A vision in stone and timber, this midcentury Devon spread was a passion project for architect Reginald Gale, who built it in 1971 not long after completing the Commodore Hotel in Instow.

Gale dressed the façade of the Barnstaple property like an artwork, with heritage stone, richly stained wood and decorative masonry, culminating in two pairs of stained-glass doors opening to a vaulted foyer. The architect’s family lived here for years, enjoying views across the Taw Estuary from its decorative glass windows.

Sicilian marble runs underfoot, while mod-cons were added in recent years during renovations by Torquil McIntosh and Simon Mitchell of the like-minded practice Sybarite. The pair added a Corten steel entrance, updated the kitchen and bathrooms, installed solar panelling and built a triple-car garage with charging stations.

The centrepiece of the Devon home – for sale with the The Modern House  for £2.3m – is the copper fireplace with its splayed roof beams. But full-height timber-framed glazing on all sides pulls focus during the day. An original open-tread timber staircase rises to a galleried landing and the private upper floor, where the main suite sits at one end and three additional bedrooms beyond, with generous banks of glazing and a private balcony.

Back downstairs, the contemporary architects converted a separate ‘tea room’ by the entrance into a home office. Flanking the entrance on the other side is a self-contained annexe for guests or staff. Landscape gardens with outdoor sculpture, a glasshouse and a koi pond cover 1.3 acres and surround the house.

Read next: Kenzo lived here, and now you can too

A pretty pink Notting Hill home asks for £2.9m