{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O835483"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O835483/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O835483","accessionNumber":"D.1360-1907","objectType":"Architectural drawing (visual work)","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Plan, elevation and section drawings of part of the garden front of 35 Beaconsfield Road.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Nesfield, William Eden","id":"A8691"},"association":{"text":"architect","id":"AAT24987"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Ink on paper","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Architectural drawings","id":"THES274432"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"64","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"architectural drawing","id":"AAT34787"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1879","earliest":"1879-01-01","latest":"1879-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Architectural drawing by William Eden Nesfield for 35 Beaconsfield Road, Westcombe Park, London, ink on paper, 1879","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"Neil Rhind, 7 July 2015","free":"Information received from Neil Rhind on 7 July 2015:\r\n\r\n<b>Nesfield house in Westcombe Park London SE3\n</b>\r\nFairfax House, in its time numbered as 35 Beaconsfield Road, London SE3, was one of the grander houses built on the newly-released parkland of the Westcombe Park estate.  The house, Woodlands (1776) built for John Julius Angerstein (1735?-1823) survives. The sale of the Westcombe estate to the Westcombe Park Estate Co Ltd, led initially to the creation of an infrastructure and then the piecemeal sale of development leases. It was not a success and few houses had been erected by the early 1880.  Some were distinguished in design but only Fairfax House, as it was later title, was created by an architect of outstanding quality.\n\r\nA site on the east side what became Beaconsfield Road (north section) was exploited by three large properties: No 31 (Gilnockie), No 33 (Kingsbridge House) and No 35 (Fairfax House).  No 31 was designed by architects James and James S Edmeston, in 1888 and built by contractors Gould &amp; Brand for £2,429.  No 33 was designed for himself by land proprietor John Henry Heath (1842-1926). No professed architect’s name has been discovered, but the contractor was one James Gale.   The property was converted into five flats in 1933, and boasted communal gardens and tennis court.\n\r\nThe best of the three was that called Fairfax House, and numbered as 35 Beaconsfield Road and was designed by William Eden Nesfield (1835-1888), possibly one of his last projects.  The scheme was commissioned by Frederick Garrard (1838-1893), a pottery and decorative tile manufacturer, and the contractors were Kirk and Randall. The pleasure grounds (much of which survives and can be entered from Mycenae Road, included a large (8ft to10 ft deep) boating lake, there was at some stage an observatory in the grounds, and the house was described as being “ ... in the Elizabethan style). Garrard gave the house its name.\n\r\nAll three houses were badly damaged in the 1939-1945 war by a V1 bomb.  Local legend claims that they were all destroyed. This was not the case and no. 35 (albeit damaged) was certainly owned by the Courtauld company for few years into the late 1940s. After Garrard’s premature death in 1893 the house passed in due course to Edward Martin Dence LLD (1873-1937), a marine engineer. He was also a director of electrical engineers Johnson &amp; Philips. Dence was Mayor of Greenwich 1922-1923; served on the London County Council, of which he was chairman in 1933. \n\r\nBy 1952 the entire site had been acquired by the local authority (Greenwich) for four blocks of 12 flats and two blocks of six flats each.  The huge oak tree was protected and survives today (2015) as a central feature.\r\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["D.1360-1907"],"accessionNumberNum":"1360","accessionNumberPrefix":"D","accessionYear":1907,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-05","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}