Listed Building record TR 23 NW 374 - Wells House

Description from record TR 23 NW 75:
(TR 20933533) Spade House (NAT) (1) 5281 RADNOR CLIFF CRESCENT (West Side) SANDGATE Spade House TR 2035 SE 7/37 II* GV 2. 1899 with additions of 1903. Designed by C F A Voysey, architect, for H G Wells. 2 storeys. White roughcast walls, stone dressings. Mullioned windows with leaded lights. Tiled roof. Entrance front has doorway with Tudor arch. 2 storeyed canted bay of stone to left. To left mullioned windows to 1st floor. Sloping buttress at corner. 2 storeyed block at right angles added in 1920's. Canted front of 2 storeys. To the right the ground rises to 1st floor garden porch flanked by hipped bay windows. To left mullioned windows on both floors. Canted bay window to left with balcony above. Sloping buttress. End gable tile hung. Tall roughcast chimneystacks. Theinterior contains arched doorcases and a staircase which incorporates 2 round-headed arches divided by a twisted column. It was at Spade House that Wells wrote 'Mankind in the making', 'A Modern Utopia','In the Days of the Comet', 'The New Machiavelli', 'The War in the Air', 'Tono Bungay', 'Anticipations', 'The Food of the Gods', 'Ann Veronica', 'Kipps', 'The History of Mr Polly', 'New Worlds for Old', and 'First and Last Things'. (2) Spade House, Radnor Cliff Crescent. H.G. Wells's seaside hide-out, cleverly concealed from the road and designed for him in 1899 by Voysey. Extended by Voysey in 1903. The extension not really perceptible and the original design not so finely balanced that it suffered from being added to. Characteristic rendered walls with buttresses. Long deep roofs and mullioned windows, as well as the way the house is tucked into the hillside, all emphasize the horizontals as usual. In its day the design was as fresh as the sea breezes. One appreciates that today only wiith an effort, as Voysey imitations pop up in every other road in Sandgate and the west end of Folkestone. (3)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:

TR 2035 SE 7/37

SANDGATE RADNOR CLIFF CRESENT (west side) Wells House

(Formerly listed as Spade House)

GV II* Mid C19 with additions of 1903 Designed by C F A Voysey, architect, for H G Wells. Two storeys. White roughcast walls, stone dressings. Mullioned windows with leaded lights. Tiled roof. Entrance front has doorway with Tudor arch. Two storeyed canted bay of stone to left. To left mullioned windows to first floor. Sloping buttress at corners. Two storeyed block at right angles added in 1920s. Canted front of two storeys. To the right the ground rises to first floor garden porch flanked by hipped bay windows. To left mullioned windows on both floors. Canted bay window to left with balcony above. Sloping buttress. End gable tile hung. Tall roughcast chimneystacks.

The interior contains arched doorcases and a staircase which incorporates two round-headed arches divided by a twisted column. It was at Wells House that Wells wrote 'Mankind in the making', 'A Modern Utopia', 'In the Days of the Comet', 'The New Machiavelli', 'The War in the Air', 'Tono Bungay', 'Bungay', 'Anticipations', 'The Food of the Gods', 'Ann Veronica', 'Kipps', 'The History of Mr Polly', 'New Worlds for Old', and 'First and Last Things'.

Wells House forms a group with Endcliffe House, St Paul's Vicarage and Vicarage Cottage. Sea Lady and East Cliff House. Vicarage Road.

Listing NGR: TR2093535326

<1> OS 1:2500 1958 (OS Card Reference). SKE48201.

<2> DOE(HHR)Dist.of Shepway, Kent, 11 Mar. 1975 59 (OS Card Reference). SKE41395.

<3> Bldgs of Eng NE & Kent 1980 446 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37788.

<4> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.