Architect: Peter Womersley
Klein House
Selkirk, Scottish Borders
£795,000
Mi amiga Gloria, siempre tan encantadora, me escribe este
bonito e-mail: Hola querido, esta maravilla de casa me recuerda a ti y te
la envío... qué maravilla. Si fuera rica, la compraba. No hará falta que diga lo maravillosa que es, efectivamente, la casa. Disfrútenla.
▬
In 1957 the celebrated architect Peter Womersley designed
one of the finest houses to have been built in Britain during the Mid Century
period. It was commissioned by the renowned textile designer Bernat Klein and
situated on a beautiful plot of approx. 3 ¼ acres acres, 35 miles south of
Edinburgh, with far-reaching views of the Borders countryside. Today the four
bedroom house with a studio wing, which now has a rare Category A listing from
Historic Environment Scotland, is still in largely original condition and being
put on the market by the Klein family for the first time.
The design of the single storey house is essentially a
rectangle subdivided into eight foot modules, with the form having been played
with by Womersley to create courtyards and a carport seemingly within the
structure of the building (it has been described by the architectural historian
Alan Powers as “a clear rectangle outlined in white painted timber… sitting
lightly on a sea of green grass”). The creativity of the design has been
enhanced by the inventive use of a broad mixture of materials – including
travertine floor tiles and exotic hardwoods such as idigbo and obeche – and
also colourful internal and external tiling added by Klein.
The house is entered via the car port, with the front door
opening onto an entrance hall that leads into the main living area. This is one
of the most spectacular spaces seen in any residence of the period. Although
not vast in size, it is exquisite in design, featuring travertine floor tiles,
polished obeche wood ceiling, bespoke fitted furniture and a sunken central
seating area. Walls have been panelled with hardwoods including idigbo,
rosewood and walnut and to one side there is floor to ceiling glazing which
allows the light to flood in. Dividing the living area from the dining area is
a ‘wall’ of plants.
The living area incorporates a study area and library, which
leads through to the master bedroom with a dressing area and en suite bathroom.
The dining area leads through to the kitchen, which still
features the original units. Opposite the kitchen is a shower room, utility
room and small bedroom. Beyond this is a larger family room (which was once
divided into two bedrooms) and a further bedroom which also benefits from an en
suite bathroom.
The studio wing at the far end of the house was added in
1982 and although not designed by Womersley, it was added with his approval,
not least because adaptability was part of the original design brief. This is a
large, open room with floor to ceiling glazing on both sides and wonderful
rural views which could be used as a studio, as was originally intended, or
further accommodation.
The house sits centrally on a beautiful rural plot of
approx. 3 ¼ acres in size (subject to measurement). It is a gently sloping
clearing partly surrounded by woodland and bordering on open fields (from which
it is separated by a dry stone wall) with far reaching views over the Ettrick
Valley towards the triple peaks of the Eildon Hills. The site is largely lawn,
with small areas of woodland.
Peter Womersely (1923 – 93) was a celebrated British
architect who produced some of the very best buildings of the Mid Century
period, notably a number of private houses including the wonderful
Farnley Hey. Womersley was recently described by the
prominent architecture critic Rowan Moore as “quite simply, one of the best
British architects of the 20th century, and until recently one of the most
overlooked”. He adds in an article published in
The Observer that “his buildings are adventurous but
poised; lucid, brave in conception and considered in their detail.”
Bernat Klein (1922 – 2014) was an influential textile
designer whose fabrics, used by the likes of Christian Dior, Balenciaga and
Yves Saint Laurent, did much to define high fashion in the 1960s.
This part of the Borders is renowned for its unspoilt beauty
and salmon fishing in the River Tweed. Nearby towns include Selkirk, Galashiels
and the popular and pretty town of Melrose. Melrose has excellent schooling,
dining and shopping opportunities and a thriving cultural scene including the
annual Borders Book Festival. There is an excellent café, delicatessen and
bookshop, The Main Street Trading Company, in nearby St. Boswells.
The recently opened Borders Railway, which runs from
Galashiels, runs services to central Edinburgh in approximately 50 minutes.
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.
The house has a Category A listing which is the highest
grade of listing given by Historic Environment Scotland, a recognition of its
exceptional architecture that is incredibly rare (not least for a post war
building).
Below is an abbreviated version of Historic Environment
Scotland’s listing description:
This is a fine early example of the work of the
internationally renowned Borders based architect Peter Womersley (1923-1993), a
signature work embodying his characteristic geometric modular design and
surviving in its original condition to both the exterior and interior.
The house was commissioned in 1956 by Bernat Klein, a
well respected textiles designer and prominent member of the Borders art scene
who incorporated his own textiles into the original design. Mr Klein had seen
Womersley’s earlier work, the Grade II listed Farnley Hey (1954) in
Huddersfield, Britain’s best known example of the American contemporary style.
Womersley specialised in creating an expansive feel within a
house… by using minimal circulation spaces, choosing to treat the house as one
entity. He defined spaces with changing floor levels, using flush cupboard
blocks as walls with ‘secret’ doors leading to separate areas. He was inspired
by the Californian ‘case study homes’ which employed open planned spaces
surrounded by shady gardens.
The house was designed to be used as a commercial office
space for meetings as well as a home; the grid plan allowing for possible further
expansion as part of the design brief. The open plan playroom area designed
with sleeping alcoves for the children was intended to be divided into separate
bedrooms at a later stage.
This is a geometric modular building that sits successfully
in its natural landscape due to its simple flat roofed design and the clever
use of the open yet enclosed courtyard spaces which links the house to its
environment.
[The house has a] 14 by 5-bay rectangular-plan Modernist
modular flat-roofed house incorporating courtyard space and open car port set
on gently sloping site in cleared woodland. Makore timber-framed construction
on 8ft grid pattern over concrete raft; white horizontal base course band;
higher level band forming clerestory and continuous white facia board at eaves
with aluminium trim. Asymmetrical coloured vitroslab panels, clear plate
plyglass glazing, and vertically boarded Makore denote living, bathroom and
sleeping areas. Entrance screen with five horizontal panels formerly coloured,
with later surface tile mosaic added by Bernat Klein. Later addition of studio
with contemporary detailing partially infilling former open courtyard and pond
to East corner (1982).
Plain timber doors; single glazed metal-framed sliding patio
doors; double-glazed, timber-framed fixed lights incorporating horizontal
coloured glass panels in yellow and green at intervals; plain varnished timber
vertically boarded sections. Internal concealed rainwater drainage to
soakaways.
Fine Modernist open plan interior with original design
scheme in place including bespoke fitted furniture and storage sections,
travertine and tiled flooring, polished obeche wood ceiling, light fittings and
contemporary furniture. All textiles were specially designed, dyed and woven by
Bernat Klein. Open plan main living space with sunken central floor area, floor
to ceiling glazing, central hearth, and fitted timber cabinets with integral
lighting. Panelled African hardwood walls including indigbo, rosewood and
walnut, with flush hidden doors leading to bedroom suites. Main bedroom suite
has flush cupboards on three walls with characteristic ‘bedhead’ wall of
horizontal strip walnut. Original cobalt blue tiles to kitchen floor and simple
timber units
