Bentley Wood, also known as the House at Halland, is a Modernist house designed by the Russian émigré architect Serge Chermayeff and built in a rural location in the Low Weald in Sussex with views to the South Downs. The Architects' Journal described it on completion in 1938 as "a regular Rolls-Royce of a house". Although it is considered to be one of the most influential modern houses of the period, it is not a listed building. Chermayeff bought from the Bentley Farm estate in 1935, with the plan to build himself a country house for his family. The site is close to the village of Halland, near the A22 road from London to Eastbourne, some northeast of Lewes. Chermayeff's own unashamedly modernist plans were initially rejected by UckfieldRural District Council, as being out of keeping with the area, but planning permission was granted in early 1937 after an inquiry. The main house is a rectangular two-storey structure with a flat roof, measuring. It was built and clad with timber. The long sides, facing to the north and the south, have six bays each of four units. A pergola extends along the north front and along the west side of the single-service wing to the east of the main block. On the south front, sliding doorson the ground floor open onto a raised terrace along the side of the house, with a single balcony outside the bedrooms on the first floor. The eastern end of the garden terrace extends to the south, and Henry Moore was commissioned to provide a stone sculpture form, his Recumbent Figure 1938, for a plinth at the end of the terrace. The surrounding landscaping was designed by Christopher Tunnard. The interior was decorated with artworks by modern artists, including Ben Nicholson, John Piper and Barbara Hepworth. The house was completed in 1938, but it was sold after Chermayeff was declared bankrupt the following year. He emigrated to the US in 1940. The house was acquired by Sir William Emsley Carr. He added a single storey extension, and enclosed the two previously open central loggia bays on the upper floor. The house was sold again in 1979 and 1999, and offered for sale in 2002 for £1.4 million.
