This three-bedroom, end of terrace house was built in 1961 by the renowned development company Span. It was designed by the architect Eric Lyons, whose work has been celebrated at an RIBA retrospective.
The house has approx 1,054 sq ft of internal accommodation. The owner has added a conservatory extension to open up the kitchen/diner, with doors out to a wooden deck and steps down to the landscaped rear garden.
The kitchen, formerly situated in a smaller space at the front of the building (now a study), has been relocated to the rear to take advantage of the space and of views over the garden. There are also very good views from the bedrooms at the rear on the first floor. There is a garage very nearby that comes with the house.
Lyons’s Span developments are all about maximising natural light, and blurring the edges between the indoors and the outdoors. Lyons paid great attention to the surrounding landscape, designing and building houses around existing splendid mature trees and creating communal areas that encourage residents to mix.
Span built 30 housing estates in total, between 1948 and 1984. West Oak is one of the smaller and lesser-known estates, consisting of 21 houses (of type T8 and T7) and 12 flats. There is an attractive area of meadow and woodland on the site, which is for the use of all residents.
In an article in The Sunday Times, Hugh Pearman outlined the advantages of living on a Span estate: “What you very soon appreciate, having entered Span country, is the feeling of community. Most private estates in the post-war years parcelled up the land jealously, one slice per house… In ‘Span-land’, the distinctions blur. There are landscaped areas to which everybody has a right. Every development was set up with strict, legally enforceable design and noise-restricting codes.”
Please note that all areas, measurements and distances given in these particulars are approximate and rounded. The text, photographs and floor plans are for general guidance only. The Modern House has not tested any services, appliances or specific fittings — prospective purchasers are advised to inspect the property themselves. All fixtures, fittings and furniture not specifically itemised within these particulars are deemed removable by the vendor.
