Category: Art

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Country Houses People

The Hamiltons + Hamwood House Dunboyne Meath

Taking Refuge in the Shelter of Your Wings

Stephen Odlum sums up the origins of Hamwood House in his book Eva, Letitia and The Hamilton Sisters: Class, Gender and Art (2021): “The Hamiltons originally came from Scotland in the early 17th century and initially settled in the north of Ireland. The first of these settlers was Alexander Hamilton (1690 to 1768) who was MP for Killyleagh in County Down. In a tradition followed by many subsequent generations of the Hamilton family, he became a land agent. He seems to have been particularly successful in this role and left his five sons land worth £50,000. His son Charles Hamilton (1737 to 1818) moved south to Dublin where he first traded as a wine merchant. It appears that this business flourished, as he decided to build a house reflecting his new status. He chose to build in an area to the east of the village of Dunboyne in County Meath close to the border with County Dublin and only about 15 miles from the centre of Dublin.”

The writer details, “The Hamilton sisters remained attached to the old Ascendancy social monies and traditions. Letitia, Eva and Connie, who developed a gardening consultancy business, and Ethel, up to her death in 1924, pooled their resources to live in refined but declining style in a series of large, rambling houses in the Castleknock and Lucan areas of County Dublin from 1920 onwards. Manners mattered more than money – dinner was a formal event which the ladies dressed for and were summoned by a gong. In a world which would become increasingly dominated by Catholic dogma, Letitia and Eva would have had a liberty that was not often open to their Catholic sisterhood. Those who did choose to pursue modern feminist ideas were seen as being ‘West Brit’ or pro British. Indeed, Catholic women who were educated and middle class were more likely to join forces with their Protestant counterparts to achieve social and political recognition, as seen in the suffragette movement in the early part of the 20th century.”

It’s an unseasonably cool and overcast spring morning to meet Charles Hamilton VII for a private tour of his splendid home. The four bay two storey over basement under attic entrance front or perhaps it is the garden front (to be explained later) has curved wings extending out like crab claws grabbing pebbles – the end octagonal pavilions. “The house was built by Charles I in 1777 for £2,500,” introduces his descendant. “Ham comes from Hamilton and Wood comes from his wife Elizabeth’s maiden name Chetwood. Charles II’s wife Caroline found the house draughty – the original entrance on the side or west elevation opened straight into the reception rooms – so that’s how the current arrangement came about. A corridor now separates the entrance door from the living quarters. The driveway used to access what is now the garden elevation – really the house is back to front. In very hot dry summers the ghost of flowerbeds appears opposite the current entrance front.”

A set of early 1900s photographs from the Irish Architectural Archive includes a picture of the garden. And sure enough it is filled with flowerbeds. Other pictures show the house with window shutters and the house with the shadowy ghost of window shutters. Previous generations pose on the lawn and in the library.

Charles adds, “Caroline insisted on many more trees being planted to help create shelter for the strong winds. Remember that when she arrived at Hamwood in the early 1800s it was a cold and bleak situation and very exposed being 300 feet above sea level. That may not sound particularly high but in relatively flat Leinster there was nothing between the house and the east coast! Caroline and her husband were greatly involved in the interior design of the house too, adding furnishings, artwork and ornaments.”

“The architect is unknown,” he explains, “although a surveyor Joseph O’Brien is mentioned in family papers. During the 1798 Rebellion the agent for nearby Carton was hanged. So my ancestor Charles I took over as agent and my family continued in the role from 1800 to 1950. This supplemented the income they made of the 165 acres at Hamwood. The family have always been very active in the community. They set up agricultural societies to create work and during the famine they ran a soup kitchen. My father Charles Gerald was the last agent of Carton. The Duke of Leinster sold it to Lord Brocket and then eventually it was turned into a hotel. We will walk round to the other side of the house, down the long garden which has unbroken views across the countryside. Unbroken thanks to a nine foot wide haha.”

“The 1911 Census records a butler, three yard men, coachman turned chauffeur and five indoor servants. I remember as a child we still had seven glasshouses filled full of peaches and nectarines,” says Charles. Upon entering the house through the ocean blue coloured door, visitors are greeted by a Canadian moose head in the octagonal hall. The corridor ahead feels early Victorian: it is lined with tongue and groove wooden panelling and encaustic tile floored. It leads into an elegantly furnished double drawing room spanning the full four bay entrance front. The pale sea green blue walls are filled with paintings and drawings.

There are two corresponding reception rooms on the garden front. The two bay dining room is painted deep shell pink. Two similar oil paintings hang side by side: Mrs Charles Hamilton by Sir William Orpen (the subject dressed in back with white frills writing a letter) and Portrait of Louisa Mrs Charles Hamilton by Eva Hamilton (the subject in the same outfit reading a book). “Eva and Letitia both trained at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art,” Charles confirms, “where the prominent Irish artist William Orpen taught. Eva was especially influenced by Orpen’s style.”

Bright and airy even on a dull day, bedrooms fill most of the first floor. A roof lantern lit corridor extends off the staircase landing. “The two storey library wing was built by my great uncle,” notes Charles. “It disrupts the symmetry of the garden elevation.” The two pane Victorian glazing has been replaced on the principal front with 12 panes on the main block and intricate gothic topped panes on the arched windows of the wings. A painting of another country house hangs in the staircase hall. He states, “That was our family estate at Ahakista in West Cork. The television presenter Graham Norton lives there now. We used to have a townhouse in Dublin too – 40 Dominick Street Lower.” This four storey three bay terraced house, built in 1760, is now a language school. Hamwood House still stands proud as the family seat of the Hamiltons.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Design Developers People

New Town + Calton Hill Edinburgh

Ministerial Positions

Alexander John Youngson opens his seminal work The Making of Classical Edinburgh 1750 to 1840 with: “Europe is full of beautiful cities. Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful of all.” That was 59 years ago and still rings true, devoid of overstatement. “The New Town even now retains its late 18th and early 19th century public buildings, terraces, crescents, squares, palace fronts, churches and gardens almost as they were planned. They were all designed over 150 years ago, and the tour ensemble is without parallel in scale, uniformity of general style, and status of preservation.” Unlike Georgian Dublin which is so much given over to office use, most of the 12,000 properties in Georgian Edinburgh are still residential. The Robert Adam designed 6 Charlotte Street is the official residence of the Scottish First Minister, an address rather more impressive in architecture and setting than the British Prime Minister’s official residence in London of 10 Downing Street. Corner ground floor units are more likely to be commercial use such as Cairngorm Coffee Shop on the corner of Melville Street and Randolph Place or The Magnum Wine Bar at the junction of Albany Street and Dublin Street.

While the medieval Old Town of Edinburgh is surprisingly tall – many buildings are eight or more storeys – the New Town is mostly three or four visible storeys. There are lots of later dormer additions. Horizontality of neoclassical architecture versus high gradients of topography. Glimpses can be captured of the Firth of Forth at intervals – nature is never far away in Scotland. Even the built form often resembles rocky outcrops. Retained details hint at the social hierarchy and habits of times past. Rough stone for the servants’ basement; smooth stone for the masters’ piano nobile and accommodation above. Trumpet shaped openings in the cast iron railings would have once been used by ‘link boys’ to snuff out the flamed torches they carried to illuminate residents’ journeys home after dark. Very high double kerbs permitted easy access to carriages from raised pavements.

New Town is all the more remarkable as it was designed by a 27 year old. James Craig, the only surviving offspring of a family of six children, won the Edinburgh Town Council competition in 1766 to design the New Town. It would be a 15 year long project. “The principle reason for Craig’s success is the excellent use of the site,” Alexander reckons. “The two outer streets – Princes Street and Queen Street – have houses on one side only, and these look outwards across the street, in the one case over the low ground towards the Castle and High Street, in the other down the slope towards the Firth of Forth and the distant hills of Fife. The feeling of spaciousness combined with order is no doubt enhanced by the good proportions of the streets and buildings.”

Archibald Elliot’s Waterloo Place of 1819 provides a Greek Revival link between the earlier New Town and later Calton Hill. Regent Terrace is one of several rows of grand houses around the rise of Calton Hill, the city’s answer to the Parthenon in Athens. William Stark’s layout made use of natural contours and tree planting. It’s the ultimate architectural set piece – pure theatre in grey stone to celebrate Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. Old Royal High School is almost Brutalist in its powerful massing. Thomas Hamilton’s 1820s Greek Revival tour de forcefulness is currently vacant. The façade looking down over the city (in theory only: it is almost windowless on this elevation) is Palladian in form with a Doric temple main block flanked by columned colonnades terminated by wings. Plans are afoot by the Royal High School Preservation Trust for Richard Murphy Architects to convert the building into a concert venue and Tom Stuart-Smith to create a new garden. The Political Martyrs Monument rises 27 metres high above Old Calton Burial Ground. Designed by Thomas Hamilton and erected in 1844, this obelisk is dedicated to five freedom fighters: Joseph Gerrald, Maurice Margarot, Thomas Muir, Thomas Palmer and William Skirving.

The Nelson Monument completed in 1816 to the design of Robert Burn is another tall slender structure: it is in the shape of a telescope pointing skyward. Alexander considers it to be “a somewhat Gothic design of dubious architectural merit”. The 1831 Burns Monument stands opposite the Royal High School, teetering on the hillside edge. Thomas Hamilton also designed this circular Corinthian temple standing on a high polygonal plinth. It was built in honour of Scotland’s national bard Robert Burns who had died 35 years previously. Another circular Corinthian temple is uphill from the Burns Monument. Designed by William Playfair, the 1831 Dugald Stewart Monument is dedicated to the Scottish philosopher. The City Observatory predates the other buildings and monuments of Calton Hill. This 1776 mock castle was designed by James Craig proving he was as good an architect as he was town planner.

The only remaining part of what was once Scotland’s largest gaol which stood to the south of Nelson Monument is the 1815 to 1817 Governor’s House designed by Archibald Elliot. Alexander clearly was not a fan of design that wandered too far from the classical fold: “Castellated and battlemented, it is rather absurd; yet it adds piquancy and variety to the scene.” Most modern viewers would surely consider it an architectural highlight of the Hill. Lawyer Henry Cockburn described Edinburgh in the opening decades of the 19th century as “the second city in the Empire.” Two centuries later, Edinburgh is the second city of the Kingdom.

Categories
Architecture Art Design Developers Hotels Luxury People Restaurants Town Houses

The Secret Garden + The Witchery by the Castle Edinburgh

Know Your Stuff

March 2016. Getting stuffed. Maundy Thursday, quail’s eggs on a watercress stuffing nest at Mayfair regular Hush. Resurrection Sunday, fried duck eggs at Holborn favourite The Delaunay. And so a procession of lunisolar led lunches, moveable feasts, begins. An extended Easter Triduum. When a man is tired of London, there’s always Edinburgh. Easter Wednesday, squared hen’s eggs on board Virgin. York, Durham, Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed … everywhere looks better when viewed from the 1st Class carriage. Rows of distant gambrel roofs punctuated by chamfered dormers announce to the visually aware the proximity of the Border.

“Oh yes I stayed in The Witchery by the Castle years ago,” a brave journalist whispered to us during the recent Making Africa press briefing in the Guggenheim Bilbao. Admittedly an unlikely moment for such a muted conversation. It was undoubtedly a memorable stay. “I woke up in the middle of the night in the most frightful sweat! It was like the bed was on fire! I was boiling alive!” She got an uninvited roasting, so to speak. The next day at breakfast the journalist voiced her concern to a waitress. “That’ll be the witches,” came the nonchalant reply. “They used to burn them at the stake on Castlehill right outside.” Presumably it wasn’t the effects of a wee dram nightcap.

Our Easter Thursday lunch in the restaurant turns out to be slightly less steamy but still hot stuff. Dr Samuel Johnson and his biographer James Boswell used to eat here. Well if it’s good enough for Sam and Jamie, both made of stern stuff … The schlep up the Royal 1.6 Kilometres past winding wynds and claustrophobic closes to the foot of Castle Rock is so worth it. We’ve arrived. Physically and metaphorically. Bewitchingly charming certainly; hauntingly beautiful definitely; ghoul free hopefully. Think Hunderby (Julia Davis’s pricelessly hysterical period comedy) without Dorothy. Or Northanger Abbey’s Catherine goes to town.

Owner James Thomson, Scotland’s best (known) hotelier and restaurateur, is evidently a follower of the Donatella Versace school of thought: “Less isn’t more. Less is just less.” An eclectic dose of ecclesiastical remnants, Gothic salvage and Jacobean antiques is healthily apropos for this 16th century building. Candlesticks galore flicker flattering light across The Secret Garden, a space even with its panelled walls and trio of fanlighted French doors and timber beamed ceiling would still induce the envy of Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The interior may flurry with wild abandon but thankfully the service and place setting don’t. Our Milanese waiter makes sure of the former. Tradition takes care of the latter. Linen tablecloths, phew. China plates (slates are for roofs), double phew. Unheated pudding (always a dish best served cold), triple phew. After a bubbly reception, the feast unfolds. Palate seducing grilled sardines followed by lemon sole with brown shrimp butter preceding chocolate orange marquise with espresso jelly raise spirits further. The huggermugger harum scarum of a prowlish ghoulish night owlish postprandial prance on the mansard tiles of Edinburgh’s Auld Toun awaits. The only way is down (hill).

November 2025. Still not sweating the small stuff. Random Friday, sôle poêlée aux graines de moutard in Mayfair’s La Petite Maison next to music producer Mark Ronson en famille. Remembrance Friday, baked Ragstone goat’s cheese gnocchi up the BT Tower in Soho. And so a procession of dinners towards the waxing crescent moon, moveable feasts, begins. An extended Advent. When a man isn’t tired of London but needs a weekend change of scenery, there’s always Edinburgh. Feast of Christ the King of the Universe Eve, double devilled hen’s egg on board LNER. Newark-on-Trent, Doncaster, Northallerton, Darlington … everywhere looks better when viewed from the 1st Class carriage. The snowcapped Cleveland Hills announce to the observant the proximity of the North York Moors.

Nine years ago the three course Table d’Hôte Lunch Menu at The Witchery was priced at £35. Today, we’re after the two course Light Lunch Menu, £34.50. Packed agenda: so little time, so many galleries. After a bubbly reception (déjà vu; déjà ivre; plus Bourgone Blanc Domaine Leflaive Burgundy 2017 – a good year), the feast unfolds. Appetite satisfying basket of bread rolls with smoked butter accompanying celeriac velouté then salmon, cod and smoked haddock fish pie. We’re stuffed. But as the great Scottish aristo actress Tilda Swindon (first seen in three dimensions dining at L’Ambroisie Paris; last seen in two dimensions in her ex partner John Byrne’s painting in the Edinburgh National Portrait Gallery) would say in her hushed dulcet tone, “This lunch is delicious!”

Our driver Eleftherios Galouzidis pulls up outside on Castlehill. The only way is downhill. We’re just in time for the brilliant recital of Moonlight Sonata by Candlelight in St Gile’s Cathedral. British impresario Ashley Fripp’s fingers dance across the grand piano. He opens with Johannes Brahms’ Intermezzo in A Major. “Next I will play a pair of Chopin Nocturnes – tone poems,” he states. “E Flat Major which was influenced by the Irish composer John Field followed by C Sharp Minor. The latter was fortunately discovered by one of Chopin’s students after he died.” There’s wild applause for Sergei Rachmanioff’s Prelude in D Sharp Minor, the Moscow Waltz. “And now for the one you’ve all been waiting for!” Ashley takes a bow after the dramatic third movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata climaxes to its conclusion. Nothing quite completes an evening of culture like prawn toast and chilli tofu at Jimmy’s Express Chinese Restaurant on South Bridge.

At last week’s St Martin in the Fields London Informal Eucharist the Right Reverend Oliva Graham preached, “Holy omnipresence is not a casual knowing. It is impartial and unconditional. We are called to live fully and love faithfully.” We’ll soon discover Chessel’s Court, a rare survival of 18th century tenements hidden behind Canongate on the slope from The Witchery by the Castle. The mansion blocks, to use a befitting but more southern term, were assertively restored in the 1960s. A heart shaped ivy enlivens the ground floor of one of the blocks. Always living more fully, loving more faithfully.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Country Houses Design Developers

Straffan House + The K Club Straffan Kildare

Riveting Pivoting

On 28 February 1990 the Irish Directors of Christie’s (Desmond FitzGerald the last Knight of Glin of Glin Castle in County Limerick and Danny Kinahan the last in the line to own Castle Upton in Templepatrick County Antrim) held a sale of contents of Straffan House which had been acquired by The Kildare Hotel and Country Club led by Michael Smurfit. It opened with Lot 1 “A plated cruet frame containing seven bottles and stoppers”, £50 to £80. Punts not pounds. It closed with Lot 515 “A mahogany crossbanded and ebony lined two tier occasional table, the moulded rectangular top on turned and fluted supports, the base fitted with a drawer to one side. 25 inches wide and a similar occasional table 15.5 inches wide”, £80 to £210.

Standout pieces included Lot 154: “A carved giltwood wall glass of early George III design, the shaped rectangular mirror plate in a rockwork acanthus caved and pierced foliate frame, the pierced surmount carved with rockwork and C scrolls, the base carved with C scrolls and foliage. 19th century. 46 inches high by 23 inches wide.” £3,000 to £5,000. Also Lot 160: “A kingwood burr walnut and floral marquetry commode of Louis XV style, the rounded rectangular pink veined marble top above a frieze mounted with circular floral painted porcelain panels enclosed in gilt metal laurel frames with ribbon tied surmounts and fitted with a drawer above a panelled cupboard door and flanked on either side by a bowed cupboard drawer inlaid in a trellis either side by a bowed cupboard drawer inlaid in a trellis parquetry with fleur de lys and divided by cast brass acanthus, mounts on cast brass paw feet. 55 inches wide by 22 inches deep.” £1,500 to £2,500.Unexecuted plans by Dubliner Benjamin Hallam dated 1808 (copyright of the Irish Architectural Archive: reproduced here for non commercial educational purposes) illustrate proposed two storey pavilion like wings in a refined neoclassicism to the original three storey Straffan House. The house would burn down a few years later. Under new owner Hugh Barton, the current Straffan House was constructed in 1832 to the design of Frederick Darley, another Dublin based architect. Its design was apparently based on the Château de Louveciennes near Paris. It’s not quite Waddesdon Manor (a Loire Valley château transplanted to Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire) but Straffan House does have its Franglais moments. Vintage photographs show there were once a set of five unusually ornate chimneystacks symmetrically arranged across the roof of the main block. A storey height chimney masquerading as an obelisk marks the spot where the house meets the 18th century heavily quoined stable block. Box hedged formal gardens fill the courtyard of the stable block which was converted to guest suites.

Modern art in the auction included Lot 299 Gerald Dillon’s The Escape Artist, £5,000 to £8,000; Lot 294 Paul Henry’s Mullary Beach, £15,000 to £20,000; and two pieces by Louis de Brocquy: Lot 288 Lemon II, £3,000 to £5,000; and Lot 286 Reconstructed Head, £15,000 to £25,000. There were no fewer than 13 paintings by Brummie artist Edgar Hunt ranging from £5,000 to £8,000 up to £12,000 to £18,000. That’s a lot of ducks, donkeys, goats, cows and chickens. Lot 349 was a George II white marble chimneypiece after a design by Inigo Jones and William Kent, £50,000 to £80,000. It was formerly in the collection of the Earls of Gosford, Gosford Castle, County Armagh. A salvaged piece that was retained is an early 18th century timber doorcase, now in a curved corridor of one of the later blocks.

This year, the estate celebrates 1,475 of recorded history. 550: After the Anglo Normal invasion of Ireland, Strongbow grants Straffan to Maurice FitzGerald. 1500: The lands are forfeited by the De Penkiston family, who are implicated in a rebellion, and disposed of to the Gaydon family. 1600: Straffan is forfeited again and granted to Thomas Bewley. 1650: The Gaydon family are granted back the 280 hectares they originally owned and then sell up to Richard Talbot in 1697 for £700. 1720: Dublin banker Hugh Henry purchases the lands and builds the original Straffan House. 1831: Hugh Barton, who owns French vineyards, acquires the estate. He demolishes the Henrys’ burnt out home and builds a new house beside the 18th century carriage yard. 1850: An Italianate campanile is added to the house. 1937: The Bartons reduce the size of the house.1949 The Bartons sell up and it changes hands several times. 1988: The Smurfit Group purchases Straffan House and double it in size recycling a Francis Johnston granite porch from the ruinous Ballynegall House in County Westmeath to link both blocks together. 1991: The K Club opens.

In 2001 the original building was doubled in size with a new block designed by Henry John Lyons architects. It more or less replicates the appearance of Straffan House. A new north elevation entrance was created through the Francis Johnston Ionic portico: the original Ionic portico now leads into a lounge. Walls awash with white painted stucco walls. First floor and attic pedimented window surrounds repeated. And repeated. And repeated. Strung out stringcourses. The impact is powerful, only to be felt again 14 years later. The 2015 block by Henry John Lyons is even bigger, dropping another two storeys and having its very own campanile – a stylised version of the tallest component of Straffan House. It’s the hotel that never stops growing.

Just when you think the contiguousness has sprouted full growth along comes another extension. The latest proposals are by Michael Fetherston who bought The K Club in 2020. He commissioned JNP Architects to design an extension to replace the single storey swimming pool wing with a double height flat roofed function suite. Michael has restored the 1910 weir originally built to provide power for Straffan House. It has become the first weir powered resort in Ireland by harnessing hydropower from the River Liffey which runs through the 220 hectare estate.

We know The K Club well. Very well. Those stone steps flowing from the central bow window on the south front of Straffan House through grass banks onto a path past rose and lemon coloured flowerbeds to a fountain and finally the River Liffey are familiar terrain. Our first visit to The Byerley Turk Dining Room was on a windswept winter’s evening 30 years ago. The restaurant was named after a large painting measuring over three metres wide by two and a half metres high of a famous early 18th century thoroughbred racehorse. It is attributed to the English equestrian painter Thomas Spencer. Crimson flock wallpaper provided the perfect backdrop to the dark horse. Michael Smurfit sold the painting along with art by Jack Yeats in 2020. The Chinoiserie wallpaper in the drawing room painted by Naomi McBride has survived numerous refurbishments. Our subsequent writeup formed a double page spread in Ulster Architect November 1995 and our photograph of the south front graced the Christmas edition of the same magazine.

Categories
Art Design People

The Italian Party + Madame Tussauds Marylebone London

Ciao London

To roughly quote Oscar Wilde, always give into temptation. So when an invite arrives mentioning the Italian Embassy and the art of hospitality there’s only one response possible. Dining, drinking and dancing in the company of celebs and royals too? A dancefloor rammed with Damiano David lookalikes and young Sophia Lorens? What’s not to love.

So that’s how we find ourselves at Madame Tussauds on a rainy Tuesday night. Forever in our hearts, Diana Princess of Wales is throwing dagger looks at Queen Camilla. Or maybe Di is just checking out that mountain of Sardinian pecorino cheese? The wrinkle free future Queen Catherine the Great is as polished as ever. Such a pro!

Lady Gaga and Nicole Kidman are vying for attention. We nearly fall over a fellow photographer. She refuses to budge. Lewis Hamilton poses for us. There are a few celebs who must’ve passed their 15 minutes of Andy Warhol fame as we’re not quite sure of their names. Freddie Mercury looks great. So realistic. Flashing backdrops of the natural and architectural beauty of Italy are a reminder The Italian Party is sponsored by ENIT SPA, the tourism promotion department.

Suddenly Freddie bursts into life! He throws off his yellow jacket and starts belting out “I’m gonna have myself a real good time”. The Italian elite of London turbo charge onto the dancefloor. Next DJ Sharky B ups the tempo even more and the crowd are singing and bopping along to “Tonight’s gonna be the night”. Neon lights flash everywhere. Let’s misbehave.

Amidst an endless round of spinach tortellini and pumpkin gnocchi not to mention lava like flow of Funtanaliras Cantina del Vermnentino, the Italian Ambassador to the United Kingdom His Excellency Inigo Lambertini declares, “Our Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks English fluently, and that is not always the case for Italian politicians. There is strong cooperation and coordination between Rome and London, as well as numerous common interests. Italy is the second largest manufacturer in the European economy after Germany, so we are a natural partner for London.” Go Giorgio!

“You have to really be here to experience it” is the tagline of Sardegna Turismo. The same could be said for this party. It’s so easy to wax lyrical about all things Italian. Another sign flashes up. After party. To roughly quote Oscar Wilde again, don’t just exist get living.

Categories
Architecture Art Design Hotels Luxury People Restaurants Town Houses

East Walls Hotel Chichester West Sussex + Civilisation

No Inelegance

A Waitrose opening used to be the sign a place is going places. Now it’s The Ivy. Chains like The Ivy (Grade II Listed Building) are architecturally elevated in Chichester: the building housing Pizza Express has two Palladian windows and four blind parapet windows. Zizzi has three blind windows under a pediment dated 1791. New Look is in old architecture – a neo Grecian temple. The city has plenty of independent restaurants as well. Jorge Kloppenburg recommends fine dining at Purchases on North Street or Piccolino on South Street.

The Barn restaurant on the corner of East Street and Little London has a notice on its flank wall: “All Goodwood produce can be traced every step of the way from field to fork. They are totally committed to the care of their livestock and to the preservation of the countryside. They use no pesticides of fertilisers at Goodwood Home Farm, ensuring that the wildlife, hedgerows and centuries old natural ecosystem is protected. Goodwood Home Farm is four miles from here and therefore as local as you can get. The farm is set at the heart of the 12,000 acres Sussex estate.” You guessed it: Goodwood Farm Shop is its number one supplier. A plaque on the façade of The Barn is dedicated to fabulous clientele including Lawrence Olivier and Elizabeth Taylor. There’s still plenty of fabulosity in Chichester.

Jorge should know about good food: he’s been cooking since age 12. After a successful international sustainable business career, three years ago he bought East Walls Hotel which he runs with his wife Anywhere Thompson. “We don’t call it a hotel it’s a home from home,” Jorge relates. “In Germany I trained in Chinese, Indian and Thai cooking at night classes. We personalise breakfast here. One New Yorker guest likes her scrambled egg made with cheese. After spending 2,000 nights in 30 years staying in hotels across Europe I recognise what I like and dislike.”

He reckons, “A nice bathroom and excellent breakfast are crucial – that’s what you need to start the day.” The bathroom products are Elysl. Bedding of course is also important. All the beds are fitted with Mitre Linen’s Savoy Collection. “Fresh flowers on the dining tables are a must. I would describe our cooking as bespoke international food.” On cue, delicious halibut and salmon (with the subtlest hint of spice) is served alongside fresh greens and Finger Post wine. “Everything is freshly made. You need 35 minutes for potato dauphinoise. Air frying not deep frying is much heathier. Our breakfast homemade bread is 50 percent brown 50 percent white – fluffy, not too heavy.  We buy food at the market two to three times a week.” The tomatoes and herbs were picked two metres away two minutes ago. Forget farm to fork. This is patio to plate.

There are chillis in the garden. “We have a 37 acre chilli farm in Zimbabwe near where I was brought up,” shares Anywhere. “It provides employment for locals and supports 50 children in education. We are in the process of buying another 37 acres. We are both very committed to our philanthropic endeavours. Education is so important whether you end up as a doctor or truck driver. We want to give others a chance in life to do well.”

East Walls Hotel gets its name from the turn of last millennium Roman city walls. Its Grade II Listing dating from 1950 states, “Suffolk House, 3 East Row. 18th century. Three storeys. Four windows wide. Red brick. Eaves bracket cornice. Sash windows in reveals in flat arches; glazing bars intact on ground and first floors; rubbed brick voussoirs. Doorway with Doric columns, pediment and semicircular fanlight. Six panel moulded door with four panels cut away and glazed; door in panelled reveals. Stone coat of arms over the doorway.” A blocked Gothick arch on the first landing and a blind rounded arch on the landing above hint at structural alterations down the centuries.

Anywhere explains, “We can’t keep up with demand! So we’ve bought 1 East Row, the house next door, to expand our guest accommodation.” Its Grade II Listing, also dating from 1950, states, “18th century. Two storeys and attic. Three windows and extension of one window on ground floor. Red brick. Brick stringcourse. Wooden cornice. One dormer. Sash windows in frames, those on ground floor with slightly curved headings; glazing bars intact. Doorway with Doric pilasters, pediment and semicircular fanlight. Six panel moulded door set in panelled reveals.”

There’s no escaping the influence of Goodwood. The hotel was once the townhouse of the country house estate owners the Dukes of Richmond. A chubby Duke’s face cast in plaster protrudes over a French door on the rear elevation. “We always have guests staying for Goodwood Festival of Speed,” says Anywhere. “And businesspeople from Rolls Royce – their plant is only two miles away and employs 1,700 people. Our repeat guests book now for next year.”

A black and white photograph of Goodwood Tourist Trophy 1959 hangs in the bar next to pictures of Aston Martins and prints of Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor. “This is a men’s space,” Jorge suggests. “We’ve 75 whiskeys and 15 gins to choose from.” Burgundy chesterfield armchairs bolster the masculine ambience. The adjoining Art Deco style restaurant is more feminine. “The collection of teapots on display – Twenties, Thirties, Seventies, Nineties and 2000s – shows how time goes on.” This year is the centenary of Art Deco: the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes was held in Paris in 1925.

One of the many cultural highlights of Chichester is Pallant House Gallery, a Grade I Listed early Georgian house famous for its modern art collection. Here’s a random sample of delights. Frank Auerbach’s Reclining Head of Gerda Boehm (1982), a lesson in portraiture. Jean Metzinger’s L’Echaffaudage (1915), a diagonally determined dynamic scaffolding. Tracey Emin’s Roman Standard (1949), her first public art project. Standing tall in the courtyard, this cast iron variation of a Roman standard is topped by a small songbird rather than a triumphant eagle. Lucien Freud’s Portrait of a Girl (1949), a study of skin surface. John Piper’s Redland Park Congregational Church (1940), a rich hued and black lined depiction of the collision of the pastoral past with the brutal bomb wrecked present.

Five minutes away from East Walls Hotel – everything is five minutes away actually – lies Priory Park. This open space is a layering of history from medieval walls on Roman foundations to a Norman mote to the 13th century Guildhall, formerly the Chapel of the Franciscan Friary. The spire of the 11th century Chichester Cathedral can be seen from the second floor bedrooms and garden cottage suite. The cathedral and its precincts are a beautiful pocket of civilisation.

“We really believe in living in the hotel and doing the cooking ourselves,” confirms Anywhere. “That way the quality becomes how it should be.” She has a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science and a Master’s in Medical Biotechnology both from the University of Portsmouth, now balancing a career as a clinical pathologist with co running a hotel. “All 12 of our rooms are different but they all have antique pieces and beautiful bathrooms. Work hard – it pays off.”

Chichester: England’s finest small city. East Walls Hotel: England’s finest small hotel.

Categories
Architecture Art People

Peter Doig + House of Music + Serpentine Galleries London

Ducks on Distant Oaks 

The colours of autumn have reached full seasonal radiance in Kensington Gardens. Serpentine Galleries to the north and south of The Long Water on the edge of the Gardens are enveloped by embraces of verdant vibrancy. To the vernissage of Peter Doig’s show House of Music at Serpentine South. Unlike its northern relative, the original building has no extensions. James Grey West’s 1934 neo Georgian red brick and stucco tea pavilion retains its original symmetrical elevations and plan.

Drawing colour indoors, Peter Doig is a meticulous colourist who uses disquieting combinations in his paintings. His use of colour is integral to the illusory quality of his work which blurs the line between figurative and abstract art. In place of photorealism portrayal is a hazy fractured vision. At times strong hues pull the viewer into the painting – a pink path here (Lion in the Road, 2015), an orange horizon there (Painting for a Poet, 2025).

Vernissage catering by Social Pantry in the Entrance Hall, café tables and chairs in the white walled West Gallery, and armchairs in the black walled East Gallery hark back to the building’s original use as a tea pavilion. The South Gallery opening off the Entrance Hall and the central clerestory lit North Gallery are hung but unfurnished. And everywhere, the sound of his record collection: 300 vinyls from Aretha Franklin to Winston Bailey play continuously on gigantic 1950s speakers.

The large Painting for Wall Painters (2010 to 2012) in the South Gallery faces the Entrance Hall. A montage of national flags includes a lion emblem representing Ethiopia. The Lion of Judah appears in the three equally large paintings in the North Gallery: Lions Ghost (2024), Rain the Port of Spain (2025) and Untitled (2025). Peter’s interest in painting lions was first stimulated by a childhood visit to the Port of Spain Zoo. Some of the lions, while majestic, are shown in a state of confinement: a metaphor for slavery and displacement in Trinidad. Born in Edinburgh, the artist lives between Trinidad and London.

One painting brings together music and art in oil on canvas. Giant speakers are piled high in front of palm trees in Maracas (2002 to 2008) in the West Gallery. In all his paintings, figurative details dissolve in heady washes and flows of painterly texture. Hazy strokes at the base of Maracas add a ghostliness to the otherwise hard lines. A small man stands on top of the middle speaker. What does it all mean? That’s the power of Peter Doig’s art: it’s as decipherable as a half forgotten technicoloured dream.

Categories
Art Design Fashion People

The Africa Centre Southwark London + Mary Martin London

Black History and Futures Month

A Dame in Britain. A Queen in Ghana. A Day in Atlanta. Honour in three continents. More of Mary Martin later. The flank wall of The Africa Centre in Southwark’s cultural quarter a few blocks away from the Thames is filled with a mural of Ignatius Sancho (1729 to 1780). He was the original polymath, the seminal multihyphenate. A former enslaved African, he rose through 18th century society – no mean feat – relying on grit and talent to become a celebrated British writer, composer and abolitionist. Ignatius would also become the first person of African heritage to vote in a British general election. The portrait by London based visual artist Neequaye Dreph Dsane, known as Dreph, is loosely based on a 1768 portrait by Thomas Gainsborough. Ignatius set the bar high.

In his opening address at the Honorary Doctorate Conferment Ceremony held in The Africa Centre, Dr Matthew Godwin Mario on behalf of Myles Leadership University emphasised the importance of recognising people from diverse backgrounds who have made immense contributions to global development and continue to create opportunities and spaces for the next generation of leaders. “Myles Leadership University believes that leadership is not limited to the classroom,” he stated, “but lived through service, impact and innovation. Today we honour those who exemplify these values.”

This year’s honorary doctorate recipients were Chief Light Aboetaka (Chief Executive and Founder of African Afforestation Association in Germany). Adesegun Adeosun Junior (Cofounder of Afro Nation and Founder of Smade Entertainment Group in the UK). Henrietta Uwhubetiyi Amatoritsero (Chief Executive of Casual Queen Clothing in Nigeria). Bash Amuneni (Architect, Poet and Cultural Administrator in the UK). Bilkiss Moorad (Chief Executive of LegalWise in Botswana). Ogechi Origbe (Chief Executive Mattoris Supamart in Nigeria). Dr Tonye Rex Idaminabo (Chief Executive of Reputation Poll International and Founder of African Achievers Awards in Britain). Ignatius Sancho would approve of the list.  Miss World Angola Núria Assis said, “C’est un grand privilège d’être ici pour représenter mon pays.”

Keynote speakers were Professor Akin Akinpelu (Forbes Coaches Council in Nigeria), Dr Jola Grace Emmanuel (International Speaker and Author) and Dr Anurag Saxena (International Banker). Keynote speaker Jola Grace noted, “We are all created on purpose with a purpose: nothing just happens and aligning with your purpose brings fulfilment and peace. Your purpose was created before you was, so it cannot expire. Before we were formed in our mother’s womb, God knew us and He ordained us. He gave us our assignment, our task, our purpose way before we were formed in our mother’s womb. Sometimes God doesn’t show us the whole picture but just a snippet, expecting us to trust Him all through the journey.”

The Ceremony united leaders, visionaries and changemakers under one roof to honour service, education and the spirit of global leadership. Attendees included the ultra successful businessperson Anywhere Thompson, owner of East Walls Hotel Chichester, and Jeremie Alamazani, Founder and Chief Executive of Wealth Partners Ltd. Jeremie shared, “I understood that my colour could be an issue, could be a problem with certain people but the way to minimise your colour is to increase your skill. When you get on a plane you don’t ask the colour of the pilot or his faith. You want a professional. And when you reach a certain level people are checking more your value – what you are bringing to the marketplace – more so than your colour.”

Jeremie continued, “So I knew that my colour could come as a way to explain why I was not given something, why I was slowed down in a process. Still, try to be the best you can and they will not be able to avoid you regardless of what they think of you. So I don’t expect to be loved, I don’t want to be loved. I want you to respect me because I’m good at what I do.” A Myles University Initiative discussed after the Ceremony was Project Educate 1,000. This initiative supports worldwide access to higher education for underprivileged children. Its mission is to empower five million youths by 2045. Jeremie is a Trustee of the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust and has many community commitments in Africa including financially supporting the Mere Teresa de Calcutta Primary School in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Dame Mary Martin, Founder and Chief Executive of Mary Martin London, the international fashion house, also supports many charitable causes including teaching underprivileged children in London to sew and make clothes. At the Ceremony, Mary was recognised with a Golden Plaque for her leadership and continuing contribution to British and international fashion. Earlier this year she was made a Dame of the Knightly Order Valiant of St George. Even earlier this year Mary was crowned Diaspora Queen Mother Mama Nenyo I by the Ewe Kingdom Chiefs of Benin, Nigeria, Togo and Ghana. Last year, Atlanta City Council declared the first Saturday in December to be Mary Martin Appreciation Day. The third Monday of January every year in Atlanta is Martin Luther King Junior Day.

Categories
Art Design Fashion People

Marie Antoinette + Victoria + Albert Museum London

Tomorrow is Not Another DayHigh camp and high treason, glamour and gore, makeup stories and made up stories, big wigs and bigwigs, political incorrectness and incorrect politics, the Marie Antoinette show at the Victoria and Albert Museum is a fitting and well fitted tribute to la dernière Reine de France. It’s the first ever British exhibition dedicated to the anglophile royal.

“Marie Antoinette is the most fashionable queen in history,” sparks curator Dr Sarah Grant so there are plenty of frocks on display. Long before she was incarcerated in Temple Gaol, Marie Antoinette was a prisoner of the largest gilded cage in history. Shipped off aged 14 from her home in Austria to be married to her cousin, becoming Queen at 18, she was never allowed to leave France. Courtiers updated her on the latest London trends.

“This was a woman whose choices practically generated the industry around couture and jobs for thousands of people,” barks Manolo Blahnik, one of the show’s sponsors. Hers was a rarefied vision unrivalled by subsequent regal patronage. Yet when she opted for simpler muslin dresses and straw hats in the 1780s over the ostentatious court gowns she had previously popularised, the silk merchants accused her of abandoning their industry.

More than 230 years after her death it’s hard to distinguish between the wild fiction and wilder truth. Myths are immortal. She almost definitely didn’t suggest the poverty stricken should stick to calorific sweet stuff but wouldn’t it be fun if she really did quip “I do take little care of my appearance”? Real letters trump fake news. Marie Antoinette’s mother, Empress Maria Theresa, admonished her in a letter of September 1776, “All the news from Paris is that … your finances are in disarray and weighed down with debt.”

Frivolity not form follows function when it comes to her choice of gardening tools. But hey a girl has to look good even when digging up soil! Her harpsichord is a reminder that Marie Antoinette was more than a clotheshorse. She was an accomplished musician and popularised the salon concert. A chair represents her interest in interior decoration: the Louis XVI furniture style is named after the wrong marriage partner. Seize that Seize!

But a headless dressed dummy is a harbinger of the horror ahead. Turn the corner into the penultimate exhibition space and in place of a crinoline is a smock. Next to a guillotine. A neon sign contains her words of August 1793 “Nothing can hurt me now”. She would be killed two months later. Aged 37, the Queen of Arts lived one year longer than the future Queen of Hearts.

Turn the next corner for a posthumous party. Today is a new day. True fashion never dies. Just ask John Galliano.

Categories
Art Design People

Brompton Design District South Kensington London + Tender Revolution

Another Place

Sunday afternoon painters have their place – usually with still lifes and landscapes – but how riveting to see the cutting edge of contemporary art in Brompton Design District. A Softer World, this year’s curated strand, is directed by British Italian writer and gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker. Exhibitions, installations, talks and workshops explore design through empathy, tactility and interdisciplinary collaboration. His emotionally resonant approach challenges how we experience and respond to the material sphere. In a world that often demands certainty and control, A Softer World posits: what if design moved with care and made space for us to do the same?

A most exciting exhibition – or is it multiple installations? – is at 237 Brompton Road. Tender Revolution showcases furniture, textiles and objects by designers, artists and makers from the Royal College of Art. It presents design as an act of care, connection and rebirth. The participating creatives challenge rigid systems that suppress complexity and erase stories beyond the binary. They embrace contradiction, vulnerability and embodied experience as powerful sites of renewal.

“The designer of today reestablishes the long lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a living thing. Instead of pictures for the drawing room, electric gadgets for the kitchen. There should be no such thing as art divorced from life, with beautiful things to look at and hideous things to use. If what we use every day is made with art, and not thrown together by chance or caprice, then she shall have nothing to hide.” Not a contemporary commentary but rather 29 years old relevance written by Bruno Munari in Design as Art. Tender Revolution succeeds by inviting us in thought provoking and sometimes even humorous ways to reimagine the role of design in shaping more compassionate futures – that are free of chance and caprice.

Featured exhibitors: Ana Maria Alarcón, Carmen Danae Azor, Alexander Clark, Avis Dou, Natalie Dubrovska, Ruwanthi Gajadeera, Audra Grays, Linlin Guan, Menghyan Guo, Miyuki Guo, Ruikun Guo, Lydia Hill, Shino Hitosugi, Sahym Hussain, Huili Jin, Patrycja Koziara, Hyein Lee, Maxim Lester, Lydia Lin, Alexandre Manko, Luca Maremmi, Eileen Morley, Ellen Nacey, Sofia Ortmann, Sarah Tibbles, Rosalie Valentino, Yang Xiao, Yidan Xu, Zhibo Yang, Chenrui Zhang, Zinjin Zhang, Shaming Zhang, Shumeng Zhang.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Design People

Serpentine Galleries London + The Delusion + Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley

Human Engineering

Kensington Gardens is home to two exquisite pieces of sculptural architecture: one carved in stone; one moulded in coated glass fibre. The William Kent designed Queen Charlotte’s Temple is a 1730s symmetrical eyecatcher best viewed from the Serpentine Bridge. The Zaha Hadid designed restaurant added to the Serpentine North Gallery in 2013 takes an asymmetrical organic form which is echoed in the fluidity of the surrounding garden planned by Arabella Lennox-Boyd. Now Kensington Gardens is temporary home to an extraordinary piece of …

Enter Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine, to talk about the latest exhibition in the North Gallery which pushes all the boundaries when it comes to definitions. He says, “We are thrilled to provide Danielle Braithwaite-Shirley with a platform for her groundbreaking live experiment. The Delusion embodies everything Serpentine stands for: a place of exciting experimentation where new connections between artists and audiences come to life.” Bettina Korek, CEO of the Serpentine, adds, “Braithwaite-Shirley’s visionary use of gaming and participatory performance to explore polarisation, censorship and hope reflects the urgent conversations shaping the world today.”

The gallery is divided into a series of dimly lit spaces like twisted takes on Victorian mediums’ parlours. Handwritten questioning messages written on doylies are pinned to cushions; framed cartoons of monsters hang on the walls. London born Berlin based Danielle provides instructions: “You can experience the exhibition through three different emotional states called Delusion Loops. Each loop presents scenarios inspired by the emotional states of hope, fear and hate. Which loop comes next depends on how visitors interact with the games in the exhibition space. Each loop is accompanied by its own soundscape, different versions of the games and changing elements in the gallery environment. You will find one multiplayer game in each room. Collaborate with other players. Three games. Three loops. Infinite ways to participate.”

Ever since Carsten Höller’s 2006 installation at Tate Modern – when visitors slid down self exploratory slides – interactive art has been a progressive component of London’s art scene. In place of the sheer physicality of Carsten’s work, The Delusion invites visitors to mentally engage in hot topics through gaming machines. While it’s not guaranteed to solve geopolitics, this crossover between video games and the visual arts sure is fun.

Categories
Architecture Art Design Fashion Luxury People Restaurants

Supporters’ House + The National Gallery Trafalgar Square London + Christmas

The Art of Buying

In 2023 it was the reboot of the National Portrait Gallery. This year it’s The National Gallery which holds the world’s preeminent collection of paintings made in the Western tradition starting in the early 13th century. Following the landmark reopening of the Sainsbury Wing in May came the launch of Supporters’ House and two newly created retail spaces. The Christmas 2025 range features many products designed inhouse and available exclusively at The National Gallery. Consumerism with a conscious: every purchase directly supports the art collection

The entrance door to Supporters’ House is to the immediate left of the portico overlooking Trafalgar Square. A rabbit warren of offices, stores and stock rooms have been opened up into four large spaces: a lounge and bar, restaurant, private dining room and salon event space. Interior designer Job Hoogervorst of Studio Linse says, “We wanted it to feel like it’s always been there. The initial wish was that it has an echo from The National Gallery.”

Revealed internal arches add a strong sense of structure to the corridor and spaces. Deep colours inspired by the permanent collection are used to saturate each space from the walls and window shutters to the ceiling. Job comments, “The place is quite architectonic so it is as if each room has been dipped in a colour.” Furniture from the archives has been repurposed and reupholstered. The original parquet floor has been restored. Studio Linse’s cultural hospitality space designing experience includes the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The Gallery is also launching an international architectural competition for a new wing. This has already attracted £375 million of cash pledges including the two largest ever publicly reported single cash donations (£150 million each) to a museum or gallery. Director Sir Gabriel Finaldi states, “We are hugely excited by this development and are immensely grateful to our donors for their support – on an unprecedented scale – as The National Gallery steps into its third century. We look forward to an ever closer collaboration with Tate on this significant new initiative.”

The Painter’s Tree is a set of Christmas decorations handcrafted by Cambodian women. Felt figures include Caravaggio, Gainsborough and Rubens. The new scented edit offers soaps and hand creams traditionally made in Sussex with wrapping based on details from National Gallery paintings. Scents include Fig and Grape, Pine and Eucalyptus, and Jasmine. Details of paintings also feature on this season’s fashionwear such as Van Gogh’s famous hat embroidered on a jacket.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year … to visit The National Gallery and get shopping!

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Country Houses

Chartwell + Country Houses Westerham Kent

West Oast Cooler

South of Westerham lie wooded hills and valleys dotted with delightful country houses. Many of them exhibit the Tudorbethan characteristics of early 20th century domestic architecture. Others have highly distinctive roof shapes which display their origin or inspiration. Over to Sir William Addison’s Farmhouses in The English Landscape (1986), “The farm buildings associated with the new agriculture of fruit growing were oast houses, delightfully built in local vernacular style. It was appropriate that it should be so since ‘oast’ means ‘kiln’ and Kent had limekilns in the 14th century. They also integrate into the historical scene because they belong to the same tradition of mechanical ingenuity as windmills. Hops were introduced into Kent north of the Downs in 1525, but drum shaped oast houses, capped with a pivoted timber cowl with a flyboard controlled by the wind in the way weathervanes are, were not invented until the 1830s, so were a 19th century innovation.”

The most famous country house in the locale is Chartwell, once the home of Sir Winston and Lady Clementine Churchill and now a very popular National Trust tourist attraction. John Newman explains in his Pevsner Guide 1969, “Created in 1923 to 1924 for Sir Winston Churchill, who wanted a family house and was captivated by the site: high, but enclosed by wooded slopes and opening out to a panoramic view of the wooded Weald. The red brick mid Victorian house on the site was drastically reformed by Philip Tilden to create two narrow, towering wings to the east and south, both crowned by crowstep gables. In the angle between them a square staircase tower. Viewing terrace below. That was the grouping that mattered. Long, indecisive entrance front close to the road. The mighty timber doorcase with oakleaf columns was bought from a dealer; likewise the fancy wrought iron weathervane on the stair tower.” A rather odd naked squared trellis snakes across the entire highly visible gabled side wall.

There are two standout paintings in Chartwell. A strikingly flattering portrait of a young Sir Winston in oils hangs over a narrow staircase. It was painted by the wildly talented north Belfast born Sir John Lavery. The painting depicts the war hero as Lieutenant Colonel of the 6th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers which he commanded on the Western Front of World War I in early 1916. The artist employs his trademark technique of a brightly lit figure in a dark surround. Rather different but still of interest is Sir Winston’s oil painting of Clementine hanging in the hallway below. It’s his best painting by a country kilometre. Clementine’s joyful face joyfully beams upwards against a rough hewn surround creating a sketched appearance. He created it aged 80 using a photograph mirror imaged and enlarged on a projection.

The environs of Westerham overflow with greenness and pleasantness on Diary Lane and Froghole Lane and Hosey Common Lane and Puddledock Lane and Spout Lane. One house brings a little Strawberry Hill to Crockham Hill. The prettiness of Mariners has evolved over half a millennium. A seven bay Georgian brick main block is enlivened by a Gothick porch and end turrets with lancet windows. Asymmetrical wings add yet more eclectic charm. This is how the other half of the one percenters live. Even the goats look posh.

Categories
Art Design Fashion People

Design Museum London + Blitz Club

Old Romantics  

In the late Nineties early Noughties it was The Frames in Belfast, The Pod in Dublin and The End in London. The definite article was a clue you were definitely going to have a good time. In the beginning, before these epochal nightlife venues tripped the light fantastic, there was Blitz Club. Or at least in the early Eighties. David Bowie, Siobhán Fahey, Boy George, Gary Kemp, Zandra Rhodes, Peter York … they all cut loose on its dancefloor in Covent Garden. Spandau Ballet was the house band. The latest show at the Design Museum London celebrates this tiny short lived yet influential Club (just 18 months of fun filled nights) founded by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan.

Clothing, textiles, artwork, records, music videos, ephemera and best of all an immersive nightclub complete with clubbers and discarded bottles of Blue Nun make for an escapist visitor experience.  Produced inhouse, Senior Curator Danielle Thom worked with many of the clubbers who loaned their belongings. “Almost all of the material in this exhibition has come straight from the original sources,” she confirms. “Take the dresses – they are not generic. They are things that were actually worn to the Club. That immediacy adds a valuable layer to the exhibition.”

Visitors can dial a rotary telephone to listen to interviews by Blitz Kids (the name given to frequenters of the Club by the media). Danielle says, “We are the Design Museum so are interested in design in all its facets – all its creative outlets. We wanted to capture that moment when visual design, fashion design, culture and the media start to shift at the opening of the decade.” She notes that cultural influences on Blitz ranged from architectural futurism to the Weimar Republic.

“The exhibition’s emphasis on fashion isn’t on the designer output that would emerge from the Club but on how people were actually styling themselves,” Danielle confirms. “Their clothes were gathered from jumble sales and theatrical costumiers and also pieces their friends would run up for them on sewing machines. It was necessarily very rough and ready because they had little in the way of money. But what they did have was ingenuity and creativity.”

ID and The Face magazines were birthed from this scene. Many of the editors, photographers and writers were Blitz Kids who featured clubbing contemporaries on their pages. Danielle highlights this symbiotic relationship of coverage creators and content. She says, “There was a shift in emphasis from fashion which is trend led and top down to style which is personal and idiosyncratic.” This individualistic marrying of stylistic and aesthetic awareness divorced from the mainstream with music would become the engaging singular legacy of Blitz Club.

Categories
Art Design Luxury People

Raw Echo + de Le Cuona Design Centre Chelsea Harbour London

The Poetry of the Earth is Never Dead

“A love of linen and attention to detail first fired my desire to create beautiful fabrics,” says Bernie de Le Cuona. The Founder, Chief Executive and Creative Director of the luxury textile house de Le Cuona grew up in rural South Africa, developing an early love of nature. All of de Le Cuona fabrics are woven in European mills using the world’s finest natural fibres: alpaca, cashmere, flax, silk and wool. Established in 1992, there are now two showrooms in London (Design Centre Chelsea Harbour and Pimlico Road) and one in New York (Design Centre 200 Lex).

“This collection is called Raw Echo,” introduces Lisa Dunlop, Field Sales Executive at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour showroom, “and it’s all about the juxtaposition in nature between something brutal and something soft. So if you think of the Sahara Desert it has beautiful soft sand but it’s a hard environment too – that’s the inspiration for the collection. All our colours are derived from nature. We don’t use unnatural dyes.”

Lisa explains, “Four of these eight new designs are sheers. We’re findings sheers are really popular for clients at the moment because they want that lighter look. They are all 97 or 100 percent linen. All our linen is from Belgium. Sustainability is a big thing for us. Linen itself is highly sustainable. It’s very biodegradable yet lasts a lifetime. That’s the cool thing about linen! You can use lots of our fabrics on the reverse. Sahara is a reversible stonewashed linen with subtle twills. It’s rub tested on the back at 20,000 rubs and 25,000 on the front.”

As well as Sahara, there’s Desert Etching which is a linen sheer with an eroded carvings style motif; Mirage, a jacquard sheer with a texture ombré stripe; Petra, a linen jacquard with space dyed warps; Saba, a linen alpaca blend sheer with rippling threads; Sandstorm, a sheer in multi shaded mélange yarns; Strata, a linen wool blend with twisted yarns; and Tumbleweed, a linen upholstery fabric with interlaced yarns.

The company also has a bespoke interior tailoring service which covers made to measure bedspreads, curtains, cushions, throws and upholstery. Everything is crafted in Britain by inhouse specialists. The sustainability ethos doesn’t stop with the original textile making. The company also has a revitalising service which transforms vintage de Le Cuona fabric furnishings and accessories into upcycled pieces.

Bernie de Le Cuona concludes, “Raw Echo is a collection about emotion as much as it is about materiality. It captures that moment in nature where everything is both powerful and peaceful, where the landscape feels alive but still.” The Design Centre Chelsea Harbour showroom of de Le Cuona, minutes from the busy Kings Road, is an oasis filled with exquisite fabrics inspired by ancient terrains, golden sands, wilderness landscapes and weathered stone.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Country Houses Design People

The Wellesleys + Stratfield Saye House Not Too Near Reading Hampshire

The Continuation of Humble Elegance

Henry James (1910), “You first discovered yourself in England, just as I first did myself.”

In the days before everything was organic, authentic and artisanal; when experience was lived by default; gaslighting involved illumination; ghosting had a supernatural connotation; deep dive involved water; extra referred to additionality; mankind included women; bad actors were thespians who weren’t good at their job; there was Caesar, Greek and Niçoise but no word salad; only trains were cancelled; and catfish was just an animal, hero projects were all about winning battles.

Let the poor eat carrot cake. Such a relief the architect Benjamin Dean Wyatt didn’t get to “out Blenheim Blenheim” with his dream of a palace of ceremonial pomp and circumstance. The 1st Duke of Wellington had a rather better idea after for the estate he bought in 1817, two years after his Battle of Waterloo victory. Keep the old house and add on a couple of bedrooms above the orangery wings. So in the end Benjamin only got to see his design for a porch realised – albeit a rather smart Greek Doric one. Ever inventive, in 1831 the Duke added secondary glazing, central heating and WCs to the existing house (the latter naturally lit by tiny single pane casement windows like the type you get in 20th century Berlin flats). Stratfield Saye House is large by most people’s standards but it’s not ducal in style or scale. Fit for a baron and all the better for it. Tate Britain has Tracey Emin’s installation My Bed. Stratfield Saye has the Great Duke of Wellington’s Campaign Bed.

Mark Girouard comments in Historic Houses of Britain (1984), “One can see why Wellington developed an affection for Stratfield Saye. It is certainly not a stately home but it has a great deal of character and charm. It was originally a long, low, red brick house, built in about 1650 by Sir William Pitt, James I’s comptroller, and decorated with the so called Flemish gables (with curved sides and pedimented tops) which were in fashion at the time. Two matching stable blocks front the house and give it a forecourt and a pleasant air of formality.”

An elephant used to mow the lawn. The stables are now apartments, an archives office and a museum to the 1st Duke. There are a few false windows on the entrance front. The external walls were once painted buff and the window surrounds green. And so they remain. Clocks chime indoors. Apollo magazines sit on chests in the Entrance Hall. That room is the volume of a five bay three storey house. Well stocked drinks trolleys are in the corridors. Country Life magazines sit on chests in the Library. When you’ve finished browsing the back issues there are 3,000 books to read. The silk wallcovering dates from 1953. A jib door in the Study with its Chippendale desk and replica of the chair on which the 1st Duke died in Walmer Castle in Kent leads through to a private suite of a bedroom and spa bathroom.

The centrepiece of the museum is the 1st Duke’s catafalque made of bronze cast from melted down French cannon captured at Waterloo. It was designed and constructed in just 18 days by the wonderfully named Department of Practical Arts. The height of the car was limited to 5.2 metres to pass under Temple Bar on its procession through central London. It was drawn by twelve black dray horses leaving Horse Guards at 9.25am on 18 November 1852 and arriving in the yard of St Paul’s Cathedral at noon.

The Illustrated London News reported at the time, “The eight cavalry bands, too, being in motion along the Mall, contributed their notes of measured grief. The ‘trumpet’s silver sound’ still discoursed Handel’s music, and the ear found a new beauty in every accidental combination by which the breeze or the distance imparted novelty to the effect. The soldiers having filed off, the Kings-at-Arms, in their gorgeous tabards, marshalled the mourning coaches in their due order of precedence.”

The 8th Duke inserted a swimming pool into the Orangery off the Library. Logs are piled up in the chimneypieces of the main rooms: the Wellesley family might call in at any moment. The wine box in the Dining room holds 250 bottles. The 7th Duke designed the Gold Room carpet which was made in 1946. Once the Housekeeper’s Room, the Breakfast Room is filled with 60 place china including arsenic blue Meisen. In Mrs Arbuthnot’s Bedroom upstairs there are two corner cabinets. One is a wardrobe, the other a WC. There’s a freestanding roll top bath in the bedroom. Someone has been using Ren shampoo. And reading Nancy Lancaster: Her Life, Work, Her Art (1996) by Robert Becker. The Print Room was created by the current Duke and Duchess using Boydell prints found in the attics.

John Cornforth writes about the 7th Duke in The Inspiraton of the Past (1985), “Lord Gerald Wellesley, one of the most interesting figures of his generation, who explained in his Collected Works (1970) that he had always wanted to be an architect, but his parents had considered it a hazardous and uncertain career for a younger son who had his own way to make; and it was only after World War I that he was able to fulfil his ambition. By nature a scholar and possessing a finely tuned, fastidious taste, he became involved in many projects relating to the improvement of the arts of design, public taste and later preservation, particularly of country houses, and through his friendships and his houses he had an influence on a considerable number of people. Indeed Mrs Lancaster says that he and Lady Juliet Duff were the people in England who understood the arrangement of furniture and works of art best.”

John continues, “Lord Gerald Wellesley was drawn to the Regency period both for aesthetic reasons and for personal ones too, because it was the period of his ancestor, the Great Duke of Wellington, but as an architect he was concerned with the present and the future, and it is interesting to see in his work and in a great deal of what Christopher Hussey wrote in the late 1920s and early 1930s that they were concerned with the future of classicism.” Gerald designed the tall cupola crowning the roofscape of Stratfield Saye.

The dashing moustachioed brunette Henry Valerian Wellesley wasn’t as fortunate as his famous ancestor, dying in battle aged 31. Born Earl of Mornington in 1912, he was styled Marquess of Douro between 1934 and 1941 before spending the last two years of his short life as the 6th Duke of Wellington. He was killed in action in World War II and is buried in Salerno close to where he died. His uncle Lord Gerald Wellesley would succeed him as the 7th Duke of Wellington.

In early Victorian times Chelsea was transmogrifying from a village into an area of London. St Luke’s Anglican Church celebrated its bicentenary last year. It was the brainchild of the Reverend Gerald Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington’s brother, who held his office from 1805 to 1832. He conducted the marriage of Charles Dickens and Catherine Hogarth in 1836. The 1st Duke married Kitty Pakenham of Tullynally Castle, County Westmeath who attracted good, bad and ugly critique. Kitty’s rooms were in the northeast corner of the first floor of Stratfield Saye; the Duke’s, in the southwest corner of the ground floor.

Playwright Lady Elizabeth Yorke observed, “Her appearance, unfortunately, does not correspond with one’s notion of an ambassadress or the wife of a hero, but she succeeds uncommonly well in her part.” Novelist Maria Edgeworth commented, “After comparison with crowds of other beaux spirits, fine ladies and fashionable scramblers for notoriety, her graceful simplicity rises in our opinion, and we feel it with more conviction of its superiority. Philosopher Germaine de Staël thought Kitty was “adorable”. The Great Duke’s closest female friend Harriet Arbuthnot, who sounds like she had a vested interest, said Kitty was “a fool” and he had “repeatedly tried to live in a friendly manner with her but it was impossible and it drove him to seek that comfort and happiness abroad that was denied him at home”.

Kitty was a prolific letter writer. In a letter to Elizabeth Hume, daughter of the 1st Duke’s doctor, dated 22 August 1824, she mentions various animals including a canary called Crispino and her husband’s famous horse Copenhagen: “It was at Broadstairs that I was first called Viscountess Wellington. It was on a Sunday for the Gazette came out on a Saturday night. I recollect holding the plate at church on that day in my new character, for a charity sermon. I have nothing more to say dearest girl except that little Crispino is quit ewell, so is the emew and as for Copenhagen he trots after me eating bread out of my hand and wagging his tail like a little dog. Are you very good? What are you reading?”

The Heritage of Great Britain and Ireland edited by Melanie Bradley-Shaw and Jacqui Hawthorn (1992) records, “On each side of the house lie the Pleasure Grounds with may rare and interesting trees with a particularly fine group of Wellingtonias, named in honour of the Great Duke in 1853. In the Ice House Paddock lies the grave of Copenhagen, buried with full military honours after living out his days in retirement at Stratfield Saye, frequently ridden by his master and a multitude of children. The spreading Turkey Oak which shelters his grave grew from an acorn planted by Mrs Apostles, the Duke’s housekeeper.”

A 550 metre straight avenue leads from the gatelodges to the forecourt in front of the northwest facing entrance front of the house. The southeast elevation looks across a vast lawn stretching down to the River Loddon which acts as a haha. A rustic wooded Roman Temple built in 1846 to commemorate a visit by Queen Victoria is an eyecatcher in the North Pleasure Gardens. The South Pleasure Gardens stretch out in the direction of St Mary the Virgin Church and The Old Rectory. The Duke and Duchess-in-Waiting’s home, The Old Rectory is a highly attractive pale brick house with a late 18th century core. A lunette window over a Tuscan columned projection looks over formal gardens. The house was later twice extended so appears as three distinct phases of development. The Pheasantry Lodge is a larger than normal mid 19th century Italianate gatelodge marking the entrance to the St Mary’s and The Old Rectory. The Great Duke’s beautifully planted formal gardens are laid out on one side of the north avenue.

An Anglo Irish atmosphere somehow still permeates Stratfield Saye House – Curraghmore (County Waterford) meets Mount Stewart (County Down). The Wellington connection lives on in Ireland. Annadale Grammar School for boys opened in south Belfast in 1950. It was named after the childhood home of Anne, Countess of Mornington, mother of the Great Duke, which had once stood on the school site. The school adopted the Duke’s motto Virtus Fortunate Comes: Fortune Favours the Brave. The family connection became even more apparent when Annadale amalgamated with Carolan Grammar School for girls in 1990 and Wellington College was formed.

Henry James (1905), “These delicious old houses, in the long August days, in the south of England air, on the soil over which so much has passed and out of which so much has come, rose before me like a series of visions.”

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Design Developers Hotels Luxury People Restaurants

Joia Restaurant + Rooftop Bar Battersea Power Station London

Yarden

It’s a table with one of the best views in London, rivalling that of Decimo in King’s Cross. The bricks of Battersea Power Station are practically within touching distance while PLP Architecture’s Nova development across the Thames in Victoria appears as an improbable pyramid. On the 15th floor of Art’otel, the chain with a penchant for lower case font and upper end modern art, Joia brings Portuguese food to the English Capital. Head Chef Henrique Sá Pessoa is known for his two Michelin starred Alma restaurant in Lisbon.

The Joia vibe is The Great Gatsby or at least Baz Luhrmann’s film version of the novel. Luxury hotel specialist Russell Sage Studio uses a peach and pink led palette of pastels which works especially well under the glow of sunset. It’s an updated Twenties look chiming with the construction date of the Power Station. Porthole like circular mirrors reflect the view. The curved northeast wall is distractingly fully glazed. A sweeping staircase fit for Daisy Buchanan to descend in style links the 85 cover restaurant to the double height bar.

Stretching the literary metaphor, the food is up to East Egg meets West Egg party standards with a heavy dose of Iberian flavour. Somehow the modish plates (as opposed to three standard courses) work in this setting. As the mercury lowers Henrique’s kitchen proves its salt with Padron peppers, asparagus, monkfish, patatas bravas, and crema Catalana with burnt orange ice cream. Surely Henrique will be awarded coveted étoiles en Angleterre. A rooftop bar and infinity pool above Joia is straight out of a Jazz Age book.

Head Sommelier David Nunes explains, “Our wine list offers a wide selection that celebrates the rich heritage, diverse terroirs and centuries old winemaking traditions of Portugal and Spain. Each bottle tells a story of craftmanship and passion from the sun drenched vineyards of Douro valley to the rolling hills of Rioja. Each bottle tells a story of craftmanship and passion. Savour the bold structured reds of Ribera del Duero. Explore Portugal’s distinctive varietals from the deep complexity of Touriga Nacional to the crisp freshness of Vinho Verde.” Or Gaintza Txakolina, Basque rosé colour coordinating with the pink sunset.

Local estate agent Gabriel Cunningham of Dexters sums up the 17 hectare regeneration site, “The Battersea Power Station redevelopment is now the epicentre of the wider area. It ticks every box in terms of bars, restaurants, shopping, children’s activities and social events.” Monumentality on a modest scale is a contradiction so everything about the blocks surrounding the Power Station is big. Really big. Frank Gehry’s two trademark tipsily topsy turvy twisting towers are like his Düsseldorf RheinHafen Arts and Meda Centre on steroids.

Adam, Pugin, Wyatt … the great British architectural dynasties. Plus the Gilbert Scotts. Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811 to 1878) designed St Pancras Renaissance Hotel which has been recycled and upcycled. The output of his grandson Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880 to 1960) has fared just as well. Liverpool Anglican Cathedral still serves its original purpose. His Bankside Power Station on London’s Southbank is celebrating its 25th anniversary as Tate Modern. After closing in the Eighties, Battersea Power Station is now one of the largest multipurpose buildings in Britain.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Design People Restaurants Town Houses

The Wallace Collection Marylebone London + John O’Connell

Quotes of Armour

Despite being a Sèvres urn’s throw from London’s Oxford Street, The Wallace Collection at Hertford House always radiates an air of calm and civility. Perhaps it’s the sylvan setting of Manchester Square. Maybe it’s the muted acoustics of the Courtyard Restaurant. But most likely it is the dignity – even with some daring moments – of the interiors that secures this aura of being far from the madding crowd. The latest room in the former home of the Victorian collector Sir Richard Wallace to shine once more is the Great Gallery. It’s December 2014 and John O’Connell, Founder and Director of John J O’Connell Architects, is about to give a private tour of The Wallace Collection. The municipal museum is once more a sumptuous townhouse. Over to John:

“Sir Richard Wallace planned the internal spaces around the main staircase which has a balustrade from the Hôtel de Nevers in Paris. In principle, each room is enhanced to stress the domestic or private mansion aspect of the main house. For example interconnecting doors between rooms have been reinstated and indeed in the Study we have introduced an entirely new false door to visually balance the existing doorway on the other side of the fireplace. Our main purpose is to provide an augmented setting for the Collection. It is not about re-creating rooms as they were, no, but rather re-presenting them for today’s visitors and scholars. The colour of the Dining Garden Hall is a quieter silver grey. You can’t have hectic colours all the time! Curtains should cascade and be three dimensional: they should come forwards and backwards.”

“This is the size of a city block, the Great Gallery, so it’s an extraordinary beautiful room and what we’ve done is gone and looked at the archived photograph of the room as it was with this lovely laylight which had to be abolished at a certain moment and now with modern technology we can again have this great laylight. This is where you have studio glazing at the top of the roof and it in turn lets light down onto this magnificent daylight so in other words it has a huge amount of natural light falling into the room.”

“It’s not wallpaper on the walls. It’s the most wonderful possible fabric, silk, and it’s not just damask, it’s a brocatelle, so it’s got even more silk in it! I think that to, as it were, bring the gallery forward into the modern age, you need to get the best possible conditions: lighting, climate control, security, fire safety compliance, decorative effects, so you can bring all of that into this great space. You could only do that if you go right back and lift the roof off because that’s what happened here. You see, the entire roof of the Great Gallery was taken off and what we have here is a whole new room within the gallery space because this has the technology almost of a railway terminal, when you see the supporting structure, and yet inside it is so beautiful.”

“Architectural features must do at least three jobs. The oculi in the latticed cast plasterwork punch through the cove: vertical stop, start, stop, start, all the way round the room. They also let more light into the room and act as the return path for the air conditioning. Reinstating wainscoting has curatorial importance. The paintings come to life against coloured fabric above the dado rail and the light coloured wainscot is appropriate as a backdrop to furniture. The gilt fillet of the wainscot is more pronounced than in the preceding galleries. If it was too small it would look titchy; if it was too over the top it would look bonkers. The wainscot must flow along. The Great Gallery enshrines everything we have learned during our 19 years working at the Collection. Everything bar the floor is new.”

“I think first of all The Wallace Collection is so multifaceted, the armour, then of course furniture, particularly Boulle, as an architect we love Boulle furniture, this is what we really want! The great thing is here the parameters are set. You can move everything but you cannot acquire and you cannot dispose which is marvellous, so it’s like a game of chess all the time. Everything is of equal importance. The placement of objects is just so important.”

Earlier that year Country Life had featured the Great Gallery in its 10 September edition hailing the “triumphant revitalisation”. The hang has long been recognised as one of the world’s best displays of Old Masters. Only two of the principal galleries attached to aristocratic London townhouses survive: Apsley House in Piccadilly and Hertford House. But it was John’s work which really enthralled the magazine. Michael Hall writes in Gallery Tour: The Great Gallery at The Wallace Collection:

“The present restoration – which forms a climax, but not the conclusion, of a comprehensive programme of refurbishment of the galleries begun under The Wallace’s former Director Dame Rosalind Savill in 2000 – has been paid for by a single donation of £5 million by the Monument Trust, in memory of the Honourable Simon Sainsbury, a major donor to The Wallace and a former Trustee. As with the other galleries, the design work has been carried out by John O’Connell Architects.”

“At first glance, it may seem that nothing has changed, but, in fact, almost everything has. Even the gallery’s two doors, at the far ends of the south wall, are not in their original places. They were formerly close to the corners of the room, creating a dead space in the angle; now that they have been moved closer together, there is room to hang large pictures on either side of them. In the 1978 to 1982 restoration, the walls were hung with a coral coloured fabric, which, by 2012, had faded. It has been replaced by a small patterned crimson damask woven by Prelle in Lyon.”

“Inspired by the great Victorian private picture galleries of London – continuing a tradition that goes back to the 17th century – it provides a satisfyingly rich and deep toned backdrop to the paintings. The main seat furniture in the room, an early Louis XVI set of chairs and settees, has been reupholstered to match. One subtle but striking improvement is the addition of a chair rail and dado, which the room had never possessed before. This anchors the furniture to the setting, but, more significantly, provides a strong architectural base for the hang of the paintings, preventing any feeling that they are floating on these huge walls.”

“Most impressive of all is the coved ceiling. An entirely new design by John O’Connell, it reintroduces indirect sunlight by means of oval laylights in the cove and a large laylight in the centre of the room. This has been made possible by advances in air conditioning technology: the new system installed as part of the refurbishment is very much smaller than its 1978 to 1982 predecessor. Daylight brings the room alive, and lends sparkle to the paintings, enhanced by an entirely new lighting scheme – predominantly LEDs – by the engineers, Sutton Vane Associates.” Michael Hall describes the Great Gallery as “one of London’s greatest rooms”.

Ros was Director from 1992 to 2011. Her appointment was approved by Prime Minister John Major because The Wallace is a national museum. She had the dual task of creating the optimal 21st century museum visitor experience and meeting the expanded expectation of the Government. Ros breathed light and life into the museum, excavating the basement and glazing over the courtyard. Two temporary exhibition galleries, a theatre, a learning studio, a library, a meeting room and rows of individual bathrooms were inserted into the basement. The new spaces combine the practical with the scholarly. Most of all, Ros wanted the objects to sparkle and to bring a new domestic intimacy to the staterooms. And so she called upon John and together they embarked upon the golden age of transformation – at pace. Visitor numbers more than doubled.

At her Memorial Service in St Marylebone Anglican Church in May 2025, the Reverend Canon Dr Stephen Evans said, “Rosalind is not only renowned for her services to the study of ceramics, but also someone once described as ‘the most distinguished woman museum director of the western world’. Not only the keeper who transformed The Wallace Collection. A trusted advisor. A wise, exciting and imaginative teacher. An engaging meticulous writer whose public service was enlivened by ebullience, verve and passion.”

It’s August 2025: asparagus and feta mousse followed by orange and poppyseed cake are being served in the Courtyard Restaurant. A time for reflection in and on and about a monumental cultural legacy. The late great Dame Rosalind Savill was an inspirational scholar of European decorative arts, a visionary museum director, and a human being of such intelligence, empathy and grace. She called John “my genius architect”. His practice would later be responsible for redesigning major country house estates such as Montalto in County Down. What Ros and John achieved together at The Wallace Collection remains a touchstone of excellence for museums everywhere. Dancing to the music of time.

Categories
Architecture Art Design Developers Luxury Restaurants Town Houses

Passage des Panoramas + Musée Grévin Paris

A Lesson in Skiagraphy

It’s a diorama come to life. The past is present in Passage des Panoramas. A timeline as permeable as an Alice Rohrwacher film (La Chimera, 2023). It’s straight out of an Émile Zola novel. Literally (Nana, 1880). Built in 1799, this was the first covered arcade in Paris, oozing period character and historic authenticity. It combines beauty with functionality with rarity. Elegant white arches support the glazed pitched roof over rows of exquisite wooden shopfronts with colourful painted panels. Passage des Panoramas is a shortcut between Palais Royal and Montmartre. Only 17 such arcades have survived Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s rebuilding of the city.

There’s quirky and there’s Victoria Station Wagon Restaurant which is like a railway coach derailed at the entrance. A winged wolf and a bejewelled lynx peer through the windows of Caffè Stern in the centre. Philippe Starck designed the interior of this petite restaurant owned by the Alajmo group which runs the three Michelin star Le Calandre in Padova. Postcards of flooded streets and reclining kittens can be found in Maison Prins. On the opposite side of Boulevard Montmartre is Musée Grévin which opened in 1882. It’s where celebrities come to life – in wax.

Categories
Architecture Art Design Fashion Luxury Town Houses

Paris + L’Art de Vivre

Releasing the Pressure

A dash across Paris can easily turn into a Coco Mademoiselle Chanel ad style escapade. Sipping morning coffee on a balcony of Le Milie Rose Hôtel teetering over Rue des Petites Ecuries (Street of Little Stables). Popping into Pleaseness for an 80s retro retail kick. Saying salut to François (Mahé) and Nico (Francioni) in La Mâle d’Effeenne. Lighting a candle in St Paul and St Louis Church. In an increasingly byzantine world, the French Capital never fails to elevate the body and soul.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Country Houses People

Lytham Hall Lytham St Anne’s Lancashire +

Rhymes With Rhythm

A short car ride though the beautiful Blackpool suburb of Lytham St Anne’s – turn of the 20th century villas between sand dunes – leads from the best hotel in northwest England (obviously Boulevard) to the grandest country house in the region. A few months previously Peter Sheppard and Keith Day had hosted lunch on a rainy afternoon in the library of Wolterton Hall in Norfolk just before they sold up. In contrast, a visit to Lytham Hall is on a sunny morning. What’s the connection? The two buildings were crowned joint winners of the Historic Houses Restoration Award 2022. It is thanks to the combined drive of General Manager Peter Anthony and Deputy Manager Paul Lomax over the last eight years that the revival of Lytham Hall has been such a laudable success.

The main block, wings, most of the outbuildings and the parkland have all been restored beyond any former glory.  Rooms are now brimming with chattels from taxidermy to hosiery, dressed to the nines or at least the 1890s. Intense colours ensure there’s never a dull moment: lemon coloured walls; an emerald hued ceiling; lime panels and peach coving; burgundy flock wallpaper. In contrast, Lytham Hall has a no nonsense Palladian exterior that is unmistakeably by the able hand of Yorkshireman John Carr. Everything is just so about it from sound proportions to sturdy detailing. Exuberance is saved for the interior decoration. Fellow Yorkshireman Francis Johnson would take on the mantle of serious neoclassical architecture two centuries later.

Francis even worked on Everingham Park, a John Carr house outside York. This contemporaneous seven bay three storey house is a smaller plainer version of Lytham Hall. David Neave and John Martin Robinson state in Francis Johnson Architect: A Classical Statement (2001), “Francis’s treatment of Everingham was typical of his scholarly approach to old buildings. He fully researched the history of the house and its place in Carr’s oeuvre before preparing his designs; studying the original drawings as well as the building itself. The Duke of Norfolk wished to reduce the house to its manageable 18th century core, and commissioned Francis to carry out the work. Francis found that the structure of Carr’s building, with its oak joinery, had withstood mid 20th century neglect better than the 19th century wings with their pine joinery; this reinforced the decision to demolish the later parts. The 19th century blocking course was removed and replaced with a half round cast iron gutter and cornice copied from that at Carr’s Lytham Hall in Lancashire.”

Brian Wragg gives the best lowdown on Lytham Hall in John Carr of York (2000), “Thomas Clifton inherited Clifton, which his family had bought in 1606, aged 10, in 1737. 20 years later, although he had no obvious Yorkshire connections, he called in Carr to rebuild the house, which lies on flat pasturelands a mile from the estuary of the River Ribble. Most of the building accounts, bills, plans and drawings have disappeared, but a labourers’ account book first mentions building work in 1757 and in 1750 mentions ‘Doorcasing and stroothing of grand staircases etc’. The 1757 to 1764 account book of the steward, Raymond Watt, shows that the house was complete in 1764, when on 17 March, Carr was paid £189 and 14 shillings, the balance of his account … Fitting up of the house continued well into the 1760s … Care and money were lavished on the elevations, with an attached Ionic portico on the east elevation. The main rooms are on the ground floor, and the Main Entrance Hall, with a handsome Rococo ceiling, has a heavy Kentian fireplace. The imperial staircase, one of Carr’s finest creations, is particularly grand and may have been inspired by that by Paine at Doncaster Mansion House of 1745 to 1747. The Dining Room shows the influence of Adam and must have been completed later. The house is now offices.”

In familiar country house fashion, portions of the preceding 17th century house were remodelled as ancillary wings around a courtyard. All that is hidden behind the lawn view of the entrance front. Nine bays rising three storeys are set in bright red brick in Flemish bond framed by a grid of stone and yellow painted stucco quoins and Ionic columns and string courses and cornicing. The proportions are so pleasing to behold. A pediment surmounting the three bay columned breakfront is just the right height. A hipped roof follows the slopes of the pediment. The main block is five bays deep. The three bay east facing Entrance Hall leads through to the Staircase Hall which links with the smaller North Entrance Hall (a double cube). Four reception rooms fill the rest of the ground floor. Four principal bedroom suites and Violet Clifton’s mid 20th century rooms occupy the first floor with secondary bedrooms on the second floor.

Good looks don’t come cheap. “It takes in excess of £1 million a year to run Lytham Hall,” Peter explains. “Once we’ve finished the expensive restoration projects, we should really just be maintaining the place but maintenance alone costs a fortune. For example, the building has a very intricate expensive alarm system – it’s got museum status in its own right.” Paul adds, “We do have a vast stable block that could potentially be used as holiday lets in the future. It’s going to cost a fortune to restore that area because it’s a large building and in quite a state. It would make a lovely kind of retail space for local crafts as well. We utilise every corner of what we have because you have to when our costs are so high.”

Peter says, “We just strive to get bigger and better each year and to give the best visitor experience. We now have around 250,000 visitors a year. When we came on board that figure was around 20,000. I always call it mould to gold: we have gone from a mouldy old mansion to something now that is glowing and twinkling like a beacon. Our new larger shop has been a great success. We hold massive events in the grounds such as the Lytham Proms attracting a few thousand people. There’s never a quiet month because we’re open all year round whereas a lot of stately homes close for the winter and reopen at Easter. The start of our year is the snowdrop season which is very popular; that then gently rolls into Easter and before you know it the open air theatre is happening followed by Halloween and Christmas activities.”

“After weeks of hard work our Billiard Room is finally finished and we are over the moon with the results!” exclaims Paul. “This room had to be taken off our tour for a couple of years ago as the roof lantern was being problematic. Thankfully the roof work was completed last autumn and the large timber lantern was repaired and made watertight.” Local company Finelines then started work on the huge task of redecoration. A mauve and green National Trust endorsed Little Greene colourway replaces a toxic gâteau of beige paint layers. Brass Art Nouveau hanging lamps are quite an improvement on the removed strip lighting. Billiard rooms were the must have extension of the late 19th century. Think Mourne Park and Ballywalter Park, both in County Down. The Billiard Room at Lytham Hall is a late Victorian interior embellished with Edwardian stained glass windows. William Morris’ 1901 seaweed pattern was selected for the curtain fabric: historically and geographically appropriate.

A sign in one of the dressing rooms states: “Lady Eleanor Cecily Lowther Clifton’s beautiful dress was reproduced from the stipple engraving of Lady Eleanor (John Henry Robinson 1845, National Portrait Gallery) by one our talented house volunteers, Judith Davitt. The dress is made of silk taffeta and features a typical V shape at the waist. As we don’t know the original colour of the dress we used some beautiful fabric from a pair of donated curtains. The dress was first displayed Christmas 2024 at Mr Fezziwig’s Party, part of our Dickens of a Christmas display. Lady Eleanor (1822 to 1894) was married to Colonel John Talbot Clifton (1819 to 1882). She was the sister of the 3rd Earl of Lonsdale of Lowther Castle in Cumbria.”

Peter concludes, “Lytham Hall means the absolute world to us: we live and breathe it. We’ve lived in Lytham since 1997 so the Fylde is definitely home and Lytham Hall itself has become such a massive part of our lives. It’s so rewarding – no two days are the same. You never know what’s going to happen when you walk through that door and that’s really exciting. It’s not just a place to work – it’s a vocation. The people who we’ve met along the way and worked with including staff and volunteers have been brilliant.”

The last Squire, Henry Talbot de Vere Clifton (Violet’s son), gave up ownership of Lytham Hall in 1965 to the creditors Guardian Royal Insurance who used it as a headquarters. In 1998 a local charity Lytham Town Trust bought the house and its remaining 32 hectares of parkland, and two years later passed everything over to the Heritage Trust for the Northwest. Since 2017 Peter Anthony and Paul Lomax along with Trustee Stephen Williams have developed a sustainable operation maximising every useable area. Fylde Borough’s only Grade I Listed Building is in safe – and enthusiastic – hands.

Categories
Art Design Hotels Luxury People

The Rembrandt Hotel Knightsbridge London + Ade Bakare Fashion Show

Whatever Happens

We love surprises. Who would have guessed Mexican and Japanese cuisine fuse so well? Not us, till after six hours of midweek lunching on ajo chipotle edamame and seabass ceviche in Los Mochis on Liverpool Street. Later, we will ask the bemused waiter at Annabel’s, “Where’s the rooftop terrace?” He will respond with glee, “You’re in it!” and immediately will press a button to slide back the ceiling, revealing a cloudy sky. Next, we’re filled with excitement when Queen Camilla arrives at Ascot but perhaps it shouldn’t be that big a surprise as she is handing out The King George VI and Elizabeth Stakes £668,400 prize to French favourite Mickael Barzalona riding Calandagan. It’s the 75th running of the race. Helicopter on standby of course.

We’re not at all surprised when Mary Martin receives her Damehood. Long overdue. On a hot Saturday evening we find ourselves in the front row of Ade Bakare’s summer show as Mary’s guests. It’s the Eighth Edition. We’re very Knightsbridge (think Giovanni or The Franklin) although The Rembrandt Hotel is new territory to us. Mary and Brenda Emmanus OBE are holding court in the lounge. That red sports car of Mary’s sure is raving up the kilometrage. The Queen of Fashion needs a helicopter! Ade speaks to the glamorous crowd: “I look forward to you wearing my latest collections. And that includes the exquisite perfume line that is available too. The T shirts have been inspired by African flowers. The jumpsuits come in vibrant pinks, blues and yellows.” It’s an eclectic show from casualwear, eyewear and millinery creations to the grand finale bridalwear. To quote Elizabeth Bowen in Bowen’s Court, 1942, “Like all stories told with gusto, it has its variations … I will give the version that most appeals to me.” In modern parlance, this is our authentic best selves’ truth. As always, we’re channelling our inner Deborah Turbeville.

The eponymous designer launched Ade Bakare Couture in 1991 with the assistance of a loan from the Prince of Wales Youth Business Trust and has grown it to a notable name in the global fashion industry. He had just majored in Salford University College Manchester following a history and education degree from the University of Lagos. The following year the fashion designer produced his first of many prêt-à-porter collections. He opened a high end boutique in Lagos in 2006. Ade was born in Britain to Nigerian parents: these two worlds combine in his clothing which fuses the elegance of British tailoring with the vibrancy of Yoruba culture.

London’s fashion scene is renowned for its eccentricity and inclusivity but in the past black designers have often had to carve their own careers. Then in 2011 along came Africa Fashion Week London and everything changed. Led by Queen Ronke Ademiluyi-Ogunwusi, this event promotes and celebrates black fashion excellence. Ade Bakare Couture makes frequent appearances on the annual catwalk. Headlining fashion artist Dame Mary Martin says, “Africa Fashion Week London is a fantastic launchpad for new collections and has become the go to event of the season. I’ve launched many of my collections at the show from The Hidden Queens to The Return.” As for Mary’s next collection, she shares, “It will be a surprise. A huge surprise!” Whatever it is, we know Dame Mary Martin will always obey Luann Countess de Lesseps advice, “Don’t be uncool. Be cool.”

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Country Houses Design Luxury People Restaurants

Waddesdon Manor Buckinghamshire + Pablo Bronstein + The Temple of Solomon

Because Your Love Is Better Than Life

There are two principal Biblical temples: Solomon’s in the past; Ezekiel’s to come. God provides descriptions of both in the Old Testament. For example, Ezekiel 40:24 to 27, “Then he led me to the south side and I saw the south gate. He measured its jambs and its portico, and they had the same measurements as the others. The gateway and its portico had narrow openings all around, like the openings of the others. It was 50 cubits long and 25 cubits wide. Seven steps led up to it, with its portico opposite them; it had palm tree decorations on the faces of the projecting walls on each side. The inner court also had a gate facing south, and he measured from this gate to the outer gate on the south side; it was 100 cubits.”

King David was a man of war; his son, a man of peace, would be chosen to build the Temple. II Samuel 7:5 to 12, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for Me, and I will establish his throne forever.’” I Kings 6:1 states that in the month of Zif in the 480th year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, Solomon began to build the Temple. It was the fourth year of his reign, which likely spanned from around 1,015 to 975 BC.

The Bible provides dimensions and details and decorations. I Chronicles 28:11, “Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement.” The foundations were 60 cubits by 20 cubits (II Chronicles 3:1). The interior was covered with pure gold according to I Kings 6:21, and pots, shovels and sprinkling bowls were of burnished bronze (I Kings 7:40). Upon completion of the Temple, Solomon summoned the leaders of Israel to bring the Ark of the Covenant from Zion, the City of David, to its final resting place in the Temple on Mount Moriah.

Artist Pablo Bronstein (who was born in Argentina and lives in London) believes, “The reconstruction of ancient and Biblical structures says more about the societies that reconstructed them than it does about any long gone originals. My reconstructions of the Temple explore idealising tendencies in architecture across porous boundaries of styles relevant during a defining era of archaeology – roughly the 18th to 20th centuries. That’s precisely the time when nationalisms sought to tie themselves to particular architectural traditions and during which nascent professional archaeology informed our understanding of the past. I’ve tried to inhabit the ambitious contestants entering the Prix de Rome as they set about reconstructing the Temple entirely in their own image.” And where better to host such an exhibition rooted in the Tanakh than that most Jewish of English country houses, Waddesdon Manor?

Mark Girouard was a prominent country house architectural historian of the 20th century. His grandfather Henry Beresford, 6th Marquess of Waterford, owned one of the top estates in Ireland: Curraghmore. He records in Historic Houses of Britain (1979), “Baron Ferdinand, like other Rothschilds of the later generations, had largely detached himself from the Rothschild banks, except as places through which to invest his money. He was able to devote himself to sport, politics, philanthropy and pleasure. Like all Rothschilds he entertained lavishly. Waddesdon was meant for use, not just as a repository for treasures. Edward VII, who had a fondness for Rothschilds, came there frequently, and once fell down the staircase. Victoria was there for the day in 1890; her visit was something of a triumph for she was much less partial to Rothschilds than her son, and Waddesdon was the only Rothschild house she ever visited.”

He continues, “It is easy to envisage house parties at Waddesdon. It is harder to think of children playing there, or in general, to envisage a Rothschild nursery. Indeed there never was a nursery at Waddesdon. When Baron Ferdinand died childless in 1898 (he caught a chill on one of his regular visits to the grave of his wife), he left Waddesdon to his sister Alice, who never married. When she died in 1922 she left it to a French Rothschild, her great nephew James. James de Rothschild was married but had no children. It was he, on his death in 1957, who left the house, all its contents and an endowment to the National Trust – a legacy of almost unequalled munificence.”

Soon after they inherited the house, James de Rothschild and his wife Dorothy installed an electric servants’ bell system to replace the traditional manual bells. The indicator panel includes connections to Baron’s Room, Blue Dressing Room, East Hall, Low White Room, Portico Bathroom, Smoking Room, State Entrance, Tower Drawing Room, Turret Bedroom and many more. They also installed hot and cold water plumbing. The tradition of entertaining continues at Waddesdon with the Manor Restaurant on the ground floor of the Bachelors’ Wing. The wine list includes Waddesdon Rothschild Collection Viognier 2024 with hints of peach and apricot, sourced from the hills of Languedoc in the south of France.

In 1870, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild had bought 2,500 hectares near Aylesbury (favoured family territory) from George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough, to build a country house designed by a French architect (the gloriously named Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur) filled with French furnishings (coordinated by interior design company Decour) and surrounded by gardens planned with the assistance of a French landscape designer (Elie Lainé). More Loire Valley than Aylesbury Vale. His wife had died in childbirth after a year and a half of wedded bliss: they had met at their mutual relatives’ London residence of Gunnersbury Park House. Cartoonist Osbert Lancaster even included Le Style Rothschild in Homes Sweet Homes (1939), referring to “heavy golden cornices” and “damask hung walls” and “fringed and tasselled curtains of Genoese velvet”. The tradition of supporting the arts continues with the Rothschild Foundation. CEO Roger White states, “There are still remarkable philanthropic initiatives happening at Waddesdon.”

Senior Curator Janet Carey introduces The Temple of Solomon and Its Contents exhibition: “In this room are Pablo’s two different versions of the Temple of Solomon. In order to create them he has imagined himself in the personae of prize seeking students of 19th century architecture. We have extraordinarily detailed instructions from God written down in the Bible but of course nobody actually knows what the Temple looked like. So what Pablo has done is read those instructions and make these incredible works of art conjured up from the hands of imagined individuals.” Divine design.

Erudite quotations range from the portico of Palais Garnier in Paris to William Blake’s painting The Great Architect. Styles include Adamesque, Indo Egyptian and Persian. “Pablo uses the famous spiralling Solomonic columns,” Janet notes. Or is he inspired by the spiralling copper pipes of Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur’s architecture? “His Veil of the Temple is quite provocative: here it is interpreted as a very froufrou Waddesdon style curtain with glorious red tassels. The Veil separated the world from the Divine and was torn in two at the moment Christ died.” And what about the Greek key tile pattern around the courtyard? A nod to Sir William Chambers, perhaps? She smiles, “The pattern comes from the band around those ubiquitous New York takeaway coffee cups! It’s this blend of high and low references that is really fun.”

There are also acrylic on paper paintings of specific Biblical objects. Janet states, “You can read in the Bible how God gives very precise instructions to Moses about how the candelabra should be designed and Pablo follows to incredible detail how many branches and so on should be on this. It is an oil lamp, not a candle lamp, so God specifies that each of the cups for the oil at the tops of the seven branches must be almond shaped. Pablo interprets that very literally as a cast for an almond. He’s really obeyed the Divine instructions in the Bible while deriving some detailing from the objets d’art of Waddesdon.”

“In the space adjacent is this extraordinary selection of drawings and books from Waddesdon’s permanent collection,” she adds. “They’re mostly 18th century French works of art which Pablo chose himself from about 1,000 design and architectural works. The moment you see those works you will understand why he has chosen them. Each one has some very clear visual relationship with Pablo’s own work. Some of the drawings have never been displayed before.”

Another attraction feature of the exhibition space is a model of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem made by James Burke. Completed in 1992, the building was designed by Ada Karmi-Melamede and her brother Ram Karmi. The Supreme Court was proposed and funded by the Yad Hanadiv Foundation established by Dorothy de Rothschild in 1960 and chaired by Jacob 4th Lord Rothschild until his death in 2024. In the gallery on the floor above, 18th century Jewish Italian embroidered hangings from the Rothschild Collection depicting the Temple of Solomon and the Second Temple (built after the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC) are on display. Waddesdon Manor continues to evolve and expand.

Categories
Architecture Art Country Houses Design Hotels People

The Sweeneys + Castle Grove Letterkenny Donegal

Weathering Well

Tiree, Stornoway, Lerwick, Wick Automatic, Aberdeen, Leuchars, Boulmer, Bridlington, Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic, Greenwich Light Vessel Automatic, St Catherine’s Point Automatic, Jersey, Channel Light Vessel Automatic, Scilly Automatic, Milford Haven, Aberporth, Valley, Liverpool Crosby, Valentia, Ronaldsway, Malin Head, Machrihanish Automatic. For the uninitiated that’s the pure poetry of Radio Four’s shipping forecast, a rhapsodic melodic episodic late night cruise circumnavigating the coastlines of the British Isles.

The penultimate point along the shipping forecast’s journey, Malin Head, is the exposed most northerly tip of Ireland teetering on the tip of the Inishowen Peninsula in view of the Aurora Borealis. The ultimate location in this neck of the island is Castle Grove. Unlike windswept Malin Head, next stop Iceland, this romantic estate lies huddled off the Wild Atlantic Way in the sheltered mid southwest wiggle of Lough Swilly, the waterscape separating the peninsula from the mainland.

A two kilometre long drive sweeps through 100 hectares of bucolic parkland complemented by glimpses of the Lough as composed as a Derek Hill landscape; a wave of anticipation rises, then behold, a house four square, an abiding place of great and unsearchable things. Like two faced Clandeboye in County Down, the principal elevations stand proud at right angles to one another. Face to the avenue, face to the sea. Unlike Bellamont Forest, Edward Lovett Pearce’s poppet of Palladian perfection in County Cavan which is designed to be seen from every angle, Castle Grove is country house front, farmhouse back. A Tuscan porch fills the vacancy of the centre of the south facing four bay façade: charm captured in render and stone.

Subsumed within its solid footprint lies an older house dating back to 1695 and rebuilt in 1730. A radical makeover brought Castle Grove bang up to date for the swinging 1820s. As the Grove family went up in the world, so did the height of their windows and ceilings. The resultant structural idiosyncrasies only add to the house’s character. Four of the façade window openings are higher outside than inside – this comes to light when the shutters are pulled and a gap appears above them. A shuttered cupboard in the Samuel Beckett Room was once a window on the east elevation. Elsewhere, blind windows and angled openings maintain external symmetry. A 19th century conservatory to the side of the façade has come and gone. Heritage architect John O’Connell remarks, “Castle Grove now looks like a beautiful Regency house.”

The Wrays of Donegal by Charlotte Violet Trench, 1945, is a carefully researched genealogy of the family who owned the adjoining estate southwest of Castle Grove. Unusually, the walled gardens of Castle Wray and Castle Grove adjoin each other. Down the centuries, the two families were linked by various marriages. Charlotte records, “I went to Castle Grove, about three or four miles outside the town of Letterkenny on the shore of Lough Swilly. A large demesne, then a lawn with flowerbeds and the house; not the original Castle Shanaghan; but, like most of these places, a house built a couple of 100 years ago and added to at intervals. Mrs Grove was at home and I was led through a square hall to a long shaped drawing room with many windows, where Mrs Grove received me … Mrs Grove told me of the sorry state of ruin into which the house of Castle Wray was now falling, and said her gardeners should take me to see it.”

It’s after spring equinox. Snowdrops have disappeared; daffodils are in late bloom; primroses are on their way. “Castle Grove was a country house closed up when we bought it,” says Raymond Sweeney. “The owners were all dead and the next of kin were living in Northern Ireland. So it was up for sale and we were lucky to get it. We got possession of the house on 23 February 1989. It wasn’t looking as well as it looks today! It took time as well as money to get it going. The house was structurally sound though; the previous owners looked after it well over the years. Do you see that lock on the front door? It came from the women’s prison in Armagh 200 years ago!”

The Sweeneys bought the house and estate from Commander Peter Campbell and his wife Lady Moyra Hamilton, the sister of James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn. Incidentally, Lady Moyra was one of Queen Elizabeth II’s six Maids of Honour at her coronation. She died in 2020 aged 90 and her husband died four years later aged 97. Lady Moyra was one of three titled ladies known for their charitable works who simultaneously spent their last years in Somme Nursing Home, Belfast. The Commander had inherited Castle Grove on the death of his distant relative Major James Grove but he already lived at Hollybrook House in Randalstown, County Antrim. Mary agrees with her husband Raymond’s comment, “The land steward and housekeeper kept Castle Grove in good shape. For the first year we lived in the house and opened it as a bed and breakfast.”

“We wanted to develop it but not spoil it,” she explains. “The house – it was a real challenge. We wanted to keep the characteristics, the symmetries. We again looked and looked at it. In the end we pushed the entire house back into part of the rear courtyard. The stable wing was already lofted so we retained its front and added a corridor behind linking it to the main house. We didn’t want guests having to go out in the rain. The bedrooms in this wing are just as big as those in the main house. We never demolished a wall in the original house. Instead, we adapted windows as doors or indoor mirrors. I feel a great obligation to maintain Castle Grove.” Heritage. History. Hibernia.

Mary continues, “When we applied for a dining room addition the planning officers wanted it to be a conservatory. But that part of the house faces northeast and rarely gets direct sunlight! It took a year to resolve, to get our sympathetically designed extension approved. We didn’t want the corner sticking out in views from the driveway so it’s chamfered. We turned the sideboard recess in the old dining room into double doors under a fanlight. A local carpenter built the doors to match the 1820s double doors between the two main reception rooms. The fanlight is based on the one between the entrance and staircase halls.”

“The original dining room is now the Red Drawing Room,” she notes, “and next door is the Yellow Drawing Room. The marble fireplace in the current Dining Room is a replica from my old home. I jokingly asked Portadown Fireplaces if they could remake it based on a photo and sure enough they did!” The house is filled with modern Irish art. “Buying paintings from young artists exhibiting their work on the railings of St Stephen’s Green in Dublin in summer stemmed our interest. Artists like Maurice Wilks, Liam Jones, Brendan Timmons. Derek Hill gave us his oil painting Donegal Late Harvest. Derek brought many guests here. Really such a humble man and so friendly.”

The house is filled with antiques. Mary relates, “We have some stories to tell about auctions! Newark Antiques Fair is good. So is the Mill at Ballinderry. The bed in the George Bernard Shaw Room came from Seventh Heaven outside Chester. The beds are unbelievable there! That bed was made for Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. When we bought the fourposter in the Jonathan Swift Room we used saddle soap and toothbrushes to carefully clean it before using French polish. Beds and food – they’re so important!” As for the chandeliers, Sia could swing from them.

It’s time to talk to Mary’s daughter Irene who is managing reception (the former flower room). “The weather is unpredictable in Donegal or perhaps that should be predictable – it rains a fair bit! Donegal may be right off the Atlantic but we’re very inland here. The house has a warm, loving presence. It’s a very welcoming atmosphere. Whether this is us as a family, or the building, I’m not sure. The Groves were extremely good landlords, especially during the Famine when they fed and educated local children in the long barn. Perhaps this generosity and goodwill has over the centuries seeped into the walls. There’s houses before you know the history, they’re chilling …”

Irene explains, “Our main bedrooms are named after Irish writers including Oliver Goldsmith, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, William Butler Yeats. There are 15 in total; eight in the main house. The exception is the Daniel O’Connell Room. He actually stayed in the house. Daniel wrote to the Groves after his visit, referring to his ‘answer to the Irish problem’. Mr Grove introduced him to the House of Lords. General Montgomery also stayed here. Mrs Grove invited him from Dublin to stay.”

She recommends, “We can accommodate 120 guests for a wedding in our Michelin recommended Restaurant. Or 140 if the adjoining Red Drawing Room is used too. The Bar was once a breakfast room and the TV Room was a library and office. We still use the original Kitchen. We grow organic vegetables, herbs, and fruit – apples, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries – in our four acre Walled Garden.” Other stats include the size of the George Bernard Shaw Room which is 4.3 metres wide by 5.5 metres deep by three metres tall. The George Bernard Shaw Room bed is two metres wide. The wall between the Entrance Hall and the Yellow Drawing Room is 0.8 metres deep. The Yellow Drawing Room mantelpiece projects by 0.3 metres.

Charlotte Violet Trench recalls the Walled Garden as: “A vast place, enclosed by great high stone walls. It seemed very full of fruit trees and vegetables of all sorts, some parts were rather wild; it would have needed a regiment of gardeners to keep it really in order; but the old time herbaceous border was a blaze of colour and rich in beauty. In the old days there was a gate in the wall that divided the two gardens by which the families could pass through to one another’s place.”

Dinner in the Restaurant accords with Irene’s description of very local produce. Walled Garden leek and potato soup. Coffee infused garden beetroot, beetroot remoulade, salted feta cheese, toasted walnuts, garden greens. Garden rhubarb and white chocolate crème brûlée, sweet sable biscuit, cherry gel, mango sorbet. On a Saturday night the Restaurant is filled to its chamfered corner. The atmosphere is chilled on a Sunday morning as oak smoked Killybegs salmon wild salmon and scrambled Glenborin eggs are served. The Irish economy has sailed through some choppy waters this century but at Castle Grove the outlook is bright.

Archivist at Donegal County Council Archives Service, Niamh Brennan, and archivist at the Irish Architectural Archive, Aisling Dunne, have unearthed a Grove family tree and some accompanying photographs and letters as well as several 19th century recipes from the estate [the latter with lots of sic]. William Grove, High Sheriff of Donegal, rebuilt the house in 1730. His son Thomas was also High Sheriff; he died childless. William’s second son James married Rose Brook. William’s sister Dorothy Grove married John Wood of the 9th Light Dragoons in 1802 and they lived at Castle Grove. Their son James Grove Wood was born in 1803. He was a barrister and became High Sheriff.

James married Frances Montgomery of Convoy House, 32 kilometres south of Castle Grove – close neighbours in gentry terms. The 1806 building accounts of Convoy House record tree coverage of 300 Alders, 300 Beech, 300 Larch, 200 Ashes and 200 Scotch Firs. James and Frances’ daughter Dorothea Alice married the Reverend Charles Boyton of Derry City in 1871. Dorothea Alice’s brother John Montgomery Charles Grove was born in 1847 and inherited Castle Grove. He was land agent of Convoy House for three years starting in 1890.

John Montgomery Charles Grove married Lucy Gabbett, daughter of Major General William Gabbett of East India Company’s Artillery. John and Lucy’s children included Lucy Dorothea and her elder brother James Robert Wood Grove. He was born in 1888, joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers aged 20, and served in World War I. James married Eileen Edmonstone Kirk of the now demolished Thornfield House in Jordanstown, County Antrim. They were the last of the Groves to live at Castle Grove.

“Marrow Bones. If too long to serve undivided saw them in two; cover the open ends with a lump of paste and a cloth floured and tied close. The paste must be removed before being sent to table. Boil one and a half and two hours according to size. Put a ruffle of papar round each and serve in a napkin, with very hot toast. The marrow is spread on very hot toast and seasoned with pepper and salt.”

“Raisins Chutnee. Raisins cleaned and minced two pounds. Sugar three and a half pounds. Salt eight ounces, green ginger eight ounces, red pepper two ounces and garlic half an ounce. These with the exception of raisins sugar to be separately well pounded then mixed. Add to them the raisins and sugar and lastly one bottle of vinegar. This quantity will make nearly four bottles. Fill and leave them in the sun in India but at home cook for about an hour.”

“White Milk Soup. One onion. One carrot. One turnip. Three cloves stuck in the onion. A little stock made of rabbit vial, fowl or button. Put the vegetables in the stock and boil for an hour and a half to two hours. Strain salt through a verry fine hair seive. Then warm one pint of new milk and add all these together. Season with pepper and salt. This soup must be made just before using as it will not keep – the vegetables turn the milk sour.”

“Bed Sore Prevention. 10 grains of the nitrate of silver, to one ounce of water, to be applied by means of a camel hairbrush over every part exhibiting the highest appearance of inflammation, two or three times a day, until the skins has become blackened, afterwards only occassionally.”

“Anglo American Hospital Cairo. 11 May 1915. My Dearest Madam, Just a line to let you know that I am going on all right, and that there is really no more to tell you. The wound on the back of my hand has practically healed by now, but the other one is still pretty unpleasant and is exuding a good deal of matter and stuff. However the doctor seems satisfied about it. It is tied up still of course and has to be dressed pretty frequently. I can’t do very much with the fingers yet but they are better than they were. I can write a little faster with my left hand now though it is still rather a tedious process. The chief difficulty is to keep the letters at the right angle and prevent them falling over backwards. I don’t know yet whether I am likely to be sent home later or not, but very possibly will be. Anyhow I shan’t be able to move from here for the present till the wound has healed a bit.”

“We are very lucky from what I can gather to be in this hospital as everything is very comfortable and they look after us very well. Some of the other hospitals are very different from what I hear as they are badly off for nurses etc and the food is pretty rough and badly served out of tin mugs and tin plates etc. I fancy they weren’t prepared for such a large number of casualties from the Dardanelles. 12 more officers arrived here last night but all very slightly wounded from what I gather. Don’t bother to send anything from home as I can get anything I want here. A suit of my thin khaki might be useful but that is about the only thing. Major Molesworth and Captain Mood are the only ones of the regiment here. The others I think have been sent to Malta. Well, must stop now. I haven’t had any letters since about 23rd, but I hope some will come very soon. Love to you and Monsieur and you needn’t worry about me as I am quite all right. I sit out on the verandah most of the day. Your affectionate son, James Grove.”

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Country Houses Luxury People

Dunmore House + Gardens Carrigans Donegal

Northern Dancer

Wiling away endless days during the sunniest Irish spring while County Donegal opens up as a new front of the western riviera. Gnomons cast their shadows across plates of 1930s stone sundials. A drawing room lit by tall windows on two sides. The French door ajar to country air. Alexander Moore’s mother in Jennifer Johnston’s 1974 novel How Many Miles to Babylon? lyricises, “The evenings are so beautiful. Ireland should be renamed, I always think, the Island of Evenings. Don’t you agree?” Lounging in the wing of a country house. How many kilometres to Derry?

“When I arrived in Ireland I couldn’t read or write English,” says Amelia McFarland, châtelaine of Dunmore House. “I was brought up in Moscow until I was 10. I learnt to ride with the Russian Cavalry stallions at the age of seven.” Both sets of grandparents lived in Ireland so her parents returned and eventually took over Dunmore House. Her grandfather, Sir John Talbot McFarland, 3rd Baronet of Aberfoyle, died in 2020. He’s buried in St Fiach’s Church of Ireland Church in the village at the end of the avenue, Carrigans.

After living abroad, the 35 year old has returned to open her family’s ancestral pile as a setting for weddings and corporate events. She admits, “I love travelling and I love Dunmore. It was always well known for its hilarious parties and welcoming atmosphere and I wanted to bring all of that back again. I wanted to share this beautiful house and its gardens with everyone. So I came home to Donegal for a whole new adventure.” A converted barn is perfect for nuptials and there is overnight accommodation in the east wing and log cabins in the grounds.

As for wedding photographic opportunities, where to start? The conscious coupling of the seven bay house and 1.3 hectare walled garden is a match made in heaven encircled by woodland. Architecture, texture, horticulture, culture. “We try to be sustainable,” explains Amelia, “and encourage wildlife like bats and hedgehogs. As well as providing a wedding and events venue with accommodation we have a 100 acre farm and estate.”

“There are actually no records of Michael Priestley’s involvement with the house,” she confirms. “A large servants’ wing at the back of the house was knocked down some time in the 20th century. When the porch was added the area in front of the house was filled in. That created tunnels going nowhere under the house. You can see the top of two basement windows that were blocked up. The house is actually quite compact and not that hard to heat.” In between hosting, Amelia farms, rides and plays rugby for the City of Derry.

Wedged between Derek Hill by Bruce Arnold (2010) and Derry and Londonderry History and Society by William Nolan and Gerard O’Brien (1999) on a Georgian bookcase in the drawing room of the wing is Agatha Christie’s The Complete Short Stories (2008). The crime novelist was related by marriage to the McClintocks who formerly owned Dunmore House. A bedroom over the drawing room is also lit by windows on two sides. “This wing was added by the owner in the 19th century for his own use,” Amelia explains. “We let it out as one self contained space with its own door off the terrace.”

Identifying Michael Priestley as the architect of the main block is on stylistic grounds. The giant Palladian window was his trademark. His certified work of Lifford Courthouse, County Donegal, has a particularly fine example on its riverside elevation. St John’s Church of Ireland Church in Ballymore Lower, County Donegal, is attributed to Michael and has a vast Palladian window on its east front and a smaller version on its west front. The first floor central Palladian window of Dunmore House over the entrance hall – all 42 panes of it – lights the landing of the staircase hall. Confident handling of architectural components is another subtler clue to design ownership.

The entrance elevation of the 1742 block is five bays wide by two storeys over (hidden) basement and (hidden save for gable windows) attic with a high pitched slate roof. It’s a rebuilding of a 17th century house. Walls are roughcast rendered with ashlar sandstone quoins. A 19th century smooth rendered porch is painted dark yellow: Doric pilasters support an entablature with triglyphs to the frieze and mutules to the cornice. The Doric order frieze and cornice are repeated in the drawing room of the 19th century wing. This south front, elevated on a rise, can just about be glimpsed from the road between mature trees. The informal north elevation with various projections backs on to a courtyard surrounded by outbuildings.

A book of newspaper cuttings in the drawing room includes this intriguing undated unattributed piece, “Missing deb says: I want to marry. Reported missing earlier in the week from her home at Blessington, County Wicklow, Eire. 19 year old [sic?] debutante Miss Ann Daly turned up in London, yesterday, with Mr Robert Knowles of Sneem, County Kerry, Eire, 25 year old son of Lady Farquhar of Blandford, Dorset, and said: ‘We want to get married.’ They had been staying at the home of Lady Farquhar and her husband Lieutenant Colonel Sir Peter Farquhar at Turnworth, Blandford. The Farquhars are a well known hunting family.”

“‘I met tall dark Miss Daly with Mr Knowles as they arrived together at Waterloo Station, London, late yesterday on the train from Blandford. ‘I can’t understand all this mystery and fuss,’ Miss Daly told me. ‘We have come up to London to try and persuade mother to let us get married. There is no real mystery about me leaving home, and I am sure my mother and father must both have guessed where I was. Robert and I met nearly three years ago. We have been racing, hunting and point-to-point riding together many times since then.’”

“‘We want to get married but I am still a minor and my parents have objected. But I feel sure that if mother gives her consent now father will agree readily.’ Robert Knowles said, ‘There has been no objection from my family, and we should both be happy if it were possible for us to be married soon.’ Mr Knowles and Miss Daly went off to meet Miss Daly’s mother, who has been staying at a West End hotel. Miss Ann Daly is regarded as the most beautiful girl in Irish society. Although only 18 years of age she is such a good horsewoman that she rides at many point-to-point meetings in Ireland, and competed in such events during the past season. She is a member of the fashionable Kildare Hunt and has ridden to other packs in Ireland. She is tall, dark and athletic and is expected to be one of this year’s most popular debutantes.” Go Ann!

Categories
Architecture Art Country Houses Town Houses

St Fiach’s Church of Ireland Church + Carrigans Donegal

Developing An Overarching Grammar Based on Idealised Irish Country Life

The Laggan lies between the River Foyle and Lough Swilly: a lowland rich in agriculture, rich in architecture, rich. It was once dominated by flax growing and salmon fishing. In between country house estates lies Carrigans, one of the prettiest villages in Ireland. Population in 1841: precisely 235. Population today: about 350. In between single and double storey houses, Main Street has a Garda Station, Carrig Inn, Post Office and Village Shop, Village Chippy, and AMC Hair and Beauty. This 215 metre stretch of road is bookended by a a painted boat in a sloping field to the west and a derelict cottage with windows and a door painted on its facade to the east. A car port provides a roof for a Christmas sleigh. Next door and set back from Main Street is St Fiach’s Church of Ireland church which is the Parish Church of Killea in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe.

This is Plantation of Ulster country. After confiscation by the British Crown in 1607, County Donegal was carved up into parcels of 400 hectares, each distributed to mainly Scottish families. Scottish sounding surnames can still be found in the area: Buchanan, Galbraith, Hamilton, McClintock and Stewart. Other nearby Plantation settlements include Castlefin, Convoy, Killygordon and Stranorlar.Reverend George Hill writes in An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster at the Commencement of the 17th Century 1608 to 1620 (1877), “From occasional glimpses at the general condition of Ulster in the 17th century, as given in these Plantation records, the reader will probably infer that our northern province must have had certain rare attractions for British settlers. Among the descendants of the latter, however, it has been a cherished faith that our worthy ancestors came here to find homes only in a howling wilderness, or rather, perhaps, in a dreary and terrible region of muirland and morass. We very generally overlook the fact, that the shrewd and needy people whom we call our forefathers, and who dwelt north and south of the Tweed, would have had neither time nor inclination to look towards the shores of Ulster at all, had there been no objects sufficiently attractive, such as green fields, rich straths, beauteous valleys, and herds of Irish cattle adorning the hillsides. But such was, indeed, the simple truth.” The Laggan is still filled with that greenness, richness and beauty.

Many of the buildings of Carrigans are gaily coloured. Whoever decided to paint the rendered St Fiach’s Church was clearly a blue sky thinker. Literally. Most Irish churches are grey. This one is blue. Beyond the Pale blue. Erected in 1763, St Fiach’s was altered over the next two centuries while still retaining exquisite allure. It’s a simple three bay nave barn church. Roundheaded windows have extremely fine cast iron quarry glazing with timber Y tracery. The chancel, vestry and porch were added in 1856 to the design of Armagh architect Alexander Hardy. Their grey rubblestone contrasts with the blue render of the main church building. Reverend William Law was the first incumbent. The current rector is Reverend Canon John Merrick; his predecessor Reverend David Crooks retired in 2024 after 47 years service.

Categories
Art Design People

Amazing Grace Viewing Point Buncrana Donegal + John Newton

A Vapour that Appeareth

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland, Parishes of Donegal I, 1833 to 1835: “Buncrana lies near five miles up shore from Dunree Fort. This shore is altogether exposed and does not afford an eligible site for either pier or quay; but, off the mouth of the Crannagh River or under Buncrana Castle, there is safe anchorage for vessels of any burthen and boats can enter the river with but little floodwater, and here they bring nearly all the fish caught in Lough Swilly for sale.”

Over the centuries several illustrious gentlemen have graced this shore. Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, made an unofficial visit to Buncrana while he was commanding HMS Magpie from 1950 to 1952. He was attending a five day training course at the Joint Royal Navy Air Force Anti Submarine Training School in Lough Foyle. The Prince enjoyed a meal with other officers in the Green Bay Restaurant in Buncrana.

Harry Percival Swan reports in Romantic Stories and Legends of Donegal, 1965, “The Duke, who was accompanied by several other naval officers, motored to Buncrana and parked his car along the front. The Duke and his party walked along the shore for some distance and up Castle Avenue and through Main Street. They patronised a number of establishments and visited a restaurant where they had a meal. The proprietor was warmly complimented by the Duke on the excellence of the fare provided. While in the restaurant a great crowd gathered outside and it was found necessary to close the doors of the restaurant where the crowd who wanted to see the Duke had to be regulated by Civic Guards.”

Just over one and a half centuries earlier, a Protestant revolutionary of Irish independence arrived in Buncrana. Harry states, “Admiral Commodore Bompart, of the French Fleet, left Brest on 16 September 1798 with a 74 gun man-of-war, eight frigates and a schooner under his command. He had orders to land the 3,000 troops on board his vessels at Lough Swilly. Wolfe Tone, leader of the United Irishmen, commanded one of the French frigates, the Hoche. Bompart’s fleet was sighted by Sir John Borlase who was commanding a British squadron on 11 October and a fierce battle took place off Tory Island the following day.” Wolfe was forced to surrender and was brought ashore at Buncrana. He died shortly after aged 35 in the Provost Prison of the Royal Barracks Dublin.

But neither gentlemen made as lasting an impression as John Newton.

In the field of tourism branding, hymnal inspiration must rank among the more original, if not the unique. Welcome to Amazing Grace Country. A hymn was certainly a good excuse to transform a concrete viewing platform into an artwork. Local artist Andrew Garvey-Williams designed a mosaic floor which incorporates images of the hymnwriter John Newton’s ship The Greyhound, the words Amazing Grace in his handwriting, and broken chains symbolising the end of the transatlantic slave trade.

Sailing from Africa to England via Newfoundland was a long and dangerous voyage. Exactly half a century before Wolfe Tone was captured, John’s ship was caught for weeks in a violent storm in the Atlantic Ocean. A fellow sailor was instantly swept overboard. In John’s own words, “The sea had torn away the upper timbers … and made the ship a mere wreck in a few minutes. It was astonishing, and almost miraculous, that any of us survived. We expended most of our clothing and bedding to stop the leaks.”

When all hope was lost, “We saw the Island of Tory and the next day anchored in Lough Swilly in Ireland. This was 8 April. When we came into this part, our very last victuals were boiling in the pot and before we had been there two hours, the wind began to blow with great violence. If we had continued at sea that night in our shattered condition, we would have gone to the bottom. About this time I began to know that there is a God that hears and answers prayers.” He had realised God’s grace could save even a “wretch” like him.

John stepped ashore in Buncrana a changed man. The viewing platform marks the spot. His crew received a warm welcome from the locals including carpenters who set about repairing the battered ship. While the ship was being repaired he visited Derry City, attending prayers at St Columb’s Cathedral. On returning to England, John was appointed captain of a slave ship. But as his faith grew he jumped ship to join the Anglican clergy in Liverpool in 1764. It was while he was Curate at Olney Parish Church that he wrote Amazing Grace to illustrate his 1773 New Year’s Day sermon. John was promoted to Rector of St Mary Woolnoth. He led the congregation at this Nicholas Hawksmoor designed Anglican church in the City of London for the last 27 years of his life. During this period, he met the politician William Wilberforce and together their combined efforts batting slavery were successful.

The slave trade was abolished in the spring of 1807. John died the same year, four days before Christmas. He had written almost 300 hymns such as the belter Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken but historically Amazing Grace wasn’t the most popular. It really only gained status during the 19th century Christian revival which swept across both side of the Atlantic. His words were attached to several traditional melodies until 1835 when the composer William Walker married the hymn to the tune New Britain.

The hymn has an enduring quality, an eternal appeal. Amazing Grace has been recorded over 5,000 times including a moving rendition delivered by Aretha Franklin to the Obamas. It has also inspired contemporary songs such as Phil Wickham’s This is Amazing Grace. John Newton’s legacy lives on in lyrics and now in Amazing Grace Country in this far flung part of the universe. Growing at a rate of knots, Buncrana is now County Donegal’s second largest town and the biggest on the peninsula of Inishowen.

Categories
Art Design Luxury Restaurants

Belmond British Pullman + Venice Simplon-Orient Express + The Golden Age of Travel

Saudade“I love the way you captured the light in detail and the heartwarming reportage of your last visit. Rest assured that we will do our best to make your new journey with us a most memorable one,” confirms Florentin Partenie, Belmond Travel Curator. We’re back on the groovy train. No murder cases to solve this time. The only mystery is which station will we stop at for a platform recital.

We’re going nowhere again. The Belmond British Pullman Golden Age of Travel is a sublime day doing a loop of Kent. Departure and arrival: London Victoria. The day trip isn’t cheap but really it works out not much more than a Southeastern commuter ticket by the time you count up the food and drinks bill. And what price a vocal trio of flappers?

The Vault Beverage Menu sums up the experience in card: a geometric cover of an angular cocktail glass with a stepped profile. Art Deco indulgence with more than a hint of naughtiness. The midday rule is most definitely broken as Veuve Cliquot Reims Yellow Label is already flowing upon embarkation. Simpsons Wine Estate Derringstone Pinot Meunie (2022) will grease the wheels, so to speak, over lunch.

“This year, the seventh since the restoration of the legendary Orient Express, we review the programme,” announced the 1988 brochure Venice Simplon-Orient Express with delicious relish. “The now famous English Day Excursions, magnificent sorties by the fabulous Pullman carriages of the English train, also take place in winter as well as summer.” And spring. “Though widely believed to have been one train travelling one route, the Orient Express was in fact scores of interchangeable dining and sleeping carriages, privately owned, variously named and travelling south and east on routes that varied almost seasonally.”

“Originally conceived by two men, Georges Nagelmackers and George Mortimer Pullman, and built to standards of outrageous luxury late last century and early this one, many carriages were lost during the War. The remainder fell into disuse and finally in 1977 the service was discontinued.” American entrepreneur James Sherwood restored the carriages and the Venice Simplon-Orient Express is currently owned by Belmond.

“Today’s passengers’ first sight of the train is of the magnificent Pullman cars waiting at London’s Victoria Station for their prompt departure. Make your way from car to car if you have time (and even from loo to loo, individual masterpieces with the carriage’s name picked out on each mosaic floor) and note the polished wood, the stunning marquetry, the glowing brass. Magic. Luncheon is about to be served. Your lunch, as you diddly-dum through the ever pleasing scenery of Kent … exquisite food flawlessly served in surroundings of laid back opulence.”

Those words written 27 years ago still ring true. Lunch is served. All afternoon. Nobody is in a rush: we’ve nowhere to go. Our chef mixes the main menu and the vegetarian menu then goes off menu with a main course Atlantic trout and spring greens. We’re barely past Clapham Junction before spinach soup and White Lake feta are being served. Cornish hake, Windsor beans, red pepper and warm tartar sauce will follow.

Hours fly by against a blur of marquetry framed Kent countryside. “This is the air conditioning!” says the steward, sliding back the top windows. The flappers appear and serenade an enraptured carriage. Glazed lemon tart with hazelnut praline is served as well as a British cheeseboard with warm fruit bread. Anne’s hand rolled truffles accompany Higgins coffee. And then we stop. A railway platform at Dover is the surprise setting for mid afternoon hijinks. The flappers up the tempo and – keeping it local – Simpsons of Canterbury sparkling wine flows.

“Minerva carriage was a favourite of Sir Winston Churchill,” our steward explains. “This carriage was used by Churchill’s closest family members to travel to his funeral.” Just as a lot of Düsseldorf potatoes have female names, so do Pullman carriages: Cygnus, Ibis, Ione, Perseus and Phoenix (19 seaters); Audrey, Gwen and Vera (20 seaters); Lucille and Zena (23 seaters); and Minerva (25 seater).

A ribboned stepped profile note reads, “Enjoy this farewell gift of the book London in the Wild, 2022. The British Pullman team is delighted to support the incredible work of the London Wildlife Trust and the wider Wildlife Trust’s Network.” The perfect end to a perfect day. It’s like Lou Reed’s hit song without the zoo visit.

Categories
Art Design Luxury People Restaurants

Royal Hospital Chelsea + Treasure House Fair London 2025

Masterpiece Revisited

Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport at the ready, it’s the third edition of Treasure House Fair at Royal Hospital Chelsea London. Edmond Joy’s 1709 construction is a surprising component of the Sculpture Walk directed by Harvey Horswell and curated by Dr Melissa Gustin, both from National Museums Liverpool. Brought to the show by Thomas Coulborn and Sons, it is a child’s wardrobe masquerading as a Dutch style doll’s house. It meets the accepted definition of sculpture as a work of art in three dimensions while also being a functional object and one of architectural interest. This magical wardrobe with its bewitching façade deserves to be lionised. Little did Edmond Joy know three centuries ago that he would be creating the ultimate collector’s item with his Kew Palace in miniature.

There are first editions at Shapero Rare Books such as Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night (1934) and Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited (1845). And there are newly signed editions at Potterton Books: Blenheim 300 Years of Life in a Palace (2024). Blenheim Palace is the most visited of all of Britain’s stately homes. Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, renowned interior designer and author is on standby with her Sharpie pen. She grew up at Blenheim: it is now lived in by her brother Charles, 12th Duke of Marlborough. “I was always the one who was interested in art and architecture and the history of buildings,” Henrietta relates. “That, coupled with working with my father on the restoration because of my career in interior design meant I’ve more interest and knowledge of the house than perhaps other members of the family.”

Galerie Marc Maison is a canine art collector’s paradise. Two life size sculpture groups guard the entrance to the room. In 1893 banker Jacques Stern commissioned Auguste-Nicholas Caïn to replicate his hunting dogs in dark green patina bronze for outside his Château de Fitz-James in Oise. The room is dominated by Augustine Ricard’s monumental oil painting Après la Chasse dated 1885. She was one of the few female artists to exhibit her work in the fashionable Parisian salons. A dozen dogs are pictured resting in their kennel. “We are located in Rue des Rosiers, St Ouen sur Seine. Everyone comes to Les Puces in Clignoncourt!” declares Daisy Maison.

“Huon Mallalieu has an incredible depth of knowledge as an art and antiques historian,” is how Country Life Interiors Editor Giles Kime introduces one of the magazine’s long term contributors. Huon begins, “The 50s were rather important because there was a change of American tax law which encouraged people to buy art to hang on their walls during their lifetime but was tax exempt after their death if they donated it to a museum. This meant they were looking for new markets and so were dealers. And that was how the Impressionist market actually began on a major world stage.”

He continues, “I mention that because people are worried markets are collapsing. The art market has a circularity about it. One thinks that in 1962 Lord Leighton’s most famous work Flaming June was sold for £62 and it’s now worth millions. It had been out of fashion for 50 years. This happens regularly and there is no need to panic. One must remember that what was cutting edge for one generation is old hat for the next generation and old master for the one after that. Things go round and round. What people want now is completely different compared to the 70s and 80s. And that’s no bad thing. Markets dry up; contemporary artists become less contemporary. And once they are being resold on the secondary market their original dealers can no longer control them by waiting lists and the like. At that moment prices may well drop and if you want to that’s the moment to start buying them.”

Huon recalls the brown furniture market in the 80s, “It was focused on the Fulham Road and Kings Road but also Bond Street in a very big way. Again, it was partly driven by American fashion of the 20s which had been all for the grandest of 18th century furniture and that continued. There were big collectors in Britain as well and when their collections came through in the 80s and 90s that was the peak – and the end of it too. After that people thought brown furniture was far too grand. They wanted simple mid 20th century stuff – the generational shift occurred.”

Writer and Executive Director of the Design Leadership Network Michael Diaz-Griffith comments, “I think if we look at the market for high style traditional English material, the US was offset just a bit from the UK. If you think of some of the great sales of the 70s like the Mentmore sale, the great houses were being decanted of this wonderful material and it was often Americans who were scooping it up and taking it back to Fifth Avenue. So there remained a great deal of excitement about that high style really through the 80s and into the 90s. The baby boomers of the early 2000s became very excited about contemporary art and in the US at least that was the driver of collecting and tastemaking really until the millennials – the generation that I am trying to be a cheerleader for – began to come of age and exhibit a different type of taste.” Exhibitor Philip Mould’s room features both old masters and modern British artworks.

“The pendulum swings back and forth always,” New Yorker Michael believes. “The pendulum is swinging back in the direction of antiques, of historic decorative arts, and that is a very good thing indeed. You are searching for your own taste, what is comfortable, enjoying history and what it has to offer but also being at home in the world as it is today.” Fresh from Marrakesh, interior decorator Henrietta von Stockhausen reckons, “Christopher Gibbs and Robert Kime started this type of decorating. They managed to go much deeper into that story of a home and the most important thing is comfort. They were very bravely mixing styles and the stuff owners had collected.”

Henrietta recollects, “Christopher mixed some incredibly important things with some really not important things but everything was beautiful and told a story. I think that juxtaposition created great energy and developed a much less precious way of decorating which is really very much where we are now I believe. My clients now are much braver at telling their story, much braver at choosing things that they want. It’s not about show anymore – it’s about actually enjoying your pieces and looking at them. Sometimes you have this beautiful antique piece which along with another 100 beautiful pieces feels like you’re in a museum. But if you place it opposite some incredible contemporary piece it really begins to sing and creates this energy and this is what is required these days.

Firmdale Hotels have a collection of top spots in London and New York. What better way is there to celebrate their 40th anniversary than launching this year’s Brasserie at Treasure House? It’s also the 25th anniversary of their Charlotte Street Hotel in Fitzrovia. Smart menu main course choices include asparagus and artichoke salad with toasted almonds and pan seared seabass with lobster bisque. Puddings vary from baked chocolate cake to strawberries and rhubarb with shortbread and ice cream. Next door, Ostra Regal Gold Oysters in the Oyster Bar are fresh from Clew Bay in County Mayo and full of joyful surprise.

Treasure House Fair 2025 has plenty of heroic moments, some of epic grandeur, and an immaculateness of purpose.

Categories
Architects Architecture Art Design Developers Fashion Hotels Luxury People Restaurants

St Pancras Renaissance Hotel + Victor Garvey at The Midland Grand Dining Room St Pancras London

No Rotten Tomatoes

So long ago. Back in 2011, we interviewed Harry Handelsman, the visionary replacing ossification with revivification at the majestic St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Rewinding 14 years: a Polly Morgan taxidermy of a fox snuggled in a glass dome in the reception is a sign this is no ordinary office block. The Edison Building on Old Marylebone Road is named after the world’s most prolific inventor Thomas Edison. Its 1930s Art Deco exterior has been reinvented by architect David Adjaye who’s cloaked it in his trademark charcoal grey rendering. The client was Harry Handelsman of Manhattan Loft Corporation, the property developer who brought loft living to London before reinventing the Capital’s best Victorian railway hotel.

“This could have been a cool apartment building but I wanted to do something more exciting,” starts Harry. He’s clad in a charcoal grey suit, no tie, sitting in his charcoal grey top floor corner office. So far, so suave. Sliding doors open onto a huge decked terrace. “I called on my friend David. He designed an amazing transformation.” Adjaye Associates now occupy the ground floor of the Edison Building which has filled up with design companies. Munich born Harry worked as a financier in New York before arriving in London in 1984. He soon realised the potential for American style loft living in Britain. “Lofts are the concept behind giving buildings a new lease of life – they’re exciting and wonderful places,” Harry enthuses. He set up Manhattan Loft Corporation in 1992. To date around 1,000 apartments have been completed in the UK and Germany.

“We’ve no concerns about building something new though,” he adds. “Even our first scheme in London – Bankside Lofts next to what is now Tate Modern – was part newbuild. So much other new development seems too simplistic. It needs to be more energetic, more dramatic. We want to give our developments a bit of punch!” There’s nothing unenergetic or undramatic about St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. And it literally has punch – as we will discover later.

Two decades after he brought loft living to London, he’s also the best man to know what’s next in the residential development world of 2011. “High rise apartments. That’s the way things are going,” states Harry. “London is the most exciting city in the world. Development can make such a positive contribution. It’s not all about commerce. Each of our projects is different. An exciting thing is that we can make a positive difference to the cityscape. We are incredibly privileged. My team is second to none, combining creativity and commitment. I wish the planning regime would be simplified but any issues aren’t insurmountable. There’s enough appreciation of design quality. If it was all smooth sailing I wouldn’t have any grey hairs!”

Also in 2011, a busy year, we reviewed the hotel opening for Luxury Travel Magazine. Paris in two hours. Amsterdam in four hours. Lobby in 2.4 minutes. Those are the travel times from the First Class platform of the Eurostar train in London to St Pancras Renaissance Hotel … and so we continued, the excitement lifting off the screen. The motif of the hotel is the peacock which represents rejuvenation – and not just vanity (although with such architectural beauty that would be justifiable). When a peacock loses a feather it grows back perfectly. St Pancras is more like plume replacement. In 1865 Sir George Gilbert Scott won a competition held by Midland Railway to design a hotel for St Pancras Station. The client’s vision was for an understated building. The architect had other ideas.

A Gothic Revival extravaganza, his gargantuan fairytale confection of towers, turrets and terracotta tiles overwhelmed visitors when it opened in 1873, did once again in 2011, and still does in 2025. The verticality of a 72 metre high clocktower is balanced by the horizontality of a sweep of 150 metre wide frontage and the third of a kilometre depth including engineer William Barlow’s railway terminus behind the hotel. If the hotel is all about design and detailing, the terminus with its 800 cast iron columns and 2,000 wrought iron girders is a pure expression of structure and function – the sort of thundering modernity captured on canvas down the line in Joseph Turner’s 1844 Rain, Steam, and Speed: The Great Western Railway.

Sir George’s design incorporated all the latest fittings too: the first lift in a British hotel; the first revolving door in Britain; 40 centimetre thick fireproof walls. The latter was to contribute to its downfall. Time stands still for no architect or builder or hotelier. Not long after it opened, en suite bathrooms became all the rage for grand hotels. Thick internal walls did not adapt well to the insertion of bathrooms. The hotel eventually closed after just 62 years of operation and was downgraded to British Rail offices. It was even threatened with demolition in the 1960s before Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman successfully campaigned for its retention.

This Grade I Listed Building was finally saved by Harry Handelsman. A labour of love, albeit an expensive affair. His company Manhattan Loft Corporation spent £100 million converting the three upper floors to 67 apartments and a further £150 million rejuvenating the remainder of the building back to a hotel. It’s a physical embodiment of joie de vivre. The peacock’s feathers have truly regrown. Such rare and colourful plumage! The original entrance hall is now a bar with a polychromatic corniced ceiling, encaustic filed floors and walls dripping in gold leaf. Upstairs, the Renaissance inspired ceiling of the Ladies’ Smoking Room cost nearly £1 million to restore. It was the first place in Europe where females could acceptably smoke in public. This room now aptly leads onto a smoking terrace (or at least did until the boring ban was introduced).

The St Pancras Railway Terminus designed by engineer William Henry Barlow was – wait for it, another record breaker – the single largest railway structure of its time. The former taxi rank between the railway shed and original hotel (originally the pedestrian entrance to the railway platforms) has been converted into a cavernous glass roofed lobby lounge. The adjacent Booking Office is now a brasserie and bar serving traditional English delights such as quail’s eggs with anchovies. Victorian drinks like Garrick Club Punch and Moonlight White Tea are served on neverending bar. The grand staircase is the interior pièce de resistance. It’s a cathedral of colour with hand painted fleur de lys walls framed by Midland Stone arches and vaults. Exposed structural ironwork under the flights of stair fuses romance and technology. Harry’s workforce even aged the carpet on the dizzying array of fanciful flights of stairs. In 2011, we observed that the limestone pillared Gilbert Scott Restaurant looked positively restrained in comparison. Celebrity Chef Marcus Wareing’s team offered its own take on nostalgic classics such as Queen Anne’s Artichoke Tart and Mrs Beeton’s Snow Egg. The Gilbert Scott Restaurant was the setting of our first lunch with Dame Rosalind Savill, then Director of The Wallace Collection, London’s best museum.

Harry carved 38 bedrooms out of the old building and inserted 207 into a new sympathetically designed extension. Once more, the hotel caters for the demands of five star guests. A subterranean spa occupies the former steam kitchen. Our Luxury Travel Magazine 2011 article ended with Stairway to Seven (Facts). A double storey apartment is housed in the clocktower. English Heritage only allowed a 20 colour palette which includes Barlow Blue and Midland Red. The latter hue has a tomato tinge to it, an augury of our 2025 dinner. On Thursday nights in 2011, DJ Eloise rocked the Booking Office and on Friday nights it was the turn of DJ Zulu. The diamond shape is another motif of the hotel and 725 can be found in the Booking Office.

In 2018, Harry reminisced, “I always knew that St Pancras would be a challenge. The complexity of the structure and the Grade I Listing by English Heritage allowing only minimum intervention in the creation of a 21st century hotel was always going to be difficult. Many of my business compatriots thought that I was mad for undertaking such an ambitious project. At times I thought they were right. It was the sheer excitement and privilege of being given the opportunity and responsibility for this most fascinating building that kept me from desperation.”

That was then and this is now: 2025 to be precise. We’re staying in a modern bedroom of St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, dining in the restaurant and late night drinking in the hotel opposite. Bedroom furniture was graduated by wood when our hotel first opened. The best rooms on the first floor contained pieces made of oak or walnut. Second floor rooms had oak or teak furniture; third floor, mahogany; poor old fourth floor, ash. Decoration is more democratic this time round. Our fourth floor room is elegant simplicity: pattern free, clutter free, bad artwork free. The view is of the British Library, another vast red brick building (designed by Colin St John Wilson in the 1990s) although not quite so beloved as its neighbour. Our two paned rectangular window is set in a Gothic arch on the exterior: contemporary inside, traditional outside. Richard Griffiths’ architecture hits all the right notes. RHWL was the overseeing design practice of the development. Encaustic tiles on the floors of the long bedroom corridors draws the original hotel into the extension which fits neatly between the rear of the hotel and the side of the station.

The Gilbert Scott Restaurant closed in 2021. Two years later, The Midland Grand Dining Room by Patrick Powell (an Irish chef) opened before closing last year. And that brings us to The Midland Grand Dining Room by Victor Garvey (a mostly American chef). His CV includes working at two of the world’s most famous restaurants: El Bulli in Barcelona and Noma Copenhagen. Victor’s maternal grandmother was a personal chef for Charles de Gaulle so it makes sense the rebooted restaurant offers French haute cuisine even before you hop across the Channel on the Eurostar.

“There are only a few times in a chef’s life when they get handed a dining room,” says Victor, “and I’m extremely honoured and privileged and excited to be able to embark on this journey in something like this. The idea behind the menu here stems from respecting tradition but innovating and making it lighter and making it more streamlined and making it more concise and finding a way to tell the story of that incredibly deep French culinary heritage and respecting it but updating it. Old world, new ideas.” The sausage shaped Dining Room has a robust neoclassicism of the mid Victorian muscularity ilk befitting its original use as the Smoking Room. The Midland Grand isn’t the only French newcomer in town: a week later we will venture to the wildly popular Joséphine Bouchon in Fulham for cabillaud au beurre blanc à l’é chalote. Chef Claud Bossi of Bibendum South Kensington fame is once again putting the Lyon into lyonnaise in the English Capital.

Tick tock. It’s Pimm’s O’Clock on the Champagne Terrace (we’ve worked up a thirst strolling through the wetland habitat of Camley Street Park). One of London’s hidden gems, the Champagne Terrace is perched below the back of the hotel entrance tower and looked down on from the modern bedroom wing. Oysters are only to be consumed in months with an R and Pimm’s are only to be downed in months without an R. James Pimm’s recipe of liqueurs and herbs remains a warm weather winner 185 years after it was trademarked. In The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook (1982), Peter York and Ann Barr order, “May: at the first sign of summer, Pimm’s.” But no accompanying oysters.

We’re all on for tenuously excused partying and it doesn’t come much better than the 5.05pm Punch Ritual in the Booking Office for guests to celebrate the 152nd anniversary of the original hotel opening. It’s a few days off the actual date (5 May) but we don’t fuss about detail. Historic fountain penned letters from the hotel’s archives are shared while the sommelier stirs his cauldron of elixir. We’ve barely ordered more drinks in the main hotel bar when we’re ushered to our window table in The Midland Grand Dining Room. Oh the anticipation! The à la carte caters for the carnivorous so our waitress suggests vegetarian alternatives. In between pretty amuse bouches and freshly baked bread we’re served a sliced tomato starter and a diced tomato main. We’re all on for retaining our Parisian waistlines. Minimalist plates in maximalist architecture. Pudding is l’Opéra which turns out to be a delightfully deconstructed coffee cake.

A quick dash across the road and we’re soon zooming up 11 storeys in the external lift of The Standard Hotel to Sweeties bar for Power Play cocktails (Belvedere Vodka, Dry Vermouth, Sweeties Savoury Brine). We skip the Bloody Marys: enough tomato for one day. Sure enough, against a darkening pink sky, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel looms in all its pinnacled silhouetted glory. But it’s not over till the fat lady sings or the slim girl walks: before stepping onto the First Class Eurostar to post paschal pastures anew in Paris we’re off to Lightroom (a Louboutin’s throw from the hotel and Central St Martin’s Art College) for a Vogue installation. A tomato red Mercedes roars up and the fashion artist Dame Mary Martin emerges to join us – from the hemline to the frontline of fashion. So now.