In our new series ‘Open House’ we’re meeting the owners of some of our most extraordinary houses ahead of their sale.

Here, siblings Caroline Hillier and Ben Sugden share their memories of the Smithson-designed Sugden House.

Caroline Hillier: “Our dad, Derek Sugden, first met the architects Alison and Peter Smithson when they were designing the Hunstanton School and Arup were the engineers. He described them as extraordinary people.

“Initially our parents had planned to design the house themselves, but they quickly decided that idea was too difficult and approached the Smithsons. Dad very much admired the Hunstanton School and I think he was drawn to their philosophical approach to architecture.

“As an engineer, dad designed a lot of commercial buildings, but he talked about how a house was much more difficult to design because it had to support every aspect of your life – from living and loving to eating and fighting. He believed houses were far harder to design than factories.

“They actually rejected the first design for the house – the original plan had an inverted butterfly roof and tiny slit windows. Peter notoriously said, ‘If we can’t design a house for the fucking Sugdens we might as well give up!’ What stands is the second draft and it’s a testament to the design that our parents made so few changes to the house over the years. You can tell that a huge amount of thought went into the day-to-day experience of the house.

“Dad had said that he wanted it to be a normal, ordinary house in terms of the materials that were used, but he was very keen that it was a communal space where everyone could be together.

“I think our parents were very conscious about designing the house for the family and that really fed into the open layout and the attention to storage and yard space. Alison designed all of the interiors and fittings and it’s amazingly considered. Everything has a place.”

Ben Sugden: “It’s also incredibly adaptable. In the summer it’s a lovely space because there is so much light in the house, but in the winter there are these heavy curtains that you can draw around the living room which make it really cosy with a warm fire on a dark evening.”

“However, I think my favourite aspect of the house is how the sun moves around it throughout the day. The largest windows are south- and west-facing, and in the morning the light shines through from the top of the staircase and into the dining room and kitchen, and then you get this glorious evening sun in the living room and garden at the end of each day. It’s incredibly uplifting.”

Caroline: “You can watch the sun set over the garden from the terrace.”

“In all the years they lived here I think one of the only things our parents changed were the coloured window frames. Originally, all the fixed window frames were white but the opening frames were painted in different colours – blue, green, red. You can just about tell the variation in some of the earliest black and white photography, but I think it was a lot of upkeep and our parents found it easier to paint them all white. I’m not sure what the Smithsons thought about that but our parents kept in touch with them throughout their lives so I don’t think it was too drastic a change to their vision!”

Ben: “We all spent a lot of time here and the house was always full of people when we were growing up. We used to hold ping-pong tournaments in the house and play fantastic games in the garden. Our mum, Jean, designed the garden. It was an amazing place to spend our time as children but I also really appreciate looking out from the living room now and seeing the garden rolling away from the house, it feels very peaceful.

“We will be sad to leave but we want the house to be alive again and filled with people.”