2013-06-01

Winter House



In 1967 John Winter built his own house on Swain’s Lane on a site of the former garden of the superintendent of Highgate Cemetery. It is split over three stories, with “quiet living” on top, sleeping in the middle and “noisy” at the bottom. Constructed around a steel frame, the outside of the house consists of large double-glazed units set within Cor-ten cladding. This was the first domestic use of the material in Britain, and the proportions of the house and the grid on which it was designed were set by reference to the dimensions of the standard, factory-produced Cor-ten sheet, so that nothing was wasted.

After the house was finished, Winter’s colleagues presented him with a plaque bearing the legend “Rust in Peace”

via telegraph

Sound: Darren Hayman