Historic building and garden, house and garden, now flats. Two-storey villa with a sunken garden, with one-storey wings to east and west.
No CA.
LLHA0207.
Two-storey villa with one-storey wings to the east and west. The main elevation faces south across the garden and towards the sea, from where the building appears approximately symmetrical. Roughcast rendered elevations, steeply pitched tile roof and prominent chimneys.
Two gables to south elevation, each incorporating a canted bay window to the ground and first floor, and a single window to the attic. Central enclosed verandah/sun lounge to the ground floor. One storey with attic wings; that to the east much altered. Series of wings and extensions to the north.
Originally built in 1904 for Mrs Fanny Martineau, daughter to James Martineau (philosopher) and sister to Harriet Martineau (novelist).
Mrs Martineau chose the location for White Lodge due to its proximity to Roedean School. The school was founded by her nieces Penelope, Dorothy and Millicent Lawrence and it is understood that some Roedean girls boarded at White Lodge in the early years. This link may have influenced Martineau’s choice of architect, J.W. Simpson. Son of school-architect Thomas Simpson, J.W. Simpson had designed Roedean School in 1897 and Brighton War Memorial (both grade II listed) and served as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1919 to 1921.
Those parts original to the 1904 building include the main 2-storey building, bays, verandah and chimneys.
The building was sold to Lady Victoria Sackville-West in 1924, who had the building altered and extended by Edwin Lutyens. Lutyens was a close friend (and possible lover) of Lady Sackville-West. The Lutyens additions included the one-storey wings to either side, an entrance hall and garage block to the north, a plain terrace and a decorative sunken garden. He also enlarged some of the window openings and added a chauffeur’s bungalow, which now forms number 42 The Cliff (not included in the assessment).
The west wing originally formed a book room, whilst that to the east was a loggia. Open at ground floor level with slate columns, the loggia has been retiled, enclosed, and extended to the north and south.
The north and south extensions are of no particular special interest. The garden was sunken in order to create a ‘hidden’ garden, sheltered from prevailing winds. It includes stone steps and slate on-edge characteristic of Lutyens’ work (such as St Jude’s Church, Hampstead Green and forming the inspiration for that at Sissinghurst).
The building was converted to flats in c.1947 and has been subject to various alterations. To the street front (north), the building presents a complex plan form and roofscape. It incorporates a date stone to Lutyens’ entrance hall extension, dated 1904 and 1924.
Source, English Heritage Designation Report (not listed), copies of historic images and plans held by the Heritage Team and RIBA.
ii. A good quality example of a large seafront residence dating to the early 20th century.
iii. The sunken garden represents are relatively innovative garden design, responding well to an exposed and steeply sloping site.
iv. Work by notable architects J.W. Simpson and Edwin Lutyens. Despite many alterations, Simpson’s design, including the overall form, chimneys, bays and verandah are still legible. The overall intended form of Lutyens’ extensions – to form a well-balanced country house in miniature – is also evident, as well as the sunken garden and terrace.
i. Close association with Fanny Martineau (associated with Roedean School as well as James and Harriet Martineau), Victoria Sackville-West, who owned the property and had it remodelled by her friend and notable architect Lutyens.
iii. Historic plans and images of the property survive, which allow the original plan form and design to be further understood and the historic interest of the building to be revealed.
ii. The building contributes to the character of the area, in particular in views from the seafront road.
ii. One of few early 20th-century seafront residences of this scale in the city, and an example of work by Lutyens, which is also rare in the city.
2015.
