The modernist house of musician Imogen Holst will get Grade II itemizing

Your common particular person may not look twice at this little house in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. However, as of right this moment, 9 Church Stroll has been listed at Grade II on the recommendation of Historic England.

This modernist bungalow was the house of composer, arranger and conductor Imogen Holst, daughter of composer Gustav Holst. It was designed by Jim and Betty Cadbury-Brown, the architect duo behind the 1951 Competition of Britain’s Southbank web site. The home is presently owned by music schooling organisation Britten Pears Arts and is on the market as a vacation rental, in addition to opening to the general public yearly for Heritage Open Days.

9 Church Stroll was constructed between 1962 and 1964 for Holst, and she or he lived there till her demise in 1984. It’s, as such, stuffed with idiosyncrasies: it contains a soundproofed music room, modern for the time, the place the composer labored. The home windows are positioned to border views of the parish church. Unique options embrace built-in shelving programs and curtains with recessed monitoring; Holst’s private objects akin to a writing desk and colored glass panel that she hung over the window to diffuse the daylight additionally stay. The property homes furnishings that belonged to Gustav Holst, together with his oak music cabinet, the place Holst saved her father’s manuscripts.

In 1952, Holst was invited to help composer Benjamin Britten on his opera, Gloriana, a piece which marked the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Holst later turned the creative director of the primarily classical music pageant, Aldeburgh Competition.

She commissioned the Cadbury-Browns to construct the home on her land on Church Stroll, later writing to the pair to thank them: ‘My IMMENSE and perpetual gratitude for the loveliest home on the planet. I consider you each each night time of the 12 months and ship blessings in your path for having enabled me to get on with my work in such heavenly quiet and solitude and luxury.’ Her ‘lease’ to the Cadbury-Browns for the property consisted of a crate of wine at Christmas and yearly Aldeburgh Competition tickets.

‘The importance of Imogen Holst’s house extends far past its standing as an unassuming but notable instance of Jim Cadbury-Brown’s structure,’ heritage minister Sir Chris Bryant has stated of the Grade II designation. ‘It was right here at 9 Church Stroll the place among the biggest musical minds of the twentieth century converged, exchanged concepts and laid the foundations of the Aldeburgh Competition… By itemizing this exceptional constructing, we protect not solely its architectural benefit but additionally the wealthy legacy of Holst and her friends.’