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History of the house

The Art Deco HouseUK, 1929 Shanklin, Isle of Wight

The Art Deco HouseUK

The Art Deco HouseUK has had several names including Marine Villa, or as it was known in the 1930’s, “Greentiles”. It was commissioned by the Cater family. Ernest L Smith, an Isle of Wight architect, designed the magnificant house in 1929 to take advantage of the superb vistas, from its cliff top location, across Sandown Bay towards Culver Downs. This wonderful Art Deco House is probably one of the Isle of Wight’s premium properties. The grand detached house has decadently proportioned rooms: all main living spaces and bedrooms have large windows topped by stained glass detail, framing the vistas. Art Deco influences include an upstairs sun room with huge sliding picture windows to enjoy the breath-taking sunrises by day and bay illuminations by night. Over the past decade, the current owners have not just restored the house to it’s former glory but have taken its beauty to new heights.

Henry John CATER was a successful grocer/provisions merchant in East London owning a number of shops, run in part by his 5 sons. Following his death in 1919 the sons took over the business becoming CATER BROTHERS, and growing the business massively, still mainly in east and north London. His wife Clara CATER (nee SANDERS) and his daughter Clara Violet CATER moved to Shanklin, and David Waters, who provided this early information to us, has traced the property they lived in, and also a hotel that the daughter ran with her husband (She married William Edward HARDS in 1921). (both properties are in Victoria Road, and still exist as flats) “Greentiles” was built for Clara (mother) in 1929.

In 1933, Mrs Clara Cater passed away and the house was sold.

It would appear that the most influential owners of the House, were the colourful local characters H(orace) Terry Wood and his wife Sadie, who purchased the house and lived and partied there for many years. We know from local directories they certainly lived at the house in 1937/38 and during their tenure they renamed the house Villa Judapa, after their daughters Judith , Daphne and Pamela.

Sadie Terry Wood installed a brick patio on the lawn facing the sea, two statues of the Great Dane dogs she had been raised with. In 2015 the current owners found two Great Dane statues on the mainland and hoping they might be something like the originals, installed them by the ponds in the gardens.

H. Terry Wood owned the Shanklin brewery, several hotels on the island (including the Holliers) and most significantly, Shanklin Pier housing Shanklin Casino and concert theatre which hosted many evening entertainment events. It is documented in several books that the Terry Woods hosted many after-show parties at their home, entertaining stars of the time such as Arthur Askey, Jimmy Tarbuck and Tommy Trinder. It would follow therefore that internally, apparently they also had a deco bar installed, made of glass bricks which was illuminated by coloured lights!

We have had contacts from one of H Terry Wood’s grandchildren who visited us in Spring 2018. He remembered coming to Villa Judapa as he knew it when he was very young. He recalled there were stuffed animals in the hallway (so we have two wall mounted, but not stuffed animals in the dining room now).

What is today The Astor Suite was the servants room and kitchen, and we have now restored the original servant calling board, where staff could be summoned to attend the family. The Morning Room was a small sitting room, much as it remains today! He remembered the wood panels in the hall and up the stairs were darker in the late 30’s. In trying to take the house back as much as we could, in December 2019 we commissioned our master decorator to use a technique handed down to him through his multi-generational family business and stain the wood a darker colour.

We understand that by 1980, after her husband’s death, Sadie was still living the high life in but in a retirement home in Shanklin. Check out the amusing report below about Mr Terry Wood from 1937.

It appears the house was renamed Marine Villa in the 1970’s but for years has been known by the locals as ‘The Art Deco House” and this name was adopted around 2016.

Over the years we have been contacted by grandchildren and great grandchildren of Terry H Wood’s and their shared memories have made Laurence and Sharon ( the current owners), realise that with an iconic house like The Art Deco HouseUK, they are simply the current guardians as the house has it’s own personality that endures beyond their ownership.

Wikipedia and Marine Villa

We believe the distinctive Art Deco ponds were actually added in the 1990’s according to the neighbours and a visitor from 1994 who kindly send us some photos.

Laurence Smith and Sharon Boyse-Smith 2014 to today

The Art Deco HouseUK was bought by Laurence Smith and Sharon Boyse-Smith in October 2014 and the renovations started within weeks of taking over the house. Out went the carpets, and we discovered the parquet flooring that had been hidden for years. Out went the IKEA furniture and then we started sourcing original furniture from all over the UK and some from Belgium and France too.

The magnolia painted walls (yes, the entire internal decor was a single colour) and we found a local master decorator to come with us on our journey, to re-establish the beauty of the era.

Then the Art Deco HouseUK started getting noticed. We were mentioned in a book dedicated to the best Art Deco houses in the United Kingdom. Then The Times mentioned us as one of the best houses in England for a large group to spend New Years Evein (we agree). Suddenly we were the most instagram-able “cottage” in the UK (see the articles displayed in the Utility room). Then “Style Magazine” in the Isle of Wight ran a feature on us, followed in 2024 by the national Coast Magazine. Meanwhile, The Beautiful South, the tourist part of Visit England covering the south of England awarded us Bronze as one the top 3 self-catering properties in South England in 2023 followed by Silver in 2024. We were mentioned again in The Times in December 2025. For over 10 years Visit England awarded us 5 stars with Gold and in 2019 we were awarded the prestigious “Rose Award” which only 100 properties in the whole country can win each year from Visit England. But the award we would like right now, please, if for you to book and come to stay!