No_4_May_and_June__1950 — Page 55

Endit"-390 Island Road

Photograph of the house from the garden.

We have in previous issues of this publication given descriptions of buildings looted and destroyed during the war years which have been rehabilitated and modernized. It is our personal opinion that this sort of work taxes the ingenuity of the architect to a far greater extent than the designing of a new building. In the latter case, the architect starts with a clean sheet and can utilize the site in its virgin state to fit the planning of the building into it to its best advantage. la rehabilitation work, however, his imagination is handicapped by having to restrict his ideas to conform with what remains of the wreck. for as a measure of economy the owner will usually insist upon the architect making use of the foundations at any rate.

The living room.

The entrance from Deepwater Bay Road.

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The dining room.

It is therefore, so much more to the architect's credit when a rehabilitated building on completion has the air of an original conception rather than the appearnce of a patched up repair job.

The architects. Messrs. Palner & Turner, have made a particularly good job of converting the louted wreck of a nondescript pre-war building at 390 Island Road, Deepwater Bay, into a beautiful modern residence of Spanish colonial design.

One of the principal features of the completed building is to be found in the addition of a guest house annexe, This is a completely self-contained unit, consisting of a studio and bedroom combination with luxurious bathroom attached. The interior walls are beautifully panelled with trak plywood squares, with a flour of teak parquet to match. The steel picture windows frame the magnificent view of Deepwater Bay, and the general air of luxurious comfort which has been achieved in this unit is in the highest spirit of genuine hospitality.

This annexe is situated in the southern end of the garden away from the house, but connected to it by an arched covered way, the design of which conforms with the Spanish influence of the architecture of the main building. The entire property has been landscaped with one object in view, and that is to frame and emphasize those structural and ornamental features which give the house that jaunty air which identifies the period.

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