Situated in St Mary’s Platt near Wrotham, Kent. Properly named The Hopfield, and completed in 1933, this concrete holiday home was achingly modern when Denton lived in it seven years later. Now a Grade II listed building, all the pictures I can find are subject to copyright. Follow these links for your viewing pleasure:
- Entrance from the north
- Elevation from the East
- Living room
- Study with the writing desk closed
- Study with the writing desk open (try not to fangirl at the thought of Denton writing at it – he brought his own furniture!)
- Modern picture (scroll to the bottom of the page)
Denton was sufficiently happy here to consider offering to buy it from the owner, but it burned down on 3 December 1941. Denton was out for the evening with his brother, and they dashed back as soon as the telephone call came to alert them of the fire. Devastated, Denton managed to salvage a few things – notably ‘Nativity’, his favourite antique – but all of his beloved mother’s family silver was ruined.
“I raked over it with a stick. There was what remained of my mother’s family silver… This was the final thing. I had always longed for this silver, and nine years ago had actually got possession of it. Now it was burnt and melted and twisted. I gave out a cry to Paul and he said ‘So awfully sorry, Punky’.”
Quoted in Denton Welch, Writer and Artist, p110