About
The Homewood, in Esher, Surrey, is a National Trust-owned modernist house designed by the architect Patrick Gwynne and completed in 1938 as his own family home, standing today as one of the most important and best-preserved examples of English Modern Movement domestic architecture, a style that remained relatively rare in interwar Britain compared to its wider adoption across continental Europe.
Gwynne, still in his twenties when he designed the house, replaced his family's existing Victorian residence on the site with an entirely new building that embraced the core principles of European Modernism, including an open, flowing internal plan, extensive use of glass to blur the boundary between interior and the surrounding wooded garden, a flat roof, and a striking cantilevered upper storey supported on slender columns, or pilotis, that lift the main living accommodation above ground level, a design vocabulary directly influenced by the work of Le Corbusier and other leading continental Modernist architects whose ideas Gwynne had studied closely before designing his own family home.
The house's interior is equally significant, retaining much of its original built-in furniture, fittings and decorative scheme, many designed by Gwynne himself with meticulous attention to integrating furniture, lighting and architectural space into a single coherent design vision characteristic of the best Modern Movement domestic interiors, and Gwynne continued to refine and adjust the house throughout his long subsequent career as a working architect, living at the Homewood until his death in 2003 and bequeathing the property to the National Trust, making it a rare example of a Modern Movement house preserved essentially as its architect-owner left it after more than six decades of continuous personal occupation and refinement.
Because the house remains a relatively fragile and intimately scaled architectural set-piece rather than a large-scale visitor attraction, public access to The Homewood is deliberately structured around small, pre-booked guided tour groups rather than open general access, a presentation approach that reflects both conservation considerations and the desire to preserve something of the intimate, considered character of the house as a genuinely lived-in architectural statement rather than a conventional museum experience.
Visitors on these guided tours are given detailed insight into Gwynne's design philosophy, his adjustments to the house across his lifetime, and the wider context of Modern Movement architecture in interwar and postwar Britain, making The Homewood a significant destination for anyone with an interest in twentieth-century architecture and design history, notwithstanding its comparatively modest physical scale relative to the grander historic houses more typically associated with National Trust ownership.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Book your guided tour well in advance online, as group sizes are strictly limited and tours frequently sell out.
- Architecture and design enthusiasts should allow the full tour duration to appreciate the depth of Gwynne's design detail.
- This is not a casual walk-in attraction — access is exclusively by pre-booked guided tour on specific days.
- Wear comfortable, flat footwear suitable for internal stairs connecting the house's different level changes.
- Ask your guide about Gwynne's continuing refinements to the house across his lifetime for the fullest picture of its design history.
- Combine your visit with nearby Claremont Landscape Garden for a fuller day out in the Esher area.
- Photography policies may vary; check current guidance with your tour guide on arrival.
- Check accessibility arrangements in advance if you have mobility needs, given the house's internal level changes.
Highlights
The Cantilevered Modernist Structure
The house's most visually striking architectural feature is its cantilevered upper storey, supported on slender columns, or pilotis, that lift the main living accommodation above ground level, a design vocabulary directly influenced by the work of Le Corbusier and other leading continental Modernist architects.
This structural approach exemplifies the core principles of European Modern Movement architecture as adapted by Patrick Gwynne for an English suburban setting.
Gwynne's Original Built-In Furniture and Fittings
The house retains much of its original built-in furniture, fittings and decorative scheme, many designed by Patrick Gwynne himself with meticulous attention to integrating furniture, lighting and architectural space into a single coherent design vision, giving visitors an exceptionally complete and authentic sense of a fully realised Modern Movement domestic interior rarely preserved intact elsewhere in Britain.
The Open-Plan Living Spaces
The house's flowing, open internal plan, with extensive use of glass to blur the boundary between interior living space and the surrounding wooded garden, exemplifies core Modern Movement principles of spatial openness and connection to landscape, offering visitors a direct experience of how these architectural ideas translated into genuinely lived domestic space.
Patrick Gwynne's Lifelong Refinement of the House
Interpretation traces how Gwynne continued to adjust and refine the house throughout his long subsequent career as a working architect, living at the Homewood until his death in 2003, making the property a rare example of a Modern Movement house preserved essentially as its architect-owner left it after more than six decades of continuous personal occupation and design development.
Collections
The Homewood preserves architect Patrick Gwynne's own 1938 modernist family home in Esher, Surrey, one of the most important and best-preserved examples of English Modern Movement domestic architecture, distinguished by its cantilevered upper storey on slender pilotis, open-plan living spaces and extensive use of glass connecting interior and garden.
The house retains much of its original built-in furniture and fittings, many designed by Gwynne himself, and was continuously refined by him throughout more than six decades of personal occupation until his death in 2003, making it a rare example of a Modern Movement house preserved essentially as its architect-owner left it.
Given its fragile, intimately scaled character, public access is deliberately limited to small, pre-booked guided tours rather than open general visiting, preserving the house's considered atmosphere as a genuinely lived-in architectural statement significant to the history of twentieth-century British design.
Patrick Gwynne's Modernist House
The house itself, its cantilevered structure, open-plan interior and original built-in furniture and fittings designed by architect Patrick Gwynne.
Modern Movement Architecture in Britain
Guided tour interpretation situating The Homewood within the wider, relatively limited history of English interwar Modernist domestic architecture.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.