HISTORY OF SEA LANE HOUSE

Sea Lane House was perhaps one of the two most important achievements of Breuer’s fruitful stay in Britain between 1935 and 1937, the other being his design for theIsokon Long Chair.

.An innovative and inventive house, it is constructed of brick and reinforced concrete. F.R.S. Yorke, with whom Breuer worked at the time, described it in an article published in the 1930s as “a seaside house for contemporary living… that owes… nothing to period mannerisms”. He went on to outlined a key innovative feature – the accommodation built on columns that ensure sea views from the bedrooms and “allows open space under the bedroom wing... [that] can be made into a lawn”.

Perhaps the most exciting architectural feature of the house is the graceful curving sun terrace on a column support – a design that shows a shift by Breuer away from the more rigid early Modernism towards a more expressive style. Other features that remain today include a large framed north window with 72 glazed panels, a working dumb waiter and internal bell system

The house was originally commissioned for a plantation owner, James Macnabb, who is thought to have never occupied it (due, in part, to the outbreak of World War II in 1939). In 1943, it was bought by Richard Papelian, an engineer and celebrated figure within the automotive industry (he is perhaps best known for introducing windscreen wipers and car radios to Britain). Papelain fell in love with Sea Lane House thanks to what he called its “technical excellence’” and lived there until his death in 1986, taking careful care of it throughout his life. Papelian’s family still owns the house.

Sea Lane House is the only surviving pre-War building in Europe by Breuer. It is also considered the best-preserved example of Breuer’s early architectural work anywhere in the world.

MARCEL BREUER

Born in Pécs, Hungary in 1902, Marcel Breuer briefly studied art in Vienna before joining the Bauhaus in the 1920s. First a student and then a teacher, he became head of the celebrated furniture workshop.

On leaving the Bauhaus, Breuer practised as an architect in Berlin before fleeing the Nazi regime and moving to London in 1935, where he stayed for two years. In 1939 he was invited by Walter Gropius (the founder of the Bauhaus and former teacher of Breuer) to work at Harvard University. At Harvard, Breuer taught pupils who went on to become some of America’s celebrated architects including Philip Johnson, Paul Rudolph and I.M. Pei.

In America, Breuer initially worked in an architecture practice with Gropius before forming his own firm with offices in New York and Paris. Breuer produced numerous important buildings before his death in 1981 including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

N.B. An extensive and attractive archive of material relating to the history of the house will be made available to any buyer.