Berrydown Court House

Berrydown Court was built for Archibald Grove (1855-1920), founder-editor of the New Review magazine, and member of parliament for West Ham North (1892-95) and South Northamptonshire (1906-10). Grove was a personal friend of Edwin Lutyens and began discussions regarding the construction of a house in Hampshire in around 1890, when Grove had bought land in the Overton area and was attempting to find a parliamentary seat in the county. Disagreements between client and architect delayed the commencement of building until 1897, but the house was complete by 1898. The construction saw further friction between Grove and Lutyens, particularly in relation to the garden, which the latter had planned…

Berrydown is of two-storeys with an attic floor. It is shielded from the road by a long boundary wall, which also forms the northern wall of the kitchen garden and is pierced by a gate lodge. Colin Amery, Margaret Richardson and Gavin Stamp, in the catalogue published to accompany the 1981 Hayward Gallery exhibition, Lutyens - The work of the English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944), describe the entrance front as "Tudor" in style. The garden front, which Roderick Gradidge considered "surprisingly complex", has massive gables, is tile-hung and the roof carries three large chimney stacks. The interior plan is simple, has seen little change since its construction, and was subject to a…