Historic Colt House, Bosham; Picture of the Week 23 May 2014

Going through old family photos I came across this one of my grandparents house in Bosham, Sussex, under construction. I've blogged about their house before, but at the time had few photos of it. This was a Colt house, partly pre-fabricated and constructed almost entirely of timber, apart from foundations and chimneys. These houses became very popular in the 1930's. Further research will, I hope, tell me exactly when this one was built, I've always assumed it was before WWII.

I spent large parts of my childhood in this timber framed and clad house. It had three reception rooms, four bedrooms, a lovely bathroom with separate toilet, a kitchen with a large, solid fuel Aga, a scullery and a front door which was at the back of the house - a gravel drive swept right around the side of house to this front door which in my lifetime the door wasn't used - the entrance lobby was used for storage! The photograph below shows the completed building in the 1950's. The French doors from the sitting room are open onto the brick patio, the windows to the right are in the dining room. The small porch to the right contained the main entrance and connected by a brick corridor to the coal bunkers and the large garage.

These and other photographs show a solid, unpretentious building with traditional tile hanging to the first floor and a clap-board clad ground floor, both imitate the local vernacular. The windows are metal framed, probably Crittal, the hanging tiles are actually cedar shingles, which over time mellowed to a soft grey and never needed painting, the clapboard was a creamy white.

Inside there was no plaster. Apart from dado height panelling on the stairs the interior had soft, fibreboard walls, wallpapered downstairs but not up. In a wind the house would creak and pop, but flexibility is no bad thing.