National Trust to open modernist High Cross House to public

The National Trust, best known for its lavish mansions and sprawling manor houses, is to take over the management of one of the UK’s most important modernist homes. High Cross House in Dartington, Devon, a former headteacher’s home designed as a simple and sleek “machine for living”, will open to the public from 7 March. Designed by the Swiss-American architect William Lescaze and completed in 1932, the house was built for William Curry, the first headmaster of the progressive Dartington Hall school. Robyn Brown, of the National Trust, said: “It is one of the top five modernist houses in the country. It is fantastic, brutalist architecture, very clean lines, very machine-like and indeed that is what it was designed as – a machine for living.” High Cross is still owned by the Dartington Hall Trust but will be managed as a tourist attraction by the National Trust. The building will be turned into a “local hub for contemporary arts”, where visitors can see artists at work. Vaughan Lindsay, chief executive of the Dartington Hall Trust, said: “We hope the partnership will bring many new visitors to the estate to enjoy High Cross House, explore Dartington’s glorious grounds and gardens and find out more about our charitable programmes in the arts, social justice and sustainability.”