St Anne's Court
St Anns Court is a Grade II listed 'Moderne' Detached house in St Anns Hill, Chertsey, Surrey, designed in 1936 by the Australian-born architect Raymond McGrath as a home to stockbroker Gerald Schlesinger and celebrated landscape architect Christopher Tunnard.
Background
St Anne's Court is a reinforced-concrete, private house and stands in 25 acres of parkland on the south slope of St Anne's Hill in Chersey, Surrey. Raymond McGrath took the opportunity of an open brief from the client to open up the building to light and to the landscape in the way that has become almost a cliche of the Thirties. The house has a partly cylindrical plan, with a segment removed; so it resembles a large cheese. Enormous, thin-framed, flush-mounted steel windows and a third-floor roof terrace give spectacular views over the garden and the distant countryside.
It sits next to an undistinguished brick house containing the main accommodation and quarters for servants. The Court building itself was designed as a retreat for two bachelors seeking privacy for their relationship. As such it has a unique design, being split into two almost mirror units which can be easily combined into a single living space. Subsequent modifications have united the two living areas and brought light into otherwise sunless third-floor rooms. In its current state it is not completely original. There were no windows in the circular part of the third floor when it was built. They were put in in the Seventies.
Famous Owners
St Ann's Court was once owned by Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera (pictured at the house), and was where the band recorded some of their biggest hits. Manzanera bought the house in 1977 and built a recording studio where his band recorded many of their most celebrated tracks for the albums Flesh + Blood and Avalon. Legend has it that Bryan Ferry and Manzanera cooked up the music for 'Over You' in just five minutes at Manzanera's home studio, while Paul Weller and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour also recorded there.
Poirot & Other Media Coverage
St Anne's Court was used for the exterior shots of Sir Charles Cartwright's house 'Crow's Nest' in the episode called 'Three Act Tragedy'. The house was meant to be located on a clifftop in Cornwall and CGI was used to create the effect. The interiors used in the episode were actually shot in the round 1930s entertainment suite at Eltham Palace. St Anne's Court also featured as Carpenters house in the episode called 'Mrs MGintys Dead'.
See Also In Chimni
ChimniWiki Amyas Connell
ChimniWiki Is My House 'Art Deco'?
Chimni Wiki Homes Used In Poirot Episodes
Chimni Wiki Page: Homes Used As TV & Movie Locations
Other Interesting Sites
IMDB - 'King of Clubs' - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0676178/?ref_=fn_al_tt_7
British Pathe Filmshttp://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-house-of-a-dream
Books We Like
References
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