Spain, Mallorca, Banalbufar, General

Building Notes

Sir Basil Spence designed a small villa for his family holidays called Casa Cliffhanger near the village of Banalbufar on the west coast of Mallorca. The plot was acquired for £3,000 from Geoffrey Wood, a partner in Ove Arup and Partners, whom Spence had collaborated with on a number of projects. A local builder completed the construction between July 1966 and May 1967. The property was sold to Justin and Penny Cartwright (Spence's secretary for the last decade of his life) around 1972-73. Spence also designed a larger villa on an adjacent site for Mike and Joanna Leary, provisionally named Casa Cliffhanger II.

Both villas are two storeys high and built of local stone and rendered blockwork based on the 40x40cm size of local building blocks. Each villa has a sliding glazed door opening onto a patio with sea views. The living rooms have raised open fireplaces with built-in seats. One wall of a dining recess is honeycombed with holes for bottles.

Casa Cliffhanger I has two double bedrooms, each with a bathroom. It is decorated throughout with blue and white Spanish tiles. There is a terraced garden of about 1,000 square metres. At the southern end is a small studio reminiscent of wood shelters commonly found on Majorca.

Archive Details

Drawings in the Sir Basil Spence Archive for both villas include several presentation sketches. One drawing is titled Casa Aldendras, Spanish for Almond House. This appears to be an early name for Casa Cliffhanger and must have been inspired by almond trees on the terraces. Photographs in the Archive show that a model existed of Casa Cliffhanger II.

The correspondence shows that the Spence family were aiming for "a small house that could look after itself when shut up for considerable periods of time". Some letters reveal frustrations with the contractors. For example Spence noted that "the carpenter is first rate but he does not stick to his promises so far as time is concerned, and the ironwork appeared as the man wanted it and not as I drew it". Other letters show that Lady Spence was central in planning the garden and even include a detailed soil analysis in preparation for choosing suitable plants for the site.

Archive Summary

The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds 10 manuscript folders, 38 drawings, and 10 photographs relating to Casa Cliffhanger I and II. Material relating to both villas is housed together as they were planned at the same time and many of the details would have been applied to both sites.

This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.