High Cross House

A unique opportunity to see 1930s architecture and art under one roof
High Cross House is a superb example of an International Modernist style house completed in 1932. It was designed by Swiss-American architect William Lescaze as the home for William B. Curry, the first Headmaster of Dartington Hall School. True to Modernist ideals of a house as a ‘machine for living in’, all aspects of the house – including furniture and furnishings – were designed as an integrated whole.

In 1994 The Dartington Hall Trust commissioned John Winter and Associates to renovate High Cross House as a showcase for their collection of paintings and ceramics (The Dartington Hall Trust Collection) and to be a home for the Trust’s unique archival records. Dartington Hall Trust founders, the Elmhirsts, are believed to be the 20th century’s most substantial private patrons of architecture, the arts and education in England, and High Cross House with its combination of Modernist architecture and works of art, much of it contemporary with that period, provides a unique visit.

The Visit

Access is to the hallway, study, living room, dining room, galleries and stairway to the landings and roof terrace. The house is furnished of the period and the two sofas designed by Lescaze, one complete with servants’ bell, are in their original positions in the Living Room. Other furniture is by Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Alvar Aalto and Gerald Summers, from Heals and made at Dartington in the 1930s.

Copies of the architect’s original blueprints are displayed as well as floor plans and photographs from a Country Life article of 1933. Material from the Archive relating to the artists represented is displayed along with information boards.

Ceramics

The ceramics include works by such luminaries as Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Hans Coper, Lucie Rie, Michael Cardew and David Leach and early Chinese pieces. There is also sculpture by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Willi Soukop.

Pictures

John Piper, Jean Cocteau, Cecil Collins, Elisabeth Collins, Mark Tobey, Christopher Wood, Ben Nicholson, Winifred Nicholson, Frances Hodgkins, Alfred Wallis, William Roberts, David Jones and Julian Trevelyan are among the artists on display.

Opening Times and Access

5 May to 24 July: Tuesday to Friday, 2pm to 4:30pm

Special Saturday Opening – Saturday, 11 July: 10.30 to 12.30 and 2 to 4.30pm

28 July to 28 August: Tuesday to Friday, 10:30am to 12:30pm & Tuesday to Friday, 2pm to 4:30pm

1 September to 30 October: Tuesday to Friday, 2pm to 4:30pm
Open Day : Saturday, 12 September, 12 noon to 4.30pm (free entry).

The house is situated on the right hand side of the road to Dartington Hall from Dartington Church. An admission charge of £3.50 applies, with a concessionary rate of £2.50 for students, retired people, unwaged and disabled. Entrance is free to young people aged 17 and under. Access for researchers to the Archive is possible throughout the year by appointment.

Some History

“This is probably the most extreme instance in England of the functional type of house associated with the name of Corbusier,” Christopher Hussey on High Cross House, Country Life magazine, 1933.

The house is of traditional brick and block structure with roof terraces of concrete beam and slab construction. It displays much of the architectural vocabulary typical of Lescaze – the two rectilinear blocks joined by a curved form and the bold use of colour inside and out. Lescaze visited the site on several occasions and extensive correspondence between Curry and Lescaze discussed the construction of the house as it progressed, including the choice of the colour blue used externally on designated areas (now in The Dartington Hall Trust Archive).

High Cross House Living Room

William Lescaze (1896-1969)

Influenced by the principles of the painters and architects of the De Stijl Movement, Le Corbusier and expressionist architecture, Lescaze’s earliest buildings were among the first significant statements of the new International Style architecture in the United States.

Architect of the renowned Philadelphia Saving Fund Society Building (1929-32), the first Modernist skyscraper in America, Lescaze was already an established architect with an international reputation when he designed High Cross House. He had come into contact with Curry through a commission to design the nursery of Oak Lane Country Day School, near Philadelphia (1929), where Curry was then Headmaster. Lescaze’s obvious commitment to architectural and educational experimentation made him, in Curry’s eyes, ideal for the Dartington project and he introduced Lescaze to Leonard Elmhirst.

International Style buildings were extremely rare at the time and High Cross House in 1932 proved to be one of the most ‘modern’ in Europe. With the success of the completed house Dartington Hall Trust founders, Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst, commissioned Lescaze to design more buildings on the estate working in collaboration with Robert Hening, the Estate Architect.

William Burnlee Curry (1900-1962)

Curry, headmaster of the famous progressive Dartington Hall School from 1931 to 1957, played a major role in the shaping of the School and its standing. During this time he also lectured in America and England and was the author of books on politics and education. In 1939 he published The Case for Federal Union, about the belief in establishing a peaceful democratic and orderly world. It sold 100,000 copies in six months and Curry is said to have been one of the federalists whose writings directly inspired some of the founders of the European community.

High Cross House stands as a testament to his belief in a modern society and to his friend, William Lescaze.

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