Cambridge is situated on the southern edge of the Fens at the highest navigable point of the River Cam. The original Celtic settlement had grown up on the north bank but the Romans established the small town of Durovigutum at the strategically important junction of four major roads. The Saxon occupation spread to the south of the river, and the Normans reaffirmed the strategic importance of the site by building a castle which led to the expansion of the settlement. Cambridge soon became a prosperous town in which several religious houses were established, and these attracted sufficient students for Henry III to recognise the town as a seat of learning in 1231. Most of the fifteen colleges in existence before the Reformation had evolved from the cloistered world of monastic scholarship. Additional colleges and university buildings have continued to be established up to the present day and much new housing was built during the inter-war period and post-war period.
The development of the former medieval West Fields began around 1870. This land, covering approximately 200 acres, was owned primarily by the colleges, notably St John’s, which had always strongly resisted any building west of the Backs (the stretch of land which runs along the back of the riverside colleges). It was the loss of college revenue from the agricultural depression that led to their decision to lease the land in building plots. Three new institutions were established – Newnham College in 1875, Ridley Hall in 1877, and Selwyn Hostel (now College) in 1879 – and suburban houses in various styles from Queen Anne to Arts and Crafts and Neo-Georgian were built piecemeal over almost half a century. The demand for such large family homes was partly fuelled by a new statute passed in 1882 that finally allowed dons to marry without having to give up their fellowships. The main arteries of development were West Road, Madingley Road and Grange Road which forms the central spine road running north-south through the suburb.
A plan for an estate of about 35 acres on the northern boundary of West Cambridge was laid out in the early C20 for the Trustees of Storey’s Charity, which had been allotted an L-shaped plot of land in the 1805 Enclosure Award. Storey’s Way, the main roadway of the new estate, was constructed in 1911 and 74 freehold plots were offered for sale, varying from a quarter of an acre to an acre. The Trustees were determined to keep a strict control over the residential development and imposed numerous restrictions in the leases, including minimum building costs of £800 on smaller plots and £1000 on larger plots. To put this in context, in 1906 the sum of £1000 was considered well above the price of a substantial suburban villa. The majority of building leases in West Cambridge and Storey’s Way were taken up by individuals who commissioned many architects who are now considered to be amongst the finest of the late Victorian/ Edwardian age, notably M. H. Baillie Scott who designed nine houses in west Cambridge, E. S. Prior, J. J. Stephenson, and Ernest Newton.
48 Storey’s Way was built in 1913 for H. A. Roberts, Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, and Secretary to the Cambridge University Appointment Board. The house and garden were designed by Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (1865-1945), an eminent Arts and Crafts architect who designed thirteen houses in and around Cambridge (nine of which are listed at Grade II), mostly for academics who appreciated his ability to create artistic, yet practical houses for various budgets. Baillie Scott was the eldest son of a minor but wealthy Scottish aristocrat and attended the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester before deciding to pursue an architectural career. He was articled to Major Charles E. Davis of Bath and in 1889 moved to the Isle of Man where he established a successful domestic practice. His designs received extensive coverage in The Studio from 1895, resulting in commissions from clients all over England as well as the Continent. In 1901 he moved his practice to Bedford, the home of the Pyghtle Works, for whom he designed furniture, and he soon took on Arthur Edgar Beresford as his assistant.
Baillie Scott’s fame spread even wider after the publication of Houses and Gardens (1906) in which he illustrated his work and explained his ideas on house planning and garden design. He included watercolour perspectives and garden plans to suit every size of plot, giving particular attention to small gardens, and persuading his readers to follow nature for artistic purposes as well as to reduce labour-intensive gardening. He defined the basic functions of the garden as being ‘to grow fruit and vegetable for the family and also to provide outdoor apartments for the use of the family in fine weather.’ He saw the garden as an extension of the house, and this unified approach to planning was illustrated by this imaginary scheme for ‘Trevista’ which bears a remarkable similarity to 48 Storey’s Way. In 1919 Baillie Scott re-established his practice in London, now in partnership with Beresford, and in 1933 they produced an updated Houses and Gardens with photographs and plans, including those of 48 Storey’s Way. Baillie Scott is well represented on the statutory List which contains around sixty of his buildings, but he is only associated with one registered garden, Snowshill Manor in Gloucestershire (Grade II), which was laid out by the owner using and adapting Baillie Scott’s plans in 1937.
Some of the features in the garden of 48 Storey’s Way depicted in House and Gardens (1933) have since been removed, namely the box balls lining the path between the lawns, and the rose beds, along with the brick bird bath at their centre. A greenhouse and three timber sheds have been erected, one of which was formerly used as an aviary. The garden has been restored and replanted as part of the sympathetic restoration of the house in 1990-91. The trellis on the garden elevation has been replaced like-for-like, and the pergolas and vineries have been rebuilt to match the originals which had rotted.