Mancett House
Winterslow, Wilts
Architect: Michael Manser
Register for similar homesA rare opportunity to purchase and update a large single-storey steel and glass house designed by Michael Manser, one of Britain’s finest Modern architect.
Designed in 1974, the 5-bedroom house has an internal area of approximately 2,700 sq ft and is set in attractive gardens on a site of approximately 1¼ acres. This is the first time that this house, one of Manser’s most accomplished designs, has ever been on the market. The house is being offered in outstanding original condition. Manser is well known for being an architect of exacting standards and Mancett House is a fine example of the quality of his buildings.
A former President of the RIBA and architecture critic of The Observer, Michael Manser is perhaps the purest purveyor of the Modern style in Britain. The designer of a number of steel-frame houses, some of which are now Grade-II listed, Mancett House was built at a time when Manser was at the height of his powers.
The house is located down an unmade track in the village of East Winterslow on the Wiltshire / Hampshire border. The track is an old Roman way that is now a quiet residential road leading to open countryside. There is a village shop in Winterslow and it is also home to the New Art Centre at Roche Court. The larger towns of Stockbridge and Salisbury are within 10 miles of Winterslow. Trains run from Salisbury or nearby Andover to London Waterloo in approximately 1½ hours. There is a smaller station nearby at West Dean. London can be reached by car in approximately 1½ to 2 hours. The New Forest can be reached by car in 20 minutes and the coast can be reached in approximately 40 minutes.
There is a good village primary school and numerous well-regarded secondary schools in the area including Bishop’s Wordsworth Grammar School and South Wilts Grammar for Girls.
Please note that all areas, measurements and distances given in these particulars are approximate and rounded. The text, photographs and floor plans are for general guidance only. The Modern House has not tested any services, appliances or specific fittings — prospective purchasers are advised to inspect the property themselves. All fixtures, fittings and furniture not specifically itemised within these particulars are deemed removable by the vendor.
History
In the early 1970s, Michael Manser had firmly established himself as one of Britain’s leading architects. His work was much admired for the clarity of its conception and the high standard of its execution. His buildings were widely published and it was a newspaper article that led the current owners of Mancett House to call Michael Manser and ask him to create a house for a side they had just purchased overlooking the Wiltshire countryside. Seeing the attractive setting of the plot, Manser agreed and by 1976 the house was completed, with a garden designed by the celebrated landscape gardener John Brooks.
The house was designed to be a low-maintenance structure. The house was engineered by Jack Dawson and built using a simple steel frame, double-glazed tinted glass and fibreglass panelling. The layout of the internal space was designed to strict geometric principles. As the architectural historian Neil Jackson has noted, “Manser was drawn towards the mathematics of proportion due to an interest in Palladio, geometric plans and the Golden Section rectangle”.
Michael Manser was born in 1929 and educated Regent’s Street Polytechnic. He started his own practice in 1961 and soon began to gain himself a strong reputation due to his uncompromising attitude to Modern architecture. Very much an advocate of Mies van der Rohe’s ‘Less is More’ approach to design, Manser set a benchmark for all Modern architecture in Britain. In 1967, Manser wrote that his steel-framed houses were “a result of a growing conviction that housing should be in lightweight, Meccano-like construction. Laying 20,000 bricks one on top of the other by hand is not the right way to build a house”. Manser, a minimalist in the best possible sense, became widely admired in Britain and abroad. Philip Johnson, the American architect of the iconic Glass House, declared himself a particular fan.
In 1983 Manser was elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, for which position he argued eloquently and persuasively for an adherence to Modernist architectural principles. This was a time when the Prince of Wales was attempting to drum up support for a return to more traditional style of architecture. In recognition of his leadership and his dedication to practising what he preached, Manser was awarded a CBE in 1993 and the RIBA also decided to name their most prestigious award after him. The annual award for the best one-off house or major extension designed by an architect in the UK is called the Manser Medal.
