Winterfold House is one of the few private country properties to be designed by London architect Edward Blakeway I'Anson, F.R.I.B.A., M.A. Cantab of St Laurence Pountney Hill, E.C. He was the elder son of Edward I'Anson JP, born in London and educated at Cheltenham College and Cambridge University. He followed his father's profession and was architect and surveyor to St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. The Architect’s practice continued by him was one of the oldest established in the country, and many of the finest buildings in the City of London including the new Corn Exchange in Mark Lane, London are of his design. He was Master of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors in 1908. In partnership with his father Edward I'Anson they had earlier made a successful major refurbishment to Fetcham Park House Surrey.
Location and estate
The estate covers around 212 acres, situated in the Surrey hills, close to the village of Cranleigh north east along Barhatch Lane. Rising to about 700 ft. above the sea in Winterfold Hill, part of the great stretch of the heath and fir upland called Hurt Wood adjoining Blackheath to the north, and eastward rising still higher in Ewhurst, Holmbury, and Leith Hills, in Ewhurst, Ockley, and Wotton respectively. Holmbury Hill and Pitch Hill, known collectively as The Hurtwood, are known for their abundant bilberries. These blueberry like fruits are known locally as 'Hurts' hence the name of the woods.
Estate owners
Sir Richard Webster QC, afterwards Viscount Alverstone (1886-1915) The house was built in 1886 designed by London architect Edward Blakeway I'Anson (1843-1912), in a classic late Victorian style, for Richard Webster QC later Viscount Alverstone who laid out grounds with flowering trees and shrubs. Lord Alverstone married Louisa Mary, daughter of William Charles Calthrop, in 1872. They had one son and one daughter. She died in March 1877. Their only son, the Honourable Arthur died childless in August 1902, aged 28, after an operation for appendicitis. In 1891 a series of professional photographs were taken of the interior rooms and exterior aspect and grounds of the house. They are now part of the English Heritage Archive. In 1900 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice and became Lord Alverstone in 1913. He died at Cranleigh, Surrey, in December 1915, aged 72. He was buried at West Norwood Cemetery. He was President of Surrey County Cricket Club from 1895 until his death. His peerages became extinct on his death. The woodland above the house is known as 'Lord Justice Seat'.
Charles & Celine Armytage-Moore (1923-1962) Charles Armytage-Moore came from a background of Irish aristocracy. Educated at Repton School, he was a founder partner in the stockbrokers Buckmaster and Moore, (taken over by Credit Suisse in 1987). He was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, and married Celine Pappa in 1917. A few weeks later, her youngest brother Second Lieutenant Armaud Pappa was killed at Arras. Celine, the eldest daughter of a London-based Greek stockbroker Demosthenes George Pappa and French-born wife, Franceska Jacobi, born in Paris. They honeymooned by travelling the world and returned to purchase the estate in 1923. Charles acquired additional land in 1925 and continued the garden development started by Richard Webster. He reconstructed the main facade in Queen Anne style. He enhanced the gardens with rare rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas and magnolias. One particular red-flowered species (Rhododendron barbatum Wallich ex G. Don 1834) won an Award of Merit when exhibited by Winterfold House in 1934. Celine became a member of the Surrey Archaeological Society in 1927. Charles became an invalid and died in 1960 and his wife soon afterwards. They had no children, so the property together with their fantastic collection of furniture and art was auctioned off.
Prince Carol of Romania (1964-1978) In 1964 Prince Carol of Romania bought Winterfold House for an estimated £100,000. He later sold Winterfold and moved to London where he died in 2006.