The best inter-war home in Britain?
Coombe Street is a Grade II*-listed house designed by Peter Harland in the early 1930s for the British composer Sir Arthur Bliss, who was after a peaceful retreat to compose music in during the summer. Failing to find an existing building that matched his modernist leanings, he commissioned his friend and architect Harland to design one from scratch, and the resulting house was finished in 1935. It comprises a main house with four bedrooms, a four-bedroom cottage and a separate music room, also Grade II*-listed, where Bliss would work on his compositions deep in the ancient woodlands that surround the house, which, together with formal gardens, extend to 25 acres.
Close to 100 years after it was finished, Coombe Street has survived in beautifully original condition thanks to its three custodial owners. Curved windows and expanses of steel-framed glazing offer views out to the mature gardens in the dining room. The floorplan is as it’s always been, with many moments of transition between indoor and out. The bespoke carpentry speaks to a period of modernism in which less wasn’t strictly more, a period where a bit of decorative flourish was tolerated: see the in-built sculptural furniture, the oak and brick fireplace in the main living space and the tactility of timber-lined walls.
And then there are the expansive gardens, which are integral to the experience of the house. The site lies on ancient stone quarry, used to extract Greensand as early as the Iron Age. Not quite as old as that but mature nonetheless are the towering native trees, which dapple light into the interior come summer, while expanses of lawn, winding paths, diverse borders and external terraces offer moments for games, picnics, long summer lunches or perhaps – as per Bliss’s use of the woodland studio – creative outlet.
All told, Coombe Street really is a masterpiece and, in our view at least, a strong contender for the best inter-war home in Britain. Close to its centenary, as it looks for new custodians, the sale will mark a new chapter in the house’s history, one we are very much excited to be part of.
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