1900s house, 'Llanfoist House', 5 Kendal Avenue (EHER 82315)

Llanfoist House was built in 1907. It was designed by Thomas G Hart for himself. The house is detached and is built in a Domestic Revival style with Arts and Crafts influence. It is of two stories and attic, and has a small cellar, a detached garage and a potting shed. The house is a three bay building constructed of brick with a tiled roof. It has Dutch gables to the south-east elevation. The central bay has applied stucco and timber work at the first floor. The south-east elevation has a conservatory which retains original heating and watering mechanisms. The internal arrangement of the house has been maintained, and with the exception of two fireplaces on the ground floor, and the replacement of some bathroom furniture the Edwardian fixtures and fittings survive throughout. The house was assessed for listing in 2010 but failed to meet the required criteria.

NRHE data transfer: Llanfoist was built on a vacant site to the south-east of the historic town of Epping in 1907. The house was designed by Thomas G. Hart (born 1865, architect and surveyor of London and Epping) for himself and his new wife in June 1905 and named after her Welsh birthplace. A large garden with a tennis court lay to the rear, with a kitchen garden to the east. After his death, the house passed to his niece, then, in 1957, to Dr Harry Kopelman, a highly renowned local physician who lived in the house with his family until his death in 2009. The original plans of Llanfoist survive and show that the exterior treatment and plan-form of the house are intact. With the exception of two fireplaces on the ground floor, and the replacement of some bathroom furniture, the Edwardian fixtures and fittings survive throughout. Llanfoist is a detached house of 1907 in a Domestic Revival style with Arts and Crafts influence. It comprises two storeys with an attic, a small cellar and a detached garage and potting shed to the east. The three bay building is constructed in red brick laid in Flemish bond and has a tiled, hipped roof with a mansard to the Dutch gables on the south-east elevation and gablets to those on the north-west. There are two prominent stacks to each side elevation, an off-centre stack on the front pitch and a dormer to the front and rear with arched gablet and six-over-one sash windows. Flanking the central bay of the house, the dominant feature of the façade and rear elevation is a pair of broad arched Dutch gables with ogee lower profiles, central decorative ironwork at the apex and stone copings. On the ground floor of each is a canted bay with a moulded frieze above four, four-over-one sash windows. On the first floor there are pairs of windows with deep arched panels and segmental brick heads above. The central bay has an asymmetric arrangement of openings. The off-centre timber entrance door has a leaded light upper panel and contemporary door furniture beneath a flat hood supported on carved timber brackets. To the right, a tripartite window with moulded transom and mullions has small-pane leaded lights and a cornice with dentils above. A six-over-one sash window is centrally placed at the first floor, which has applied stucco and timber treatment. This arrangement is mirrored in the rear elevation, except that there are no canted bays at ground floor; a door leads into the garden from the south-east bay and there is a tripartite window on the ground floor of the north-west bay. The central bay has applied stucco and timber work at first floor and an asymmetric fenestration arrangement with a large stair window of three panels, moulded transoms and mullion. The south-east elevation has a contemporary conservatory at ground floor, with a tile hung mansard above. The conservatory retains heating and watering mechanisms. Two small, single pane casement windows are set in an applied stucco and timber panel between the chimney stacks at the first floor, beneath overhanging eaves. The north-west elevation has a projecting, square, former scullery with an inserted 20th century window and yard at the ground floor. An applied stucco and timber panel at the first floor has two single, leaded light casement windows. A skylight has been inserted into the roof pitch above. The garage is brick built with pebble dash and applied timbers. It is clear from the plans that it was built as a cycle store with a workshop and potting shed to the rear. Although converted into a garage, there are some original features including recessed cupboards. The internal arrangement of the house has been fully retained. The polite rooms on the ground floor have deep, moulded cornices, contemporary joinery and doors with deep architraves and brass door furniture. The hall has wooden panelling and a fireplace with red tiling and a carved timber surround. At the rear of the hall is an original toilet with contemporary sink, adjacent to the housekeeper's room with Belfast sink and fitted cupboards. Access to the back stairs, kitchen, scullery and cellar (the latter also has its original sub-divisions) is to the left. The former dining room has a fireplace with green tiling and a carved timber surround with Tuscan pillar supports; the overmantel has been removed, but is stored in the attic. On either side of the fireplace are tall timber cabinets with glass doors decorated with wooden inlay and etched glass roundels. The drawing and morning rooms have replaced fireplaces. A broad, moulded arch frames the staircase to the first floor, lit by a tall stair window with leaded lights and metal winding mechanism for opening. The stairs have a ramped handrail, turned balusters and a curved profile to the first floor landing. A large in-built laundry and airing cupboard is to the front of the landing. There are three polite bedrooms, each with an arched recess framing contemporary fireplaces and a leaded light window. The master bedroom to the south-east has an en-suite bedroom, formerly a dressing room. A toilet and bathroom was located at the rear, adjacent to a smaller bedroom above the kitchen which also retains its original fireplace and may have been the housekeeper's bedroom. The simple back stairs continue from the ground floor, to the first floor where a small w.c. is located off the landing, and onto the attic where the water tank was located. A room in the attic has a built-in wardrobe and fireplace. The roof structure is intact. Llanfoist, 5 Kendal Road, Epping, a suburban house of 1907 is not recommended for designation for the following principal reasons: * Architectural Interest: Although by provincial architect Thomas Hart for himself and his family, it has a muddled eclectic design, dominated by over-sized gables of unsophisticated styling. * Intactness: The building is largely unaltered and retains many contemporary fixtures and fittings, but they are standard and the building lacks the overall requisite aesthetic merit to be added to the statutory List. <1> No List Case: 169763/508100