Architecture & Interiors
This is a house with a sense of occasion. It balances the patrician confidence of Decimus Burton’s original vision for St Leonards-on-Sea with the lived-in intelligence of a wonderful family home. It understands that elegance is not an enemy of practicality, but its natural ally.
Single-occupancy houses on The Lawn almost never appear, and when they do they provoke that most civilised emotion in property: anticipation. This is an address that encourages reverie. You don’t merely view it; you imagine the life that could be staged here. The house now asks for decorative refreshment rather than rescue. Its structure is fundamentally sound — those reassuring “good bones” so beloved of architects and aesthetes alike — and its appeal is immediate, both to the street and once inside.
Arranged over four floors and approached via a gravelled front path with a charming sunken garden and framed with classic wrought iron railings. The lower ground level is the engine room of domestic life: a vast kitchen with space for serious cooking and convivial dining, supported by pantry, storeroom, loo and shower room. A garden room — adaptable, pragmatic, quietly seductive — could serve as studio, dining room or family retreat, and opens directly onto the private rear garden, calm and unexpectedly secluded.
The first floor delivers the theatre. An elegant salon, tall and light-filled, is framed by floor-to-ceiling shuttered windows that look to the sea. Double doors lead to a morning room — an architectural pause — and onward to an enclosed orangery that gently escorts you back down to the garden which is embraced by mature trees and has a pretty garden pond. It is a sequence that understands how rooms should converse with one another.
A discreet half-landing provides a useful and rather splendid Victorian “thunder box” style wooden seated loo before the second floor reveals two generous double bedrooms. One looks forward, over the lawn and out to the sea; the other surveys the garden and the picturesque, faintly eccentric rooftops of St Leonards. They share a proper family bathroom with a walk-in shower, sensibly conceived rather than theatrically indulgent.
At the top, two further double bedrooms continue the theme: one with commanding sea views and a pretty fireplace, the other a tranquil retreat overlooking the garden. A shared shower room and loo complete the arrangement, with attic space above for storage — because even the most aesthetic life requires somewhere to put things.
This is not a house that shouts. It knows its worth. It is architecture with manners, history with adaptability, and grandeur made domestic.
In the Neighbourhood
The Lawn is one of the most admired residential areas in St Leonards. A private road with sea views and within easy walking distance of the heart of St Leonards. All residents of The Lawn have access to the pretty private garden which sits at the front of the crescent and where friendly community events are sometimes held.
Shops in St Leonards are largely independent as are the cafes, pubs and restaurants which are getting national acknowledgements. There are major supermarkets within easy reach including Marks and Spencer, Tesco, Sainsburys, Lidl, Morrisons, Co-Op, Aldi. There are independent cinemas in both Hastings Old Town and in St Leonards along with several art galleries. The acclaimed Hastings Independent Gallery is an inviting walk along the seafront from the house. The towns of St Leonards and Hastings have become a hub for creative thinkers. Combined with the almost constant round of social, cultural and historic events which take place throughout the year in Hastings, this makes for a lively, inclusive and very active town.
St Leonards Warrior Square station isn’t far away and trains from here connect to London Victoria, London Charing Cross, London Bridge and Waterloo East as well as St Pancras International via Ashford International. Also, direct trains to Brighton and Gatwick Airport.