Arts and Crafts architecture grew from the desire to bring back the skill and creativity of individual craftsmen, relying on quality materials and traditional construction methods. Typical features include brick or render frontages, hipped roofs, bay and lantern windows and decorative tiling. “People today still love many of the features,” says Stuart Norton, group design and technical director for Redrow.
Where old meets new
Redrow infused those model features into its Heritage Collection, combining period-style architectural features of the 1930s with contemporary interiors, designed for modern living.
It features 35 different house types, each named after beautiful and historic towns and cities; sought-after areas to live, where Arts and Crafts styles can already be found in the local architecture, like the Oxford, Harrogate and Henley.
“It has a familiar look and feel typical of many of the homes we grew up in,” adds Stuart, “as well as many of the incredible homes we visit and admire throughout the UK.”
So you want to know more about the history behind the Arts and Crafts style we’ve adopted for our Heritage Collection? Then, check out these historical homes around the UK you can visit.
Coleton Fishacre, Devon
This stunning Arts and Crafts house was a holiday home for the D’Oyly Carte family, well-known for their operatic background and creating the first purpose-built deluxe hotel in London, The Savoy.
Built in 1926 for Rupert and Dorothy D’Oyly Carte, the Arts and Crafts style is evident in the pitched roofs and simple design - and even the gardens which are divided into ‘rooms’.
Now owned by the National Trust, the house is open daily from 10.30am, perfect for residents of our Saxon Brook development in Exeter to visit, who are less than an hour’s drive away.
Blackwell House, Cumbria
Blackwell offers a snapshot of early 20th-century living and, designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, the Grade I listed building is considered to be one of the UK’s finest examples of Arts & Crafts architecture. Completed as a holiday home for wealthy brewer Sir Edward Holt in 1901, it’s asymmetrical in design and has many of its original features. Its terraced gardens were designed by Arts and Crafts garden designer, Thomas Mawson.
Owned by Lakeland Arts it’s open every day from 10am. Oak Leigh Gardens in the Ribble Valley, North Lancashire, is our closest development to this historic home.
Stoneywell, Leicestershire
Stoneywell is the realisation of one man's Arts and Crafts vision. Original furniture and family treasures fill the cottage, built at the turn of the 19th Century by Arts and Crafts architect Ernest Gimson for his elder brother Sydney. It is owned by the National Trust and open Thursday to Monday from 10am to 4.30pm.
It’s the perfect place to visit from Redrow’s Hugglescote Grange development in Coalville as it’s only six miles away.
Goddards House, North Yorkshire
Close to Redrow’s The Avenue at Thorpe Park development in Leeds - 18 miles away - Goddards was the former home of the Terry’s chocolate manufacturing family. Designed by local architect Walter Brierley it boasts asymmetric gables, decorative chimney stacks and geometric bricks hand-made locally, and inside there’s Arts and Crafts wallpaper by William Morris. The gardens, which you can visit Thursday to Sunday, were designed to complement the house.
Standen, West Sussex
Standen House is the last of Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb’s country houses to survive. It was built for the Beale family in the 1890s and filled with William Morris wallpapers and Arts and Crafts furniture and ceramics by William de Morgan.
Open daily, it is eight miles from Redrow’s Meadow Gardens development in Yapton.
Nuffield Place, Oxfordshire
Built in 1914 this Arts and Crafts house was later bought and named after Lord Nuffield, William Morris, creator of the Morris motor car. Both the house and garden at Nuffield Place reflect Arts and Crafts design with typical exterior and interior features.
It’s open Wednesday to Sunday and close to Redrow’s The Steeples development in Headington, which is just a half-hour’s drive away (19 miles).
Port Sunlight, Wirral
Founded by ‘Soap King’ William Hesketh Lever in 1888, the village was built to house Lever’s ‘Sunlight Soap’ factory workers in Arts and Crafts cottages. Each house is unique with architectural features including half-timbering, carved woodwork and masonry, pargetting (ornamental plaster work), moulded and twisted chimneys, and leaded glazed patterns.
It’s home to a museum and world-class art gallery, and if you live in Redrow’s Oaklands at Ledsham Garden Village you’re in the perfect place to visit it, with only a five-and-a-half mile/15-minute journey to get you there.
Red House, London
The home of William Morris, Red House in Bexleyheath, was Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb’s first independent commission. Its original features include fixed furniture designed by the pair, and conservation work uncovered decorative schemes by Morris and his friends. Built in 1860 it was the Morris family home for five years, becoming the centre of the Arts and Crafts movement, and where Morris started his famous Morris & Co company. It’s 11 miles from Redrow’s Pontoon Reach in the up-and-coming Royal Docks area.
To find out why Arts and Crafts architecture remains ever popular read our guide to the style or uncover more about how our Heritage Collection blends these period style features with thoroughly modern interiors.
