Lavender's Blue: Wherever there's design there's Lavender's Blue

Holland Days Source

Neither a Monday evening nor (apropos to an Irish shindig) drizzly weather could possibly dampen spirits. Not when it’s a party co hosted by the dashing Sir David Davies and the lively Lindy Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, last Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava. Her Ladyship is the artist known as Lindy Guinness. The setting is another draw: the mid Victorian splendour of Lindy’s Kensington city mansion (townhouse being too humble a term).

Banker and businessman Sir David is President of the Irish Georgian Society. In between rescuing companies and country houses, he leads a high profile social life, counting Christina Onassis among his exes. Like all the greats, he once worked at MEPC. This party is a book launch celebrating the publication about his primary Irish estate, Abbey Leix in County Laois. Averys Champagne is served with prawns and pea purée on silver spoons. There’s a metaphor lurking in that cutlery.

Two vast full depth bay windowed reception rooms on the piano nobile of the Marchioness’s five storey house easily accommodate the 100 guests. One room is hung with her paintings. Renowned fine art specialist Charles Plante is an admirer: “Lindy Guinness brings forth abstraction in painting that mirrors the Cubism of Cézanne and Picasso. Her works are irresistible.” The staircase walls are lined with David Hockney drawings. In fact there’s 20th century art everywhere. Lucien Freud was Lindy’s brother-in-law and old chums included Francis Bacon and Duncan Grant.

This party’s getting going. Everyone one should know is here. Interior decorator Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill is admiring the garden. Sir David’s glamorous sister Christine and her son Steffan are chatting in the entrance hall. They’re from Ballybla near Ashford, County Wicklow. Turns out they’re big fans of nearby Hunter’s Hotel. Writer Robert O’Byrne is conversing with designer and collector Alec Cobbe in the drawing room. “I still live in Newbridge House when I’m in Ireland,” confirms Alec. Broadcaster Sean Rafferty is busy playing down his former illustrious career in Northern Ireland where he’s still a household name. “You must visit my cottage in Donegal.” A party isn’t a party without interior decorator extraordinaire Nicky Haslam. “I didn’t realise I was such a style icon to you young guys!”

Fresh off the treadmill finishing the definitive guide to Russborough in County Wicklow, a mighty tome on another Irish country house, Abbey Leix was erudite architectural historian William Laffan’s next commission. Sir David bought the estate from the 1st Earl Snowdon’s nephew, 7th Viscount de Vesci, for £3 million in 1995. William’s book celebrates the restoration of the house and the rejuvenation of its 485 hectare estate.

“Thank you to Lindy for inviting us to her home,” Sir David announces. “It’s very much a home not a museum. Someone asked me earlier was this my house. I wish it was! The only thing better than a double 1st is a double Guinness! Lindy is a Guinness by birth and a Guinness by marriage. And thank you to William for all the hard work. I asked him to write 100 pages and three years later he’s written hundreds of pages! The photographs are beautiful but do make sure you all read a bit of William’s great text too!”

The Knight of Glin’s widow Madam Olda FitzGerald, mother-in-law of the actor Dominic West, appears. Sir David nods, “Desmond FitzGerald was a great inspiration to me. Bless him, bless the Irish Georgian Society. I feel very honoured to follow in his footsteps as President. There are three other people I wish to thank without whom the restoration of Abbey Leix wouldn’t have been possible. John O’Connell, the greatest conservation architect in Ireland. Val Dillon, the leading light of the antiques trade. John Anderson, former Head Gardener of Mount Usher Gardens and Keeper of the Gardens of Windsor Great Park. I had to prise him away from the Royals!”

“Bravo!” toasts the Marchioness. Her blue eyes twinkling, her jaunty scarf knotted as tightly as the curls of her silvery hair, Lindy chats about her other property, the very private Clandeboye, a late Georgian country house on an 800 hectare estate in County Down. She’s especially proud of her yoghurt production on the estate. “My mother-in-law gallantly rescued Clandeboye from debt and brought in the flamboyant designer Felix Harbord to do up the house in the 1950s. He designed the American Plantation style porte cochère with its four white Doric columns. The blank entrance wall of the 1st Marquess’s remodelling must have previously given such a drab first impression of the house. Felix also decorated Luttrellstown Castle, my aunt’s house near Dublin. Clandeboye is a house of dreams and enchantment that fills my thoughts and – now as I am older – the pleasure of being part of it grows greater.”

Lindy keeps talking, “I can remember arriving for the first time in 1962 and walking up the 1st Marquess’s halls in blurred amazement. I was a youthful debutante and had come to stay for a Clandeboye weekend. This first summer visit passed in days of happy exploration. We had arrived late in the evening when all was dark. I remember waking the following morning and looking out from my bedroom called Rome to see a magnificent interlocking landscape of greens that led down to a lake. It was especially beautiful – there were low horizontal bands of Irish mist allowing only certain parts of the landscape to be sharply defined. Oh you’ve got me reminiscing!” The Averys Champagne flows.

That was 2017. Where are the main players now? Just three years after this party, the hostess who was born Serena Belinda Rosemary Guinness died aged 79. The marquessate defunct, Sir John Blackwood, 5th Baron Dufferin, a descendent of her husband’s family, was upgraded to take over Clandeboye and 4 Holland Villas Road. Sir David Davies sold Abbey Leix in 2021 and his main base is Killoughter House near Ashford, County Wicklow. John O’Connell acted as architect for its restoration. Charles Plante is now recognised as an international tastemaker. In 2025 Robert O’Byrne published The Irish Country House A New Vision. Featured piles of the Emerald Isle include Killoughter House and Moyglare Manor, a former hotel near Maynooth in County Kildare. Madam Olda FitzGerald continues to add sparkle to high society events, not least Alfred Cochrane’s legendary 2024 summer garden party at Corke Lodge in County Wicklow. “A party is only as fabulous as its guests!” quipped Ireland’s most stylish host. William Laffan’s book on Abbey Leix became an instant collector’s item and is currently valued at over eight times its original price of £40.

Suite Success

Chelsea Harbour River Thames London © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Over the course of multiple visits – breakfasts and brunches, dates and dinners, walks and weekends – Lavender’s Blue cover and discover and rediscover London’s best Eighties development. Back in the day, Astrid Bray was Director of Sales and Marketing at the Conrad London (as Chelsea Harbour Hotel was originally named). She recalls various Chelsea Harbour restaurants, “There was Ken Lo’s Memories of China and Viscount Linley’s Deals. Marco Pierre White’s The Canteen was owned by Michael Caine, a great friend of ours. Deals was opposite The Canteen on the same side as Ken Lo’s. There was a pool table bar called Fisher’s. We would bring pop groups like Westlife through the loading bay to get to the bar!” A shortage of celebrities was never an issue. “Robbie Williams bought an apartment in The Belvedere opposite the hotel. Take That and Tina Turner stayed in the Conrad. We had a lot of fun there. One night I sat on the grand piano in the bar while Lionel Richie played and sang! There’s nothing in life that isn’t slightly mad!”

Chelsea Harbour Thameside © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour, all seven hectares of it, is a defining development of late 20th century London. Despite its Thameside location, the former industrial site had been poorly connected and blighted by infrastructure proposals. Architect Ray Moxley of Moxley and Jenner won a competition organised by landowner British Railways Property Board to design a mixed use scheme. “It seemed obvious to excavate the old harbour, rebuild the lock, repair the walls and form a new yacht harbour,” Ray remembered. “Harbours are always pleasant to watch and enjoy and property values are higher on the waterfront.” Honfleur provided inspiration. That town in northern France has houses and shops and bars and studios grouped around a lock on the mouth of the River Seine.

Chelsea Harbour River View © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

The triple level penthouse of The Belvedere merited its own brochure in the original marketing of Chelsea Harbour. Designed by Mary Fox Linton, the “interior of contrasts” included Seguso urns in the entrance hall and Hurel furniture in the reception room. “Fine views of the Thames on one side and upstream towards Richmond on the other” were rightfully recorded. The kitchen was fitted out by Bulthaup and the “warm intimate” guest bedroom had an Alvar Aalto table and 18th century chairs. Apropos to a flagship scheme, Ms Linton’s rejected chintz for eclectic minimalism.

The Belvedere Chelsea Harbour Thames © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Grouping is key to Chelsea Harbour’s aura of containment. The marina is tightly ringed by the hotel, Chelsea Harbour Design Centre and apartment blocks. Ray’s genius was to create a sense of place. The tallest apartment block, the 20 storey Belvedere, next to where the marina flows into the river, is topped by a whimsical witch’s hat roof. A maquette version of this roof tops the security pagoda entrance to Chelsea Harbour. Ray excelled at roofscapes sculpting a cornucopia of pyramids, swan necked pediments and mansards.

Chelsea Harbour Scheme © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

The Belvedere Chelsea Harbour © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour Boats © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour Apartments © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour Marina © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour London © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour London Apartment © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour Hotel London © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour Design Centre and Hotel © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour Hotel and Design Centre © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Chelsea Harbour Hotel © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

The architect was also adept at architectural playfulness, from reinterpreted Trafalgar balconies to oversized industrial metal window frames. The Design Centre is lit by tall glazed domes, ogee roofed conservatories and outsized neo Georgian windows topped by fanlights. Chunky columns and bulky balustrades add to the sense of gargantuan scale. Ray Moxley died in 2014 aged 91. Architectural practice APT is now encasing more of the original mall in glass to form an internal street. Lead architect Robin Partington enthuses, “We have the best jobs in the world. It’s all about curating, whether designing the interiors of an office development or masterplanning a scheme.”

Chelsea Harbour Hotel is shaped like half a butterfly, with two wings hugging the marina in an architectural embrace. The top of the tips of the wings culminate in oriels in the sky. Undulating waves of balconies swirl and curl their way across the elevations. The hotel looks like a grounded ocean liner. Earl Snowdon’s eatery Deals, which he launched in 1988 with his cousin Lord Lichfield, may have long gone but there’s always Chelsea Riverside Brasserie on the raised ground floor of the hotel. And yes, the view lives up to its name. The Canteen is also confined to history and memory. Its à la carte menu for October 1997 priced starters (featuring frivolity of smoked salmon and caviar) from £6.95 to £8.50 and mains (such as escalope of salmon with stir fried Asian greens, ginger and soya dressing) were all £12.95. These days, Chelsea Harbour Hotel room suite service caters for midnight munchies. Hand dived scallop ceviche at 2am? Yes please. Chelsea Harbour Hotel is the only all suite five star hotel in London.

The cruise ship inspiration wasn’t just confined to the exterior: it flowed indoors too. “David Hicks designed the hotel interiors in 1993,” explains Astrid. “It was all about a ship. He believed, ‘Themes are always intriguing.’ The mezzanine stairs were modelled on a cruise liner. The ground floor meeting room was called The Compass Rose. There were lots of blues and light ash wood in the interiors.” It was a real era catcher. One of David’s best known earlier works was his colourful revamp of Baronscourt, the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn’s seat in County Tyrone. Wallpaper by his designer son Ashley Hicks is for sale in Chelsea Harbour Design Centre.

Chelsea Harbour is the private members’ club of the marina world with a record breaking six year minimum waiting list. The luckily berthed include: Achill Sound; Ariadne; Christanian II: Ella Rose; Esperance; Honey Rider; and (guess which actor’s?) The Italian Job. A four bedroom Lamoure yacht is currently for sale at £249,000. Back on dry land, the range of properties on the 2020 market include: a two bedroom duplex penthouse (92 square metres) in Carlyle Court for £1,000,000 | a two bedroom third floor apartment (90 square metres) in King’s Quay for £1,200,000 | a two bedroom duplex penthouse (112 square metres) in Carlyle Court for £1,250,000 | a three bedroom 14th floor apartment (194 square metres) in The Belvedere for £3,200,000 | a four bedroom ninth floor apartment (186 square metres) in The Belvedere for £3,300,000. Splashing the cash is one sure way to make a visit permanent.

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