Butterfly plan explained

A Butterfly plan, also known as a Double Suntrap plan, is a type of architectural plan in which two or more wings of a house are constructed at an angle to the core, usually at approximately 45 degrees to the wall of the core building.^[1] It was used primarily in late Victorian architecture and during the early Arts and Crafts movement.

History

Westwood House, Worcestershire, was a 17-century precursor.^[2] After the original, rectangular house was begun c. 1612, four diagonal wings were added at some time later in the same century.^[3]

Victorian interest in the plan originated in the 1891 remodelling of Chesters, Northumberland, by Norman Shaw.^[2] To the original, square house of 1771 he added five wings; three of these were diagonal, creating suntrap flanks for the south and west fronts.

The principle of the butterfly plan was also re-adapted within an overall rectangular overall form, as for instance in Kallio Library in Helsinki, Finland, by architect Karl Hård af Segerstad, completed in 1902.

Notable Arts and Crafts examples:

• The Barn, Exmouth, Devon, by Edward Schroeder Prior (1897)
• Happisburgh Manor, Happisburgh, Norfolk, by Detmar Blow to a concept by Ernest Gimson (1900)^[4]
• Papillon Hall, Lubenham, Leicestershire,. David Papillon (1581-1659) a French Huguenot and Military architect built it in 1620.^{[5] [6]} In about 1903 it was redesigned by Edwin Lutyens and demolished in 1950 ^[7]
• Home Place, Kelling, Norfolk, by Edward Schroeder Prior (1903–4)
• Kelling Hall, Kelling, Norfolk, by Edward Maufe (1913)
• Yaffle Hill, Broadstone, Dorset, by Edward Maufe (1930)

Notes and References

1. Web site: English Heritage Online thesaurus butterfly plan . 2010-04-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110718172420/http://thesaurus.english-heritage.org.uk/thesaurus_term.asp?thes_no=546&term_no=137497# . 2011-07-18 . dead .
2. Web site: The Butterfly House . New architecture blog . Beckett . Matthew . 24 October 2012 . . 24 October 2015 .
3. Book: The Buildings of England: Worcestershire . Brooks . Alan . Pevsner . Nikolaus . 2007 . Yale University Press . New Haven . 653–56 . 978-0-300-11298-6.
4. Drury, Michael (2000), Wandering Architects: In Pursuit of the Arts and Crafts Ideal, Shaun Tyas.
5. Web site: Papillon Hall England's Lost Country Houses. www.lostheritage.org.uk. 2020-03-30.
6. Web site: Lubenham British History Online. www.british-history.ac.uk. 2020-03-30.
7. Cantor, Leonard (1998), Historic Country Houses in Leicestershire and Rutland. Kairos Press.