![]() ![]() Happisburgh Manor has been for sale for several months and the price was recently cut from £975,000 to offers over £800,000. Short of commissioning your own, the chance to own a true ‘butterfly plan’ house is certainly a rare one, especially when the architect was one of the leading exponents of the idea who also ensured that the build quality was exemplary. The butterfly plan is complex and requires great skill to be manipulated correctly to achieve the correct balance internally and in the use of materials, which probably explains why it was never broadly adopted. ![]() ![]() Again, perhaps this shows the adaptability of this innovative plan. The architect’s website is sparse on details of both its name, the year that it was built or the exact location but it blends elements of the Pictureseque, with varied forms and heights, whilst still adhering to the butterfly shape. A recent manifestation is Robert Adam’s response to the demanding requirements of a client who wished to maximise the views from a riverside site. However, no good architectural idea is ever completely forgotten. ‘Piddle’ House, Hampshire – official name unknown (Image: Selway Joyce) Where the butterfly plan found its best expression was in the hands of the Arts & Crafts movement, whose love of natural forms perhaps gave them a greater sensitivity to the opportunities it offered. The butterfly in this case was a house called The Chesters, which had originally been built in 1771 but which the leading Victorian architect Richard Norman Shaw had been commissioned to dramatically enlarge. The butterfly plan is also known as the double-suntrap as it increases the number of rooms which benefit from their orientation towards the sun and increases the number with views hence its popularity with any number of seaside hotels.ĭespite these advantages, the butterfly wasn’t to make another appearance for nearly three centuries until it appeared in Northumberland in 1891. The reason for this innovative design is lost but is quite likely to be a response to the elevated location. It was begun in 1612, but sometime before 1620, though probably not originally planned, four full-height wings were added at 45 degrees, creating the distinctive shape we now know. The house which was the first manifestation of this plan is Westwood Park, Worcestershire, which, it is thought, was originally built as a conventional rectangular, three-storey hunting lodge. The definition of a butterfly plan house is ‘…where two or four wings of a house are constructed at an angle to the core, usually at approximately 45 degrees to the wall of the core building.‘. Country Life's Top 100 architects, builders, designers and gardeners. ![]()
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