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Lowicks, by C. F. A. Voysey (1857-1941). 1894. Extended and altered by the architect himself in 1898, 1904, 1907 and 1911 — for example, according to the listing text, the north wing was added later. Near Frensham, Surrey. Built as a country retreat for E. J. Horniman, for whom Voysey also designed the interior of "Garden Corner," Chelsea. The house is beautifully situated amid pinewoods, and behind a pond. .
The house as shown in "The Revival of English Domestic Architecture," p. 16.
This lovely, basically simple whitewashed home is "hard to get at," but fits wonderfully well into its setting. Seen at closer quarters, it has been described in these terms: "Exactly like an enlarged lodge — single mass, battered corner buttresses, battered chimneys, slate roofs and roughcast walls. Inset dormers and just one half-timbered gable at the back" (Nairn and Pevsner 357). In these respects Lowicks conforms largely to Voysey's favoured style, which resulted in "long, low houses with plain roughcast walls, buttresses at the angles, grey or green slate roofs of steep pitch with gables, small low leaded windows with square stone mullions and dressings, and tapered chimney-pots" (Briggs and Hitchmough; this gives some extra details). The Studio commentator too finds it "very typical" of Voysey, commending its proportions, differently sized casements and so on as "distinctly characteristic of Mr Voysey's manner, comely and pleasant" (24).
References
Briggs, M. S. "Voysey, Charles Francis Annesley (1857-1941)," rev. Wendy Hitchmough. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 29 April 2011.
"Lowicks House including Garden Wall, Frensham" (Listed Buildings text). Web. 29 April 2011.
Nairn, Ian and Nikolaus Pevsner. The Buildings of England: Surrey. London: Penguin, 2nd ed. 1971.
"The Revival of English Domestic Architecture. VI. The Work of Mr C. F. A. Voysey." The Studio. Vol. 11: 16-25. Internet Archives. Web. 29 April 2011.
Last modified 20 May 2011