Westfield
Ashtead, Surrey
Architect: Eric Lyons
Register for similar homesThis fantastic three-bedroom house was designed by the architect Eric Lyons, and built by the renowned Modernist development company Span in the late 1960s. It is located on the award-winning Westfield estate in Ashtead, which is one of the most appealing and best-preserved of all of the Span estates.
The property is a K-Type house, often considered to be the best Span design, and is in good order throughout. The current owner, an architect, has recently had plans approved to extend the house at the rear with the addition of a fourth bedroom and a dining room (for further details, please contact us). There is also a separate garage, as well as space for off-street parking on the estate.
Eric Lyons’s Span developments are all about space and light, and blurring the edges between outside and indoor space. 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. All homeowners at Westfield enjoy the use of beautifully maintained gardens and tennis court on the estate. The annual service charge (approximately £1,200 p.a.) pays for, amongst other things, maintaining the communal gardens and exterior redecoration.
Westfield is located in a quiet position away from any main roads in the popular Surrey village of Ashtead. Ashtead is located inside the M25 and has very good access to London and to the Surrey countryside by road and by rail. Trains run from Ashtead station directly to London Waterloo, London Victoria and London Bridge. The area has a good reputation for schools and the village provides a good range of shops and restaurants. For a wider selection, there are the nearby towns of Epsom, Leatherhead and Kingston-Upon-Thames. There is large green area in the village known as Ashtead Common, and further afield there are the Epsom Downs, Box Hill and the Surrey Hills for further outdoor activities.
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.
History
Westfield is one of 30 housing estates built across the UK between 1948 and 1984 by the development company Span, for whom Eric Lyons was the chief architect. Widely praised when built, and still much-loved today for their well-designed houses and intelligent and attractive landscaping, Span estates are a rare triumph of modern British mass housing. In his book The Spirit of Span Housing, James Strike writes that: “Span housing was the inspiration of two young men, who, during the 1930s, met as architectural students at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Eric Lyons and Geoffrey Townsend both had a keen interest in modern architecture […] They believed that there was a market for well-designed houses in carefully designed landscapes for the sort of people who recognised good design when they saw it – and they were right.”
In an article published in The Guardian in May 2007, the architecture critic Tom Dyckhoff wrote of Span houses: “From the 40s to 80s, architect Eric Lyons and developer Geoffrey Townsend built estates to ‘span the gap’ between jerry-built suburbia and architect-designed pads. Sharp, modern designs with space, light and well-planned interiors, plus lavishly landscaped communal gardens designed to foster a sense of community.”
