It was designed by Michael Manser for John Howard, a former Member of Parliament.

[1] The house was constructed on the site of, and within the remains of, Capel House, an earlier mansion built by Thomas Henry Wyatt in Italian Gothic style in the mid-nineteenth century and demolished in the 1960s.

[2] The architectural writer John Newman describes the Manser house as "a severe Miesian pavilion".

[3]: 307  The colonnades of Wyatt's winter garden now enclose a swimming pool.

[3]: 307  The house is an important example of modern architecture in Britain, and in 2013 was designated a Grade II* listed building.