A rare Grade II-listed 1960s home has come onto the market in Oxfordshire.
Futuristic Bridge End House in Dorchester-on-Thames was designed in 1965 by architects Julia Fielding and Donald Morrison, who lived there for 50 years. The couple’s architectural practice, Fielding and Morrison, was responsible for more than 100 architectural projects.
Set in a striking location in the shadow of Dorchester Abbey, on the banks of the River Thame, it is a single storey home, set on eight-foot steel stilts. Its design was inspired by the renowned Ben Rose House in Highland Park, Chicago, a 1950s modernist home overlooking a ravine, famous for featuring in the 1986 film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Bridge End House was Grade II listed in 2020, notably for its ‘early use of a welded steel frame’ and as ‘an example of the influence of contemporary American design in the construction of private domestic architecture in England in the 1960s’.
Donald Morrison died in 2012 and after Julia Fielding’s death in 2018, their children decided to sell the house to Tim Fisher, a close family friend, who knew the house since he was a child.
He moved into the property in 2019 and spent four years carefully renovating it, including significant structural work to bring it up to modern standards including energy efficient materials such as insulated panels and Valfac triple glazing, along with a Steibel Eltron air source heat pump.
The original lateral layout has been retained, with the open plan kitchen, dining and living area becoming a highlight. Engineered oak floors extend throughout and the floor-to-ceiling windows span two sides of the house, while the wrap-around balcony is directly accessible from the sitting room.
The gardens, which slope down to the edge of the river, are mainly left to nature. On the opposite side of the river, between the Thame and Mill Stream are about five acres of pasture with access from the Hurst Meadow.
Tim said: “The renovation of Bridge End House was very much a project born out of love, for the family and the house. Some of my happiest childhood memories are here in this house and its incredible grounds.
“When I bought it, Bridge End House had yet to be listed and was in need of considerable work – its future therefore was uncertain. Now, having brought it up-to-date, I hope that I have played a small role in preserving an impressive piece of architectural history.”
Nicky Quentel, who is marketing the property for sale on behalf of Savills in Oxford, said: ‘Bridge End House is a real rarity, an historic home, yet ultra-modern, and its setting is truly magical.’
Guide price is £1,895,000.
Visit: https://search.savills.com/property-detail/gbswrshes220313
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