“A seminal mid-century project by Roy Hickman, which captures the sense of optimism and architectural innovation of the period”
This beautiful house lies on Fox Lane, right at the edge of Keston village green. It was designed by architect Roy Hickman in 1960 and has an elevated position over the village. The house unfolds over two floors and contains four bedrooms, plus a large roof terrace that receives plenty of evening sun. The house is surrounded by a tiered garden, which has been lovingly maintained and carefully planted. Keston Village is a short drive from the centre of Bromley and has good connections to central London. For more information on the design of the house, please see the History section below.
The Tour
A gently sloping driveway ascends to a garage with pale yellow doors. The driveway is framed by mature trees that provide wonderful amounts of privacy and give a real sense of rural retreat. The modernist façade rises high above the trees, forming a striking silhouette above the greenery.
The ground floor living spaces employ a natural palette of timber and brick. The original period black quarry tiles have been retained, while the walls are a mixture of exposed brick and white-painted brick. This palette allows the house to blend seamlessly into its surroundings, as do the full-height sliding doors that run along the entire front of the house, connecting the space with the verdant garden beyond.
The ground floor kitchen has simple white cabinetry and a pale yellow tiled splashback. There is an adjacent dining area, accessed through an open archway with open shelving overhead and flooded with light through the full-height doors. The dining area in particular is wonderfully versatile and can easily be used as a secondary living space. There is also a utility room and shower room/WC on this floor, as well as access to the large cellar.
A simple staircase ascends to the first floor, where four bedrooms and an expansive living room can be found. The living room is a masterclass in modernism, with its simple, natural palette, architectural details and sense of spaciousness and light. Fenestration encompasses the entire aspect and allows light to stream in throughout the day.
A hallway with built-in bookshelves provides access to the four bedrooms; all brilliantly light, airy spaces that employ the same considered use of timber as elsewhere in the house. There are built-in wardrobes in several of the rooms. There is also a large family bathroom on this floor, clad in various shades of grey tiling and encased by a timber ceiling. From the hallway, a lobby and cloakroom area give access to the rear of the house and the roof terrace, which receives lovely evening sun and is the perfect spot for an aperitif.
Outdoor Space
The garden is accessed via full-height sliding doors that open from the kitchen/living area to a paved, stepped terrace. There are plenty of spots for alfresco dining here, as well as relaxing on the lawn below. Opportunities for gardening are plentiful and there is a large garden shed to store tools.
The Area
Fox Lane lies at the heart of Keston Village, on the edge of the green expanse of Hayes Common; there are plenty of other beautiful woodland walks similarly close at hand. The Greyhound pub is within easy walking distance of the house and there is a good selection of local shops nearby. Keston also has a well regarded primary school.
Keston is around a 10-minute drive from the centre of Bromley. Currently undergoing significant regeneration, the town has a wide range of excellent restaurants, cafes and bars. Bromley North Village has seen the regeneration of the town’s historic quarter and a similar scheme is now underway in Bromley South. The new St Mark’s Square, a large landscaped public plaza, includes a multiplex cinema, hotel, retail outlets, cafes and numerous restaurants.
Fox Lane is a five-minute drive from Hayes station, which runs services to London Cannon Street in approximately 30 minutes, and a 10-minute drive from Bromley South, which runs services to London Victoria in approximately 18 minutes.
Council Tax Band: G
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
This house is one of four adjacent houses in Keston designed in the late 1950s/early 1960s by Roy Hickman, a founding partner of Wells, Hickman and Partners, whose most notable work is perhaps Wokingham County Infant’s School. They also undertook several speculative housing developments, including Moat Court, Eltham (1961).
The period following the end of World War II, when Hickman was working, was one of the most exciting and imaginative for private house building in English architectural history. It was directed by three main influences: the availability of large sheets of plate glass, the introduction of central heating (allowing for open-plan living) and the absence of live-in servants. Emphasis was placed on light and space, with areas sometimes only separated from one another by a change in level, a piece of built-in furniture or change in flooring material. A less rigorously defined sense of interior and exterior space developed and allowed buildings to age and weather into their landscape in a traditional way.
There are a number of ways in which this house reflects these ideas. For example, the positioning of the main living space and bedrooms on the first floor maximises the views and is a feature found in a number of houses of the 1950s and ’60s. The upper floor is formed of a lightweight timber frame with timber and glass infill. Features such as boarded ceilings, built-in cupboards and a flow between the kitchen and dining room are also typical of houses of this period. Set on a sloping wooded site, the house embraces the surrounding landscape, both immediate and distant, with large full-height and full-width windows taking advantage of the elevated position and generating an exciting vista out to the wider landscape.
These houses were considered seminal works at the time, capturing the sense of optimism and innovation of the period. Their elevated positions and large windows engender a sense of being perched within the surrounding trees, making them particularly unique. Three of these houses remain.
