieth Century Architecture 11: 82–97 JSTOR 24644441
  8. ^ a b James Bettley (2003). Sisson, Marshall (Arnott). Grove Art Online (Oxford University Press) doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T079021
  9. ^ a b c d Powers, pp. 214–15
  10. ^ Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 39, 168, 334–35
  11. ^ Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 39, 168, 334–35
  12. ^ a b c d R. M. Cook (21 May 2009) [23 September 2004]. Lawrence, Arnold Walter. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press) doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49868
  13. ^ West Cambridge Conservation Area, Cambridge City Council (21 November 2018) (accessed 6 October 2022)
  14. ^ a b Architectural History Practice, Appendix 1
  15. ^ Cambridge City Council, pp. 7–8
  16. ^ Bradley & Pevsner, p. 341
  17. ^ a b Morley von Sternberg (2003). 31 Madingley Road, Cambridge: the entrance, RIBA (accessed 5 October 2022)
  18. ^ a b c 31 Madingley Road, RIBA (accessed 30 September 2022)
  19. ^ a b Dell & Wainwright (1932). 31 Madingley Road, Cambridge: the garden front, RIBA (accessed 4 October 2022)
  20. ^ Morley von Sternberg (2003). 31 Madingley Road, Cambridge: the garden front, RIBA (accessed 4 October 2022)
  21. ^ Dell & Wainwright (1932). 31 Madingley Road, Cambridge: the sitting room, RIBA (accessed 5 October 2022)

Sources

Further reading

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