PROPERTY / LIVING HISTORIES: For Sale: 4 The Edwardian House

AN EARLY masterpiece by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the Grade I listed, 20-bedroom Marsh Court, Stockbridge, Hampshire, is on sale through Savills for pounds 1.5m. Edwardian, yet Tudor in style, it is built of hewn chalk with flint inlays and has fine oak panelling and floors, richly moulded ceilings and elaborate fireplaces.

C R Ashbee, founder of the influential Guild of Handicraft, designed Grade II 38 Cheyne Walk, London SW3 in Arts and Crafts style. The tall, striking house has an asymmetrical gable with a rose- shaped window, high galleried studio, and is fronted by elegant railings, probably made by Ashbee's Guild. It is pounds l65m through Knight Frank and Rutley. Buyers are spoilt for choice in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London (see main article). Two properties dating from the early development - a seven-bedroom house by Sir Raymond Unwin and a six-bedroom Lutyens house - are pounds 310,000 and pounds 395,000 respectively through Glentree Estates.

Neat as a pin, Butlers Cottage, Riddlesworth on the Norfolk/Suffolk border was built in 1894 for Riddlesworth Hall's butler and stands on its estate. Jackson-Stops wants pounds 168,000 for the four-bedroom cottage in local vernacular style, with water-reed thatch and carved bargeboards.

In Ayrshire, the late 19th-century Cragston, Stewarton is a six- bedroom stone house set in rolling countryside. Features like Dutch gables with crow steps, tall chimneystacks, polished wood floors, mullioned windows and stained glass show the influence of Arts and Crafts ideas. pounds 300,000 through Knight Frank and Rutley.

Meadow Bank, Nantwich, Cheshire is a compact, typically Edwardian four-bedroom house. Made of mellow red brick and with a tiled roof, its plain exterior is ornamented with a little decorative tile-hanging under the eaves. Strutt and Parker wants pounds 195,000. A two-bedroom house in Croft Terrace, Fish Ponds Lane, Tutbury, Staffordshire, red brick, terraced and dating from around the turn of the century, features decorative woodwork over the porch, castiron fireplaces and a view overlooking ancient Tutbury Castle. Bagshaws would like just less than pounds 44,000. The architect G E Street, who designed the Law Courts in London's Strand and trained William Morris and Philip Webb, also designed more modest domestic buildings. In 1880 he supervised the building of seven-bedroom Grade II Kingston House, Kingston, Dorset, with its panoramic view of the Isle of Purbeck and Corfe Castle, as a parsonage for the nearby village church. Constructed of pale Purbeck stone, it has part-leaded and stone mullioned windows set with seats, and tall chimneys. Jackson-Stops invites offers over pounds 700,000.

A group of late 19th-century almshouses, built in vernacular style with timber-framing, brick- infilling and sweeping tiled roofs, are in a sorry state of repair. Palmer Almshouses, 42-44 Islington, Trowbridge, Wiltshire are listed Grade 11 but now suffer from movement, rising damp and dry rot. Potential restorers should contact Paul Moore, Housing Development Officer, West Wiltshire District Council, Bradley Road, Trowbridge, Wilts BA14 ORD (tel 0225 776655).

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