Many would consider Amersham an unlikely place to find the model of ground-breaking British architecture which effectively launched the International Modernist style in Britain. Whilst those of us lucky enough to live here realise we have many architectural gems, few are aware of the international significance of High & Over. The house created a stir when it was designed in 1929 by Amyas Connell. As a student, in 1926 he won a prestigious architecture award for a residency at the British School in Rome. The director at the time was the distinguished archaeologist Bernard Ashmole. He gave Connell his first commission; to build a Modernist Roman Villa on a hilltop overlooking the Misbourne valley.