Mary Medd’s Hertfordshire home, Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Library Photographs Collection
British Modernism: Mary Medd’s Hertfordshire home
In MidCentury Issue 07 we featured a stunning example of 1930s British modernist architecture, a five bedroomed grade II listed house in Hertfordshire, designed by architect Mary Medd for herself and her parents. Carefully remodelled and restyled by its current occupants, it now combines the roles of family home and backdrop to a stunning design collection: everything from Dieter Rams to Hornsea pottery, Polish film posters to Eduardo Paolozzi. If you haven’t seen it already then get hold of MidCentury Issue 07 for the full photo shoot.
Mary Medd’s Hertfordshire home, Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Library Photographs Collection
As well as its stylish decor, we were struck by the building’s bold exterior when we visited. On arrival you are greeted by an unusual façade; ten square windows run the length of the building’s first floor, like portholes on a cruise liner. At the back, the rise of the monopitch roof extends upwards high above the upstairs windows, the rafters protruding dramatically to form a large overhang.
We aim to give you a flavour here of this pioneering lady’s achievements and if you should want to find out more about Mary Medd’s life, we’d recommend the painstakingly researched recently-published book A Life in Education and Architecture by Catherine Burke.
Marcus Peel Photography, commissioned shoot for MidCentury issue 07
British Modernism: Mary Medd’s collaboration with Erno Goldfinger
Following the completion in 1936 of the house featured in MidCentury Issue 07, one of only three residential homes in her portfolio, Mary Medd pursued a career in the public sector, designing school buildings for the government. This made for a career well away from the public eye and may explain why she is not as well known today as she deserves to be. Yet Mary Medd was one of Britain’s pioneering Modernist architects, and in 1927 was one of the first women to attend the Architectural Association, the prestigious London architectural college. She later worked with Modernist architect Erno Goldfinger, who had great respect for her work. In fact, Erno Goldfinger’s later London home at Willow Road shares the square window motif seen at the rear of Mary Medd’s house.
Marcus Peel Photography, commissioned shoot for MidCentury issue 07
British Modernism: Mary Medd’s pioneering school architecture
In her career as an architect of schools, Mary Medd distinguished herself from many of her peers by designing buildings that successfully married the needs of the teachers with those of their students by careful consultation with both. She recognised that while councils commissioned the buildings, it was teachers and students who were the real clients. She developed core elements to her designs, ‘ingredients’ she felt were essential to a good educational environment. Each child should have a ‘home’ base at school; an individual workstation for practical lessons and a covered learning environment for non-academic subjects like animal husbandry or gardening. 
Alban Wood, Watford, Architectural Association Photo Library
British Modernism: Mary Medd’s inclusive values
The important link between educational outcomes and the teaching environment was a concept seeded early in Mary Medd’s life. Born in Bradford to Quaker parents, Mary Medd, then Mary Crowley, attended a number of progressive independent schools that didn’t conform to curriculums of the time or ideas on how women should be educated. In 1921 she attended the prestigious Bedales School in Petersfield, housed in Ernest Gimson’s beautiful Arts & Crafts buildings, and this, together with her father’s strong egalitarian views (he was a medic with a passion for child welfare and education), is said to have informed her own architectural values.
Burleigh J.M.I. School, Cheshunt, Architectural Association Photo Library
British Modernism: Mary Medd in 1930s Stockholm
Mary Medd began studying at the Architectural Association in 1927, at a time when even the Bauhaus school didn’t allow women to study on their architectural courses. Mary excelled. She was interested in European Modernist architecture, which was gathering momentum in the Netherlands and Scandinavia, and she was fortunate to be able to travel to these places. One formative experience was a visit to the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930, an exhibition designed to showcase the modernist aesthetic and International style of architecture. Her love of travel continued to inform her work throughout her career, inspired by what she learnt from other places. And as her status grew, Mary Medd leant her expertise to educational projects around the world, travelling as far afield as the USA, New Zealand and Iran to impart her specialist architectural knowledge.
Mary Medd’s Hertfordshire home, Architectural Press Archive / RIBA Library Photographs Collection
British Modernism: Landmark Architect Mary Medd
The Hertfordshire house featured in MidCentury Issue 07 was actually designed by Mary Medd for her parents. It received significant recognition at the time as a landmark piece of modernist architecture, and was featured in the 1938 Exhibition of the Elements of Modern architecture in London,an event that also represented progressive thinkers and advocates of modernism, Bauhaus artist Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and architect Erno Goldfinger. Mary Medd’s legacy, as a pioneer of British modernist architecture, should not be underestimated. Indeed, while her domestic projects were few, the house she built for herself justifies this as much as any of her educational commissions.
Useful links
To read our interiors article Queen of Herts: Renovation of the 1936 family home of Architect Mary Medd on the house Mary Medd built for her own family, together with its recent renovation and full photo shoot, see MidCentury Issue 07 For a tour of Erno Goldfinger’s London home on Willow Road, see Modernist Architect Erno Goldfinger in London A Life in Education and Architecture by Catherine Burke is published by Ashgate