Saint House and Surgery

The flat-roofed rectilinear house and its associated surgery and garage blocks were simple in form but achieved a modern character from the way the materials were used in their fenestration. In the Saint House, concrete was used extensively but imaginatively in various forms of concrete brick, patterned, pre-cast concrete block and cast-in-situ concrete slabs. White timber boarding and in-situ concrete canopies with waterspouts appeared on the entrances to both house and surgery.

The two-storey house had a linear plan of kitchen, dining room, hall and living room. This last room had a glass garden wall and a cubist fireplace built into the end wall. The main entry was defined by paving at the mid-point of the dwelling, with a partial lobby linking the entrance hall with the rooms it served. A spiral staircase of steel, with rubber coverings to the treads, was enclosed in a top lit drum adjacent to the entrance, whose form extended into the lounge.

The house, just one element in a tripartite composition, was set at right angles to the principal site access to give priority to the public surgery block and double garage, which were related to the road.

All images courtesy of Tothill Press Ltd (Ryder and Yates archive)