Lavender's Blue

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2013-11-26T16:55:00.003+00:00

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Wimbledon College of Art MFA Threads Exhibition @ The Rag Factory Off Brick Lane

2013-08-19T19:30:00.000+01:00

A Stitch in Time

It once housed the studios of Turner prize nominees Gary Hume and Tracey Emin. Recently, it has been used for corporate events for companies like Red Bull and Orange. It’s become popular as a filming location by MTV and the BBC. But this autumn The Rag Factory will be reverting to its artistic roots. A group of international Masters of Fine Art students at Wimbledon College of Art (part of the University of the Arts London) are taking over this Brick Lane venue. “Supporting the creative fabric of London” is the mission of The Rag Factory.

Threads will be an exhibition of painting, sculpture, video and performance work. The work exhibited will be contextually responsive to The Rag Factory, reflecting the history of the site, including the earlier use of the building as a garment factory. Of course Brick Lane is in Spitalfields which was developed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries for Irish and Huguenot silk weavers. The exhibiting artists will stitch the past to the present to the future.

What? Exhibition called Threads

Who? Masters of Fine Art Students at Wimbledon College of Art from UAL Graduate School

Where? The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, Off Brick Lane

When? 18-24 October 2013

Participants: Anne Davey Orr; Alexandra Su-Yin Hon; Gabrielle Abbott; Sam Ayres; Jesus Briceno Reyes; Fiona Byrne; Chloe Chow; Lee Coyne; Daniel Sean Coleman; Daniel Kim Yim; Dong-Hwan Ko; Debra Lee Singh; Eleonora Bourmistrov; Eunju Choi; Eloise Lambert; John Fuller; Midori Fullerton; Rajshree Gupta; Hsiang-Chun Shen; Sula Hancock; Jette Dalsgaard; Luke Tabb; Laima Vanaga; Shivangi Ladha; Jim McLernon; Ana Milenkovic; Benjamin Nyari; Conor O'Donnell; Paige Davies; Allegra Pacheco Joaristi; Miroslav Pomichal; Rajpar Shah; Smriti Sangal; Azadeh Sanati Nia; Ellyn Stokes; Tahira Mandarino-Simler; Weijia Yuan; Andrew Wallis; Yunshu Zhong; Zhenxiang Li

Lavender's Blue LVB

2012-09-08T00:00:00.000+01:00

Well, hello! Welcome to Lavender's Blue. Do click on this text as we have moved home (online). We are bringing our readers tales of high jinx and the high life. Enjoy. Lavender's Blue.

Night Clubbing: nhow hotel Berlin Review

2012-09-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

right here right nhow

Hard edged dockside architecture meets playful futuristic design at nhow hotel Berlin

Nowhere is the status of a city and its wellbeing better reflected in its music than Berlin. The two are intertwined. Think the Weimar Republic and its jazz cafés. Of course the legend of a libertarian culture destroyed by fascism was propagated by the film Cabaret. Fast forward half a century and post war Berlin’s inherent appeal was again its openness. It was an anomaly, an oasis of extremity created by the Cold War. Here, anything could happen.

David Bowie arrived in Berlin towards the end of the 70s. He became immersed in the German music of the period. It was saturated in absence, loss and distance. Bands such as Kraftwerk influenced his work. Bowie’s piece V-2 Schneider reverberates to the rhythm of an S-Bahn train. He recorded two thirds of his Berlin Trilogy – Low and Heroes but not Lodger – at the city’s legendary Hansa Studios. As the curtain fell on communism and the 20th century, techno music would emerge, climaxing with the ecstatic blaze that was Love Parade.

Which brings us to right here right now. nhow hotel Berlin is iridescently present, a tangible addition to the waterscape, a representation of contemporary immediacy. Its roots materialise from the city’s relationship with music – more anon. With the hotel’s opening, a new layer of meaning is added to the decadence and disharmony of the not so distant past.

Positioned along the River Spree, the old line between the East and West, nhow Berlin is a fusion of Sergei Tchoban’s architecture and Karim Rashid’s design. Russian born Tchoban’s creation is a cubist arrangement of boxes piled high, the top one perilously cantilevering over the others by a gravity defying 10 metres. The underside is clad in reflective steel. Tchoban says he is seeking to “convey the image of a ‘crane house’”. Other planes are covered by an aluminium or brick skin punctured by square windows. It’s all about clean lines, perpendicular angles and understated colourways. Enter the tinted glass doors (white outside; pink inside) and a whole new world unfolds.

New Yorker Rashid’s interiors celebrate the German capital’s zeitgeist. He employs a progressive language to describe his oeuvre. The terms ‘infostethic’, ‘blobject’ and ‘technorganic’ are given three dimensional form. Rashid says, “My vision engages technology, visuals, textures, colour, as well as all the needs that are intrinsic to living in a simpler less cluttered but more sensual environment.” Strata of irregular lines, asymmetric shapes and psychedelic patterns constantly redefine the hotel experience.

Take the reception desk. It’s a pink amorphous sculpture with inset lighting. Beyond lies an expanse of white space stretching to a glazed wall overlooking the river. A giant continuous profile of Mussolini made of gold lacquered fibreglass hovers over bar envy. Piped music radiates across the ground floor by day; live gigs rock it by night. Art or seating? The luminous voluptuous organic and ergonomic sofas are both. fabrics restaurant is segregated from bar envy by sheer curtains lined with a radio wave digipop pattern.

The hot pink rooms of the East Tower take their cue from sunrise. Sky blue dominates the rooms of the West Tower. The rooms of the 10 storey Upper Tower are calming grey to counteract the vertigo inducing views. TVs double as radio wave shaped mirrors. Floors are acoustic friendly laminate painted with the digipop pattern. Guests can avail of a Gibson guitar room service.

Two recording studios on the eighth floor of the Upper Tower are run by the co directors of the Hansa Studios. An adjacent music lounge is equipped with the latest multimedia technology – and a pink jukebox. The lounge, conference rooms and even the nhow suite and roof terrace are all directly wired to the studios. This allows for impromptu recordings.

nhow hotel is in Osthafen, a destination for the new Berlin. It’s between the offices of MTV and Universal Music. Yet history is on its doorstep. Fragments of the Berlin wall are a stone’s throw away. Bowie could easily have been gazing out over the dizzying panorama from the music lounge when he penned Thru These Architect’s Eyes, “All majesty of a city landscape / All the soaring days in our lives”. Here, anything can happen.

A Place in the Country: HemLoft; Taxidermy

2012-08-22T00:00:00.000+01:00

Bear Facts

If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise. Joel Allen’s HemLoft to be precise. Onetime computer engineer Joel has swapped software for hardwood. Like a scene from Jonas Selberg Augustsén’s film The Tree Lover, he escaped the rat run for something much close to nature, becoming a carpenter extraordinaire in the process. It all began with the idea to live in the countryside of Whistler, an area of British Columbia famed for its prime real estate. A couple of snags though – Joel’s budget was zero and he didn’t have a site. Oops! The answer to the first problem was Craigslist. He says,

“I spent hours upon hours trolling the site’s free section, pressing refresh and getting competitive about finding stuff right away. A lot of people in Vancouver were moving, getting rid of things for free and the materials were quite valuable. Among my finds were a double glass sliding door valued at $400, ash hardwood flooring worth $1,500 and clear cedar wood without any knots.”

The answer to the second problem was to build on someone else’s land. Government owned land. A tree in a secret location deep in the forest was chosen to wrap an “elegant, organic, unusual” egg shaped treehouse around. There were one or two logistical problems records Joel,

“It took several trips from the car to move materials to the site. And being on a 45 degree slope didn’t help. Within a few weeks, I had lost a tape measure, destroyed a battery from my impactor, and spent a few too many hours looking for whatever tool or material had gone hurtling into the rock field below.”

The engineering marvel that is now HemLoft has been worth all the effort. The gravity defying “magical orb” squeezes in a bed, kitchenette on a terrace and even an upper level with pop-up viewing windows. In fact it’s the ultimate pop-up residence: it doesn’t even have an address!

For a while Joel and his fiancée Heidi lived in the “magical orb” of HemLoft: “After a day or two of settling in, we felt like we were in the lap of luxury. We had a bounty of showering options in nearby waterfalls and lakes and, if the need arose, there were plenty of unused hot tubs in the neighbourhood.” In the forest below, the only company was bears.

Top Dog

One way to cope with the premature loss of a pet is a visit to a taxidermist. That’s exactly what the owner of this puppy Chihuahua did over 100 years ago. Currently doing the rounds of the antiques circuit of London, it could be yours if you have £19,000 or so to spare. Includes collar.

The Delaunay @ No.1 Kingsway: Barnaby Kelham + David Collins

2012-08-15T00:00:00.001+01:00

Reinventing the Past

Every so often a piece of the city gets reinvented. The monumental Portland stone exterior of No.1 Kingsway would still be recognised, 90 years later, by its original architects Trehearne + Norman. But developer UK & European Investments, with the help of Sidell Gibson Architects, has retained the façade and demolished everything else behind it, stitching back together the urban fabric with brick elevations which extend the building and fenestration lines of Trehearne + Norman’s neoclassical work.

Mixed use is an overused buzzword but not at No.1 Kingsway. Behind this marriage of stone and brick, eight floors of Grade A offices totalling 10,000 sqm have been sandwiched between The Delaunay restaurant and coffee shops on the ground floor and seven apartments totalling 1,510 sqm on the ninth and tenth floors. The ivory hued upper levels are tiered and set back, creating the illusion of a supersized sugary wedding cake. To stretch the metaphor, the granite ground floor is the base and the pilasters the cake stand.

As Barney Kelham, Head of UK & European Investments, tells us, there's a lot to celebrate. The Delaunay may be the flagship at street level but he confirms that household names including John Laing and Tate + Lyle have been eagerly securing leases for the offices upstairs. All seven apartments are fully let.

“Unlike most developers we retain ownership of our schemes,” says Barney. “This means we are constantly thinking of what's best for our tenants. For example, the offices benefit from a 2.7m floor to ceiling height and we achieved Breeam excellent. We pay attention to detailed design in all areas including lift lobbies which are frequently overlooked elsewhere.”

We’re sitting in The Delaunay first thing in the morning. Already there's a buzz. It’s the sister restaurant of The Wolseley in Piccadilly; both are named after vintage cars. There's a resemblance to its older sibling: the dark green leather, black and brown marble and aged mirrors look familiar. The Delaunay is effortlessly stylish in a Continental sort of way.

David Collins Studio did the generously proportioned 1,300 sqm interior. Project architect Simon Rawlings reveals, “The restaurant’s meant to look as if it’s always been here. We were influenced by the Wolseley but we’ve given The Delaunay its own personality. We visited Vienna, the home of the faded grand café, for inspiration.”

The operation of both restaurants is similar as well, opening for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea and pre, mid and post theatre meals. Oh and morning coffee too. Covent Garden is nearby as is the Strand. “This area is changing rapidly,” Barney believes. “The introduction of residential properties – Berkeley Homes are developing nearby – is making it more 24 hour, not just somewhere peopled by tourists and teenagers. It’s right between the City and West End.”

Simon explains, “The triangular shape of the restaurant at first seemed awkward but the horseshoe layout we've created fits and works well. Although there are references to art deco like the geometric coffered ceilings, we didn’t want too much of a design statement. We wanted it to be authentic without being pastiche. We've carefully analysed all the textures, colours and forms used to achieve the right effect. Lighting is so important. It’s got to be perfect. The space is so intimate at night.”

On the other side of this wedge shaped block is the entrance to the offices. Again, David Collins designed the interior. “We didn’t want some boring office lobby,” says Barney. “We wanted something more akin to a New York luxury hotel combined with a utilitarian 1950s feel.” This marriage of themes works. It’s coolly sophisticated, bringing a touch of unpretentious luxury to the end and beginning of the daily commute. Artist Joseph Harrington was commissioned to make a glass sculpture which is placed next to one of the ground floor windows. “It sparkles and catches the eyes of passersby,” Barney observes.

A separate lift off its own David Collins designed lobby on Kean Street ascends to the apartments, the icing on the cake. We exit into a landscaped courtyard. The impact is at once disorientating and exhilarating. These are homes for the gods, a world away from the streets below. The centrally placed apartment has a domed octagonal living area with panoramic views across London.

No.1 Kingsway is not just about a reinvention of the block itself by UK & European Investments. The transformation of this block, the fulcrum of Aldwych and Kingsway, has kick started the reinvention of the wider area. David Collins Studio has reinvented the Viennese coffeehouse for the London market. And finally, even the wheel has been reinvented at No.1 Kingsway. A bicycle parked outside the building has found a new use as an advertisement for The Delaunay.

UK & European Investments

Barney Kelham manages all of UK & European Investments’ portfolio in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean, as well as the core holdings in London. Over the last five years, he has developed over 93,000 sqm commercial floorspace and a host of residential schemes.

Notable developments include Horizon House in Bristol, voted the UK’s greenest office scheme. A recent acquisition is the London property portfolio of Lloyds Bank which will deliver a pipeline of over 1,000 London residential units over the next half decade.

Barney has also completed transactions in excess of £1 billion property deals in recent times. Highlights are the purchase and sale of the IBM headquarters in Southbank and Orion House in Covent Garden.

Castle Dillon Loughgall; Danish Tourist Board

2012-08-08T00:00:00.000+01:00

Cass Ill Dylan Inn Our Ma

Rummaging through our dusty archives, we came across a faded photograph of a country house which is so old it’s practically Julia Margaret Cameron.

Despite the sepia and blurriness, the sharpness and preciseness of the architecture shines through. It’s time for a jolly to ~~bandit country~~ County Armagh.

Accessed off a maze of roads drawing spaghetti loops across the rolling countryside surrounding Loughgall, one of Ulster’s least forgettable and most forgotten villages, is the memorable and majestic Castle Dillon.

Standing proud at the top of a hill, it commands respect and views across a lake. The house was designed by William Murray for Sir George Molyneaux, 6th Baronet, and completed in 1845, replacing an 18th century house. The 18th century stable block designed by Thomas Cooley still remains with the later building set at a right angle to it.

Castle Dillon makes Castle Coole look bling. Seriously. A string course and plain cornice are the only relief. The lake front comprises a nine bay two storey block with single storey three bay wings over a high basement. Steps lead up to the central ground floor window.

The entrance front is identical to the lake front save for a simple pillared porch. The side elevations are five bay wide each with a central upstairs tripartite window.

This is Presbyterian architecture. August, austere, authoritarian, certain, conservative, controlled, correct, dignified, disciplined, earnest, four-square, grave, justified, non pop-up, plain, puritanical, purist, reformed, serious, stony, well mannered. Its longitudes are more presumptuously prosperous than its latitudes. The penchant for the perpendicular is apparent with not a bow or bay in sight.

The internal layout is pure maths, simple geometry. A screen of columns separates the three bay entrance hall from a wide central corridor running the full length of the main block. A library and morning room are on either side of the entrance hall. These three rooms are replicated along the lake front with a saloon flanked by a dining room and drawing room.

Someone forgot to vacuum before the guests arrived

Further reception rooms are in one wing. The wing closest to the stable block consists of offices in shallow parallel ranges with a yard in between. The upstairs tripartite windows light a staircase and the landing.

The Molyneaux family sold Castle Dillon in 1926. It was last used as a nursing home, closing in 2000. Its entrepreneur owner Cecil Stewart placed it on the market but there were no takers.

After keeping heating on for four years to preserve the structure, he gave up. The entrance door lies open to the elements and vandals and the occasional intrepid photographer. A union jack atop a chimney flaps in the wind, a reminder that this is an area of split loyalties.

A descendent of the original family, the Hon Isabel Anne Marie Henrietta Dillon, married Alec Cobbe of Hatchlands Park and resides at the country seat in Surrey.

Great Danes

The Vikings have invaded England again, 999 years after they first ran amok on these islands. Thankfully this time they're more into partying than pillaging.

The Danish Tourist Board has taken over St Katherine’s Dock for the summer so we climbed on board a houseboat to celebrate. Of course being from Denmark it had to be a cool cutting edge contemporary sustainable floating residence. Probably the best houseboat in the world.

Traditional Danish delights like red caviar, pink prawn canapés and dark chocolate coconut cakes were baked and served from the open plan kitchen. And not a Danish pastry in sight.

Lego is one of Denmark’s greatest inventions. Its name comes from the Danish phrase ‘leg godt’ which means ‘play well’. It’s a custom the nation seems to have taken up as a pastime.

Fifty Shades of Red: Redhall Ballycarry; Bincho Soho

2012-08-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

Well Red

“Wherever men have lived and moved and had their being, hoped, feared, succeeded, failed, loved, laughed, been happy, lost, mourned, died, were beloved or detested, there remains forever after a something, intangible and tenuous as thought, a sentience very like a soul, which abides forever in the speechless walls.”

John Bennett The Doctor to the Dead 1946

Looks can deceive. At first glance, Redhall in Ballycarry, County Antrim, appears to be an appealing rambling Victorian country house with a symmetrical entrance front and asymmetrical garden front jauntily offset by a turret with a witch’s hat roof. On closer inspection – the thickness of the window insets, the subtle variations in style – it becomes apparent that this is a complex building cloaked in render once as red as a Louboutin sole and steeped in history.

A tiled porch opens into a welcoming long, low entrance hall. The hall appears to be symmetrical but judicious spacing of the ceiling plasterwork blurs the fact it’s slightly longer to one side of the entrance door. This room stretches the width of the oldest part of the building, a fortified 17th century or even earlier house. Recently, an attic beam was dated to 1627 with seven years variation of accuracy.

At either end of the entrance hall are the main reception rooms, housed in large three bay late 18th century wings. Curiously the tall sash windows of the two rooms face different directions. The dining room overlooks the entrance driveway while the drawing room has blind windows to the front and overlooks the gardens to the rear. An Edwardian canted bay window inserted in the side elevation adds to the airiness of the drawing room. Its fireplace is behind the central blind window. Less formal rooms are located in the older parts of the ground floor.

Four elegant squarish bedrooms are grouped around a central lobby on the first floor. It is on this level that the uniqueness of Redhall is truly to behold. Unparalleled in Ulster, two of these rooms are decorated with deep figurative ceiling plasterwork. Their naïvety suggests 17th century but their costumes say early 18th century. Scumbling (see Ulster Architect article below) incorporating a picture of a Scottish castle betwixt barley twist columns over a fireplace has been preserved in one of these rooms.

The second floor is the plainest architecturally and now provides family quarters for the latest two McClintock generations. On the attic floor above, angular spaces are carved out of the hipped roof. Pictures stacked in corners create accidental still life arrangements. A dormer opens onto the narrowest of walkways squeezed between the roof and parapet. The leading has been renewed – good enough to last the next half century or so. At this height only does it become clear that the turret is in fact a decorative conceit doubling as a water tank holder.

During the course of the McClintocks’ recent impressive restoration programme, similarities to other historic houses of Ulster have emerged. The magnificent oak staircase with its carved balustrade is a dead ringer for the staircase of Galgorm Castle. The complex fireplace arrangement in the drawing room wing, where the flue tortuously climbs across two perpendicular walls, is similar to that of the side wing of Springhill. All in the name of symmetry, to preserve the balanced exterior.

Most extraordinary of all is the discovery about the ceiling plasterwork of the drawing room. It turns out this delicate design is identical to the plasterwork found in the music room of Mount Stewart. The music room is the least changed of George Dance the Younger’s interiors at Mount Stewart and dates from around 1804. The plasterwork is formed by a central patera surrounded by a guilloche pattern and honeysuckle motifs. Who copied who? Did Dance pay a visit to Redhall?

The McClintocks agreed to allow the public into Redhall as part of Open House Heritage Days. Assumptions can deceive. Underestimating the public’s appetite for historic properties, imagine their surprise when a long stream of cars started lining the driveway. The stable staff were quickly cajoled into acting as impromptu guides for the 1,200 or so people who flocked to the house.

Diary of a Somebody

The great-great-grandfather of the current Mr McClintock was a keen diarist. Henry McClintock was the youngest son of John McClintock of Drumcar, County Louth. John McClintock died in 1799. His diary, now in the Public Records Office, provides a great insight into the lifestyle of the Ascendancy during the first half of the 19th century. It is full of political, social, meteorological and even medical comment.

On 14 December 1809 he records his marriage in Waterford Cathedral. Typical of the time, it was a low key affair and none of his relatives were present. His wife, Elizabeth (“Bessy”) Fleury was age 18. The newlyweds went to live with his mother at Seatown Place in Louth. A round of balls and suppers as well as days spent hunting and shooting follows.

He mentions visits to neighbouring country houses like Bellurg, Dromiskin, Louth Hall, Mountpleasant and Rokeby Hall. Henry refers to frequent visits with his wife to Ravensdale to see his friend Lord Clermont. On more than one occasion he admits he “drank too much wine”.

"I've never been a millionaire but I just know I'd be darling at it."

Dorothy Parker

Bincho Soho

First it was tapas; then it was taquitos; now it’s iazakayas. The keraze for dishes to be grilled as soon as you order, served when ready, then shared, continues apace in London. Starters and main courses are just too passé. So it was off to Bincho in Soho for some ohitashi (marinated baby spinach with sesame please), shitake mushrooms, and uzuratamago (that’s quails’ eggs to you and me).

The Southbank Experiment; Bomber Memorial Hyde Park

2012-07-15T00:00:00.000+01:00

Southern Comfort

This summer a little piece of Mexico landed in Southbank. A kaleidoscopic cuboid artwork splashed against the solemnity of the brutalist riverside architecture. Eight recycled shipping containers stacked double height and double piled have been plonked in front of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Dreamt up by Softroom Architects, they house an outpost of Wahaca, an exuberant Mexican inspired restaurant group. Each container is painted a different colour with large windows sliced into the sides framing views of the Thames. The music is blasting. Tables spill onto terraces below like fallen cargo from the containers.

Mexico City street artist Saner has added a bit of urban grit by decorating the exterior with graffiti murals. At one of this pop-up restaurant a first floor bar cantilevers precariously, or so it seems, over the container below to form an open porch.

Metal stairs and a central gallery fill the glazed gap between the two rows of containers. The décor is an electric eclectic mix of modes and materials. The atmosphere is buzzing. Mismatched stools clash with stripy banquettes; untreated doors jar with olive green loos; bamboo mat ceilings stretch over walls lined with fractured mirrors.

“We’re all about having fun!” exclaims chef and co founder Thomasina Miers. A former MasterChef winner, she spent years travelling through Mexico learning about its food. Thomasina proclaims,

“This is an experiment, hence the name! We’re trying out new ingredients and adapting the menu on an ongoing basis. The experimental nature of the menu lets the kitchen gain more understanding of what dishes our customers enjoy most before introducing them to our other restaurants.”

Staff choreograph the service through the 130 covers. Nikki, a gregariously efficient Kiwi, is on duty. “Our philosophy is we’re all in this together!” The sense of team spirit is palpable. Exciting and colourful food soon arrives.

It comes as street food or slow cooked Mexican classics. Downtown food for downtime leisure. Vegetarians are well catered for with Thomasina’s own habanero salsa added to the chilli tacos for extra kick.

Devon crab taquito, deep fried with more salsa, is a pescatarian delight. British steak done the Mexican way – grilled and served with green rice, charred spring onions and even more salsa – suits diehard carnivores. Mango sorbet is the perfect antidote to the spicy food. The 18 month experiment is already a success – with flying colours.

Twilight photos by Joseph Burn

I’ll Be Your Commander

Bomber Command Memorial Hyde Park London

At one of the capital’s most notorious congestion spots, a dignified neoclassical edifice has been unveiled. The new Bomber Command Memorial at the junction of Hyde Park Corner and Constitution Hill is a welcome aesthetic distraction for drivers jammed in commuter traffic.

Designed by acclaimed architect Liam O’Connor, it is dedicated to the pilots and aircrew who lost their lives in World War II. In an innovative rethink of the Palladian villa quinpartite arrangement applied to a public structure, the central double fronted portico topped by an entablature with a rationalised Doric frieze is balanced on either side by colonnades of columns surmounted by plain entablatures. In place of pavilions at the extremities are standalone groups of four columns, detached from the main structure, providing space for footpaths in between.

O’Connor’s creation is a clever play on void and massing. Indeed it is believed to be Britain’s first open space monument incorporating a publicly accessible interior. The underside of the roof is formed by a structural stainless steel diagrid based on Sir Barnes Wallis’ design for the fuselage of the Wellington Bomber. This is covered with sheet aluminium made from melted down parts of a Halifax bomber shot down on its return from a mission in Germany. Otherwise, Portland Stone is used throughout.

The potential void at the heart of this memorial is filled by a bronze sculpture by Philip Jackson depicting Bomber Command aircrew. Natural light from the open sky above falls directly onto the sculpture. The architect says, “We want people of future generations to use the space of the memorial to reflect on the scale of sacrifice of these young airmen. The interior space is monumental yet intimate. Bronze lamps and cast iron bollards complete a project which displays a wealth of traditional craft construction skills employed in making the memorial.”

The use of neoclassical architecture has drawn criticism from some quarters. Au contraire, what other genre would lend such gravitas and head turning car swerving pedestrian tripping elegance? It brings a sense of order (Doric, to be precise) to its schizophrenic setting. To the north, the memorial overlooks the frenetic Piccadilly underpass with the Hilton Hotel raising its dreary head above a blast of overblown Dutch gables and dormers. To the south lies the serenity of Hyde Park.

The recent opening of the memorial by Her Majesty represents the culmination of a seven year campaign by the Bomber Command Association. The campaign raised £7 million for its construction and future maintenance.

The memorial has gained recognition from another source: the Society of British Interior Design. Fellow of the Year is an honour bestowed upon one designer per annum in recognition of significant achievements in the sphere of British design. Liam O’Connor’s ‘external internal space’ at the Bomber Command Memorial Hyde Park London helped propel him towards winning this year’s award.

Manhattan Loft Corporation: Fitzrovia Apartments; Olympia

2012-07-08T00:00:00.000+01:00

Made in Fitzrovia

A Polly Morgan taxidermy of a fox snuggled into a glass dome in the ground floor reception is a sign this is no ordinary office building. 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 leading architect David Adjaye who has cloaked it in his trademark charcoal grey rendering. The client was Harry Handelsman of Manhattan Loft Corporation, the developer who brought loft living to London.

“It 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 become a HQ for design firms.

Born in Germany, Harry worked as a financier in New York before arriving in London in 1984. He soon realised the potential for New York style loft living in the English capital. “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 wanted to give our latest development a bit of punch!”

That heavyweight punch is taking shape as Fitzrovia Apartments. The architects are HOK. “We've used them before at No.1 West India Quay in Canary Wharf. We brought American luxury living to London in 2004 with this 32 storey hotel and residential tower,” says Harry, ever the trailblazer. “We wanted to match the quality and style of contemporary apartments found in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. For us, working with HOK is a collaboration of expression and expertise.”

Harry continues, “The existing hospital building was no longer fit for purpose so we've built a new clinic next door. We've retained the original Grade II listed ‘meeting hall’. It’s now a quaint smallish office. So in effect our Fitzrovia scheme is mixed use combining apartments, offices and a clinic in one block.”

At £750,000 for a one bed, the apartments are at the higher end of the market but they're almost all sold already. “It’s a market endorsement of our efforts,” he believes. The four penthouses with the largest private terraces in W1 will be marketed at around £6 million each once the development is complete this summer. They're split level over the sixth and seventh floors.

HOK’s design is a modern take on the geometry of its Georgian and Edwardian context. A grid pattern is formed by the regular placement of zinc panels, glazed projections and inset window openings framed by Juliet balconies. The skin of Caliza Capri limestone is peeled away at one corner to reveal a glazed curtain wall embellished with multicoloured vertical glass fins. A double height entrance hall ushers visitors through to the central landscaped garden. “An oasis in the busy centre of the city,” says Harry. As if in anticipation of its green heart, the communal areas are lined with full height woodland images shot on a plate camera by artist and photographer Peter Lavery.

“I got to know lots of artists at the Groucho Club. I used to spend far too much time there!” Harry laughs. He’s an Artangel Trustee. “Artangel is absolutely wonderful. It’s as close as is possible to the perfect organisation. It’s right on the zeitgeist. It means I am the first to know what's next in the art world!”

Two decades after he brought loft living to London, he's also the best man to know what's next in the development world. “High rise apartments. That’s the way things are going,” states Harry. He’s on a roll. “London is the most exciting city in the world. Development can make such a positive contribution. It’s not all about commerce. 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!”

Handelsman on Manhattan Loft Corporation

“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.”

Handelsman on Hotels

“The nice thing about hotels is that they give a third party a transient experience. Accommodation is such an important part of travel. St Pancras is imposing while Manchester Square [Manhattan Loft Corporation’s next hotel] is a jewel, a one-off.”

Handelsman on Ealing Studios

[He is a development partner in the regeneration of Ealing Studios] “They're the oldest studios in the world and are now transformed, linking them to the new digital era. They're creative, cool and sexy! They’ve been turned into a destination and are incredibly successful. Bridget Jones was filmed there. They make people feel fabulous and part of an artistic community.”

“Over a period of 12 months I set up my tripod and 10 x 8 plate camera amongst parklands and forests including Bowood House, Flisteridge Woods, Regent’s Park, Savernake Forest, St James’s Park and Westonbirt Arboretum. The end results are a stunning set of fine detailed photographs depicting the seasons, each piece 2 sqm. These dramatic images enhance our awareness of the world around us. The pure forms demonstrate the abiding relationship between art and nature. Photographic studies of moments of life and death go beyond the ‘captured moment’ of traditional picture taking. A dew spattered bluebell, the pinnacle of floral perfection; rhododendron petals, faded and fallen; a fern unfurling its snowy throat… By means of innovative camera work these poetic arboreal portraits take photography to exciting new heights.”

Peter Lavery artist and photographer

The 40th Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fair

Attention! Hawkins and Hawkins of Tasmania and Scotland have sold the £1.5 million 32 piece Toilet Service by Benjamin Pyne of London. It was commissioned in 1708 by the Duchess of Norfolk’s father for the marriage of his 16 year old daughter to the Duke of Norfolk. This strategic alliance secured the bride’s family entry to the top grade of English aristocracy. The Service went to a private overseas buyer. John Hawkins says,

“A case could be made for this being the most important surviving complete suite of fully documented Queen Anne silver made by an English silversmith.”

The original enormous price of 701 pounds 18 shillings and 10 pence had to be paid in instalments. When the Duke and Duchess separated in 1729, part of the settlement was that, “The Duchess was to have the use of the said jewels and toilet set of her natural life.” It was to be returned to the Norfolk family on her death. In 1754 the service was returned on the Duchess’s demise to Edward Duke of Norfolk, the brother of her late husband.

Royal College of Art @ Audi Quattro Rooms; Spuntino

2012-07-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

Audi Do

Young talent from the Royal College of Art bombarded us with their brilliance at West London Audi on Wednesday evening. This seven storey glazed cathedral to the automobile is the world’s largest Audi Centre.

Wilkinson Eyre, architects of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, designed the £45m building. The top two floors are given over to the Audi Quattro Rooms with great views across – appropriately enough – the M4.

The Natural Audi project is a collaboration between the Audi Design Team based in Ingolstadt and London’s RCA. The 10 final designs were presented to the VIP audience which included leading figures from the design industry and Lavender’s Blue, of course.

An open brief without limits was stimulated by the ‘natural’ remit. The student talent rose to the challenge and then some, exploring all sorts from magnetic levitation to biochemical sensors in order to enhance the relationship between machine and human.

Frank Rimili from the Audi Design Team mentored the students together with his colleague Christian Labonte. He says of this fusion of design and technology:

“At Audi Design we are constantly searching for input to widen our horizons. This time we chose to work with young designers, some of who are in disciplines other than vehicle design, such as fashion and textiles, to open our minds to exciting, groundbreaking and innovative ideas.”

Talking in the top floor gallery of the Audi Quattro Rooms, its rounded skylight overhead reminiscent of a gargantuan car sun roof, Prof Dale Harrow of the RCA adds,

“Vehicle design is a complex subject concerned with aerodynamics, environmental impact, ergonomics, legislation, materials, production, safety and technology. The students have risen to the extraordinary challenge of the Natural Audi project by addressing these challenges and creating imaginative solutions.”

Dr Cornelia Menzel Audi Designer

“We are always ahead of our time with our thoughts.”

“We are very curious and are looking for an intellectual discussion with the generation ahead of us.”

“When you design a car it should look like it’s moving even when it’s still.”

“A car should appeal to our five senses.”

“London being so international is a melting pot of creative freedom.”

Sixth Sense: Ewan Gallimore, Georgia Dorey + Claire Miller

“The sixth sense is a concept born from a study of the five senses. The vehicle is intended to become your sixth. Through the use of magnetic levitation and advanced sensors, the vehicle’s floating, adaptive skin is able to tailor itself to the requirements of the users and their driving style. the skin is in constant interaction with its environment, visibly altering its appearance in response to natural changes such as light, sound and heat conditions. These elements of the concept were important to use in our effort to create a piece of elegant, striking and purposeful design.”

Audi.me: Cherica Haye, Hanchul Lee + Nir Siegel

“Seeking a different kind of relationship between the driver and the vehicle, this concept introduces a ‘tailored fit’ suit which is used to connect the user and product. This suit uses innovative textiles to attach the driver to the car both physically and emotionally. By doing this, ownership of the vehicle is redefined and a new driving experience is born.”

A Family Inspired Concept: Siduo Zhang

“The design is inspired by the idea of ‘growth’. It aims to explore a future in which flexibility is a key quality of a premium vehicle. The concept is centred by a highly transformable interior which can be optimised for passengers of different ages. The nature of this interior also enables the exterior to develop a design language that is very distinctive to vehicles for today’s family users.”

Audi Epiphany: Shihan Pi + Yijing Zhang

“Inspired by the moment when a drip hits the water surface, this project is aimed at creating a more natural and emotional language for the future Audi. The mood of soft and varied natural elements are caught and expressed by a unique combination of fabric and metal work.”

Dolphin: Michal Vlcek

“This project explores how a vehicle can alter and adapt its movement with reference to the knowledge it requires by observing the nature around the vehicle. It pursues ‘advancement through technology’ from a different perspective. The Dolphin is an advanced step for the Audi mission statement, Vorsprung durch Technik.”

The Audi E-Flux: Samuel Johnson + Emma Sheldon

“This concept explores the transition of air, light and sound from the surrounding environment into the vehicle’s interior space. Using this principle the E-Flux reverses the trend of vehicle design which focuses on the interior rather than the outside world. This has allowed us to explore a new design direction while keeping the core identity of an Audi.”

Audi A 0: Edward Starkey

“An autonomous three-seat vehicle designed using bio-mimicry principles. A functional outer scaling sits on a skeletal chassis structure. It senses other road entities through a variety of biochemical sensors, mimicking those seen in nature. Swarm intelligence allows road users to work together as one entity, negating some of the congestion problems of today.”

Audi V-Tron: Kaori Takasu, Alei Verspoor + Ferran Mestres

“The main inspiration for our concept comes from the spider’s web. Within this concept, we have developed two different cars. The first one is a light interior structure and it focuses only on the spider’s web concept. The second car is a mix between this and an idea to create a private environment for the user. The function of the wires which are attached to the doors is to create easy access. The top exterior surface of the car is a special fabric which uses electrical stimulations to open and close small eye-like holes in order to change driving modes.”

Audi Adapt: Ian Slattery + Lizete Druka

“This vehicle is designed for the near future when autonomous travel is commonplace. In this scenario, Audi provides premium transport by giving people the ability to decide whether they drive or are drivers. The interior transforms itself depending on requirement. Interactions displayed on natural materials build an emotional connection between human and vehicle.”

Audi Aureus: Josep Ferriol Artero + Jinju Lee

“This is based on the use of natural and biodegradable materials inspired by the flow of air and the pleasure of having a wonderful journey. Biodegradable materials keep the car in contact with the environment. Life is about the journey, not the destination.”

Spuntino

At Lavender’s Blue we do love our twee afternoon tea. And going clubbing these days usually means supper in the Athenaeum. More hip op than hip hop. So it was with a sense of bemused excitement we headed to the cooler than thou eatery Spuntino in London’s Soho.

Cool (presumably if you are cool you wouldn’t actually use the word) these days seemingly means no signage – if you don’t know where you are you shouldn’t be there – and a queue instead of a reservation. Said queue turned out to be mercifully short.

Opened by the team behind Da Polpo (Russell Norman and Richard Beatty with the kitchen headed up by Tom Oldroyd), the intimate space is mostly swallowed up by a rectangular zinc topped bar around which diners dangle their legs on stools. Exposed brick, cracked mosaic tiles and bare filament bulbs provide an air of faded glory. Considering it has just opened, the décor must be a cunning deceit. Quirks abound: loud retro rock music for background noise, brown paper menus for placemats, chunky tumblers for wine glasses…

Our seats were in an alcove along the back wall. It sounds like we seated in Siberia (The Ivy’s infamous hideaway) but they were perfect for people watching. Just when we thought the place couldn’t get anymore atmospheric, the lights dimmed at 10pm. Beyond the open front door, the neon signs of Soho beamed like a collage dreamed up by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

The menu consists of a variety of tapas style dishes. It’s unmistakably now. Top notch diner food. Milanese comfort eating meets New York East Village nosh. We ate (we were hungry):

Eggplant chips, fennel yoghurt (4)*

Prawn Po’ Boy (5)

Asparagus, soft boiled egg, hazelnut + black sesame (6)

Wild nettle, anchovy + potato pizzetta (7)
Truffled egg toast (6)
Spuntino slaw (5)
Peanut butter + jelly sandwich (6)

Pineapple, liquorice ice cream (5 ½)

Brown sugar cheesecake + drunken prunes (6)

*prices in brackets

Simon Silver Developer: Derwent London; Princeton Press

2012-06-22T00:00:00.000+01:00

Angel in the Architecture

The story of developer Derwent London is one of entwining art and architecture from the beginning. The latest chapter is the Angel Building which is the reworking of a dated composition in Islington.

Simon Silver is Head of Regeneration at Derwent London. An honorary Fellow of RIBA, Simon’s role is at the heart of the company overseeing acquisitions, projects and design. “We’re very project oriented,” he says, “and always have a pipeline of schemes. Artists form part of our team for each project.”

Derwent London regards art as intrinsic to the environments it delivers for its tenants. Simon believes, “The space which people work in makes a subtle yet significant contribution to the way they think, interact and function.” The developer has cultivated relationships with some of London’s most visionary galleries. He explains,

“Rather than simply buying finished pieces we commission artists to make pieces specifically for each of our buildings. This blurs the boundaries between art and architecture. It creates unique surroundings that allow unique minds to flourish.”

Derwent London’s efforts haven't gone unnoticed. The Angel Building – “Our most iconic project yet!” proclaims Simon – has won just about every accolade going. It’s received a RIBA Award for Architecture, a New London Award for Working and was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize to name a few.

“It reads as a new building despite having a 1980s frame,” remarks Simon. The skill with which the exterior is manipulated demonstrates architects AHMM’s love of a necessary complexity and an innate contradiction where one form belies another. It’s an architecture of distinction, as Adolf Loos had it, realised by references to Mies van der Rohe.

Expanding the lettable area by about 30% – an additional 90,000 square feet – was achieved by extending inwards, upwards and outwards on two sides. A sweeping curtain wall placed in front of the existing concrete structure realigns the façade with the gentle curve of St John Street.
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The bays of the curtain wall are framed by prominent mullions resembling Miesian exposed steel l-beams. Think the Seagram Building. They are in fact extruded aluminium alloy in two L-shaped half sections.

Black framed glazing is distinguished by the shallowest of black spandrel panels. Opening windows, mechanically operated since they are top hung and 1.5 metres wide, are one of many environmentally aware attributes of the Angel Building. The fourth floor slopes outwards by seven degrees to reflect the mature trees.

Light grey fritting and white panels on the fifth floor complete the disciplined palette. This new floor is recessed behind expansive roof terraces. Far below, the capital snakes out in a labyrinth of Lilliputian living.

“The atrium with its lounge and café is more like a city hotel than the entrance to an office block,” Simon observes. “It’s monochromatic yet welcoming.” The use of polished concrete in this former service courtyard is a nod to Tadao Ando, a favourite of Simon’s. Is it art or a chair? Ian McChesney’s sculpture Out of the Strong Came Forth Sweetness in the atrium is both.

Temperature is controlled via a low velocity under-floor displacement system which liberates the offices from internal ductwork. Exposed low energy DALI lighting is in place of suspended ceilings. Clean open spaces are the result. Mies would approve.

The architectural demands of this prominent site for an inspirational urban composition demonstrate the role of architecture as the guardian of the public realm, something too readily dissolved by the alternative demands of consumerism and bourgeois values.

The Angel Building succeeds by at once interacting and reacting with its context. Diners spill out from Jamie’s Italian in a ground floor unit, bathed in their reflection in the curtain wall. The story of Derwent London’s placemaking in Islington continues afoot. Next chapter? A 55,000 square foot office building at 10-4 Pentonville Road opposite the Angel Building, due to open later this year.

Putting it into Practice

Developer Derwent London

Architect Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Landscape Architects J+L Gibbons

Structural Engineers Adams Kara Taylor

Transport Consultant Colin Buchanan

Lighting Consultant GIA

Acoustic Consultant Sandy Brown Associates

Rights of Light GIA

Party Wall Surveyor GIA

Project Managers Buro Four

Cost Consultants Davis Langdon

Service Engineers Norman Disney + Young

Fire Consultant Norman Disney + Young Fire

Main Contractor BAM Construction

Cladding Contractor Scheldebouw

CDM Coordinator Jackson Coles

Property Agents Pilcher Hershman + CBRE

Graphic Designers David Hillman

Living the High Life

“We publish the best books on a subject we believe we know best.” So say Princeton Architectural Press.” It’s a mantra close to our hearts at Lavender’s Blue. “We publish the best articles on subjects we know best,” we could say modestly, and add, “and like”. If we don’t like it we don’t publish it.

Anyway back to Princeton. In 30 years it has risen to become a world leader in architecture and design publishing, both commercially and editorially. Princeton has been particularly astute on two fronts. Firstly, it’s built a reputation in part by identifying new trends and publishing first books on emerging talents. Established names haven't been neglected either.

Secondly it’s successfully broadened the scope of what constitutes design publishing from theory anthologies to documentation of remote Canadian fishing villages. This American company excels at publishing books that defy easy categorisation.

In an industry where the average lifespan of a book is measured in months at best, Princeton is to be lauded for paying attention to its backlist. The first book it published, Letarouilly’s Edifices de Rome Moderne, is still in print. Over 1,000 titles comes Up on the Roof.

We find it handy to have both writing and photographic skills combined with art and design backgrounds when it comes to producing Lavender’s Blue. Adding flying would bring it to a whole new level. Enter polymath Alex MacLean. Architect-photographer-pilot Alex MacLean has combined his talents to document the American landscape and cityscape for over 30 years.

In Up on the Roof, a glossy coffee table book with substance, McLaren directs his lens at the rarely viewed cosmotellurian level of New York City to reveal a hidden world of amazing complexity, diversity and life. Alongside the famous water towers of the cosmopolis are pools, sunbathers, tennis courts, art, restaurants and gardens.

Maps and captions help you identify the location of the photographs. These stunning photographs are more than just a record of time frozen scenes. They emphasise the belief that improved outdoor spaces above lead to more liveable cities below. London still has a lot to learn.

Up on the Roof

New York’s Hidden Skyline Spaces

Alex MacLean

Princeton Architectural Press

£35

May 2012

ISBN 9781616890506

The Hotel Inspector: Hotel Icon; Stolichnaya elit Vodka

2012-06-15T00:00:00.000+01:00

The Muses are Heard

Like a Greek legend with a novel twist, Hotel Icon in downtown Tsim Sha Tsui East has given birth to an explosion of talent – some young, some old.

Daughters of Zeus and denizens of Mount Parnassus, the nine Muses of Mythology are heard every time a poet writes or an artist paints, as the title of Truman Capote’s nonfiction novella records. Homer invoked this ethereal sorority at the opening of The Odyssey. Dante summoned them before plunging into his Inferno, “O Muses… aid me now!”

Somewhere down the ages the immortal Muses morphed into flesh and blood, capable of holding all manner of men in their thrall. For a time Whistler could barely brush a stroke without the guiding presence of his titian tressed muse Joanna Hiffernan. The Viennese seductress Alma Mahler famously impelled Walter Gropius to draw, Gustav Mahler to compose and Franz Werfel to write.

Around the same time that art became abstract, muses migrated from artists to musicians. Marianne Faithfull crooned “I am a muse, not a mistress, not a whore” in Sliding Through Life on Charm. Taking it to a whole new level is the recently opened Hotel Icon in Hong Kong. Multiple muses – male and female – not only inspired the design but became part of it.

Hong Kong’s designerati took the lead. Rocco Yim oversaw the sharp architecture. William Lim of CL3 Architects designed the sweeping staircase, ballroom and bedrooms. He says, “Comfort is always my priority. We wanted to create a sense of richness and elegance – then let the spectacular views complete the story.”

The eponymous VT suite is the brainchild of fashion designer Vivienne Tam. Her contemporary Barney Cheng designed the staff uniforms. He labels his style “extravagant simplicity”. Designer Freeman Lau curated the hotel’s eclectic art collection.

They were joined by French landscape architect Patrick Blanc who installed a ‘vertical garden’, an 18m high verdant wall, in the Green café. A meaningful moniker theme emerges. Sir Terence Conran directed the design of all the hotel’s eateries which also include members’ club Above & Beyond on the top floor of this 262 bedroom hotel and an open plan restaurant called The Market. Rocco’s ninth floor harbour facing outdoor swimming pool and fitness centre allow guests to work up an appetite while enjoying the panorama.

Isabella Blow once remarked, “In the 18th century the muse would be in her salon. You would visit her, you would have tea with her, she’d talk… you were inspired by her. But life is very corporate now, you can't do that.” In the 21st century the muse is more likely to have designed the salon. The passive qualities of muses have transmogrified into the activity of icons.

Hotel Icon’s logo represents its coterie of icons. Designer Tommy Li explains, “The logo is an assortment of individual units gathering up to form a unique star shaped icon. It’s based on the concept of ‘bringing brilliance together’.” The totality of the titans’ talent is on display, housed in a 28 storey glass tower, revealing a new approach to traditional Asian hospitality. It’s a world away from Truman’s unfortunate hotel experiences. At Hotel Icon, the muses are heard and seen.

Architects: Rocco Design Architects Ltd

Interior Designer: CL3 Architects Ltd

Restaurants Designer: Conran & Partners

VT Suite Designer: Vivienne Tam

Vertical Garden Designer: Patrick Blanc

Uniform Designer: Barney Cheng

Logo Designer: Tommy Li

Spa Operator: Angsana Spa

“The concept behind the uniforms was to present a work/play wardrobe that works well in the board room and also on down time. Neutral colours chosen to go with the green/eco design of the hotel and we steered away from the cliché cheongsam uniform designs even for the Chinese restaurant to maintain a young professional feel to the designs.”

Barney Cheng

“The architecture derives its visual identity from a formal composition of three distinct programmatic components: a hotel, a school, and a residence. But it is not just an object to be looked at. It is a spatial composition best appreciated by moving up the levels and enjoying the varying interaction with the city.”

Rocco Yim

Additional reporting by Suresh Dutt

Stolichnaya elit Vodka

Everyone insists on crafted brands these days. First it was wine. Then it was cheese. Now it’s vodka. Quite simply if your vodka isn't artisanal you're out of here. Lavender’s Blue are just back from a photo shoot at Auchinleck House and where better to toast the good life with elit, the new premium brand by Stolichnaya, the world’s most prestigious vodka?

Cranking up the bonhomie a notch or three, elit possesses a smooth texture with a hint of aniseed flavour derived from the finest wheat and grains. The smoothness is down to a triple distillation and quadruple filtration process. Imperfections vanish leaving a velvety pure spirit. elit by Stolichnaya is available from The Wine Shop at Harrods and thedrinkshop.com, 70cl RRP £65.

The Wedding Planner: Quintessentially Weddings

2012-06-06T00:00:00.000+01:00

Diamonds Are Forever

“The coronation was sort of like marrying the nation.”

Margaret Rhodes, the Queen’s cousin

To celebrate the Queen’s 60th year on the throne, we partied at 29 Portland Place, home to Quintessentially Weddings. Designed by James Adam, this Grade II* listed building dates from 1780. The interior is everything you would expect from an original Adam Family house: a stone geometrical staircase with wrought iron balustrades leading up to the palatial piano nobile. Statuary marble fireplaces and delicate pastel plasterwork with inset panels and modillions grace the ballroom. French doors at either end open onto balconies, welcome retreats from the summer heat. 29 Portland Place has just received its licence as a wedding venue. Good timing for The Secret Quintessentially Weddings Guide which is being launched later this summer.

Sparks and Ashton

Four cocktails by exclusive drinks company Sparks and Ashton got the party moving:

Champagne Cocktail: angostura bitters soaked sugar cubed, topped with bubbly and finished with a dash of oak aged brandy
Death in Venice: campari, homemade Seville orange bitters and Verdarato Prosecco
Queen’s Martini: Snow Queen organic vodka, Noilly Part dry vermouth and caper berries
To Have and to Hold: SQ vodka, triples sec, cloudy lemonade and grenadine, garnished with fresh mint

Founder Peter Ashton says,

“Cocktails have come a long way since Pina Coladas and Cosmopolitans. Brides want refreshing, fruity and pale cocktails for summer weddings. We’ve created To Have and to Hold specially for Quintessentially Weddings. Classics such as the White Lady are seeing resurgence for such events as well as traditional English punches revamped and served in stunning punch bowls.”

Quintessentially Weddings

Anabel Fielding, Founder and CEO of Quintessentially Weddings, tells us:

“We are a blossoming team of dedicated wedding planners who work with couples of all denominations to organise engagement parties, religious ceremonies, church blessings, civil partnerships and weddings, from intimate candlelit gatherings to lavish stately occasions. Quintessentially Weddings have access to an unparalleled range of venues, caterers, design and entertainment and we’re devoted to producing exceptional weddings.”

Cinnamon Candy Spring Summer Canapés

Served Hot

Roast lamb cannon on a piquillo pepper blini, saffron aioli, caper flowers

Caramelised spiced pork belly, cauliflower purée and Asian spiced piccalilli

Sorrel pancake, seared salmon, lemon crème fraîche, sorrel leaves

Seared scallop, tomato shallot and lime salsa, chilli and coriander

Warm caramelised shallot tatin with dolcelatte and thyme

Served Cold

Gin cured salmon with cucumber pickled ginger and coriander

Chilli crab salad with mango, coriander and wasabi mayo on cucumber

Smoked trout rillettes and watermelon on a light rye croûte

Steak tartare on a sourdough croûte with poached quail’s egg and chive

Truffled celeriac rémoulade wrapped in bresaola

Velvet Living

Velvet Living styled the ballroom for the party. Comfy contemporary corner seating contrasted wonderfully with the Georgian interior. Event Manager Elodie Frati at Velvet Living provides her view on trends,

“For weddings this summer we are seeing a lot of requests for white streamlined furniture. Celebrity weddings are also embracing this trend. The feel for the summer is very much Mediterranean meets British garden party. People are after a more relaxed cool feel reminiscent of Ibiza or the Club 55 in St Tropez. People are also loving their greys, especially when it comes to outdoor furniture. We’re forecasting a huge demand for grey rattan.

Further down the line, for the autumn, people are taking those greys inside and combining them with a range of stone colours accented with deep rich plums. Think velvet against stone.”

Cinnamon Candy

Maria Souter, Senior Planner at catering company Cinnamon Candy, reveals some top tips for your Big Day:

“Keep it simple and elegant. Remember you don’t have to spend a fortune if you think creatively. Also, for the menu you don’t have to give everyone fillet of beef or sea bass. Some of the best wedding feedback is often when the main course is bangers and mash or simple British food done very well.

Think your timings for the day through carefully and try to avoid a reception longer than 1.5 hours before you sit down for dinner. In the run up to your wedding keep plenty of lists and timelines to ensure everything stays on track. Above all, make sure you plan the wedding YOU want!”

Cinnamon Candy is a brand new external catering and events company. It is owned by D&D London whose other enterprises include Bluebird on the King’s Road and Plateau Restaurant in Canary Wharf.

Pinstripes and Peonies

Ruari McCulloch, Creative Director of luxury florists Pinstripes and Peonies, gives the horticultural lowdown:

“The overall look for this year’s weddings is to be prettier and softer than we have seen in recent years. Last year was all about single bloom posies on both the tables and for bridal bouquets. This year a lot of our brides are favouring delicate combinations of flowers such as Sweet Peas, Lily of the Valley, Spray Roses and Astilbe. Used in combination, a classically inspired and beautiful look can be created which has both instant impact and stands up to close inspection.

Light touches of missed foliage on the table flowers is another trend. This softens the overall look. It highlights whites and creams, giving texture to the table centres.”

Not On The High Street

Not On The High Street is a unique online shopping experience. Everything comes directly from 2,000 British creative small businesses. It’s a place where you can source the finds associated with cool urban markets and hidden boutiques. Gifts for everything occasion including weddings of course. Over to Wedding Business Manager Louise Boothe:

“We’re seeing couples turn to nostalgic references to style their big day. Whether that is with a hanging display of photographs from their grandparents’ wedding days or 1920s fashion influences for the bride and groom, a nod to a bygone era is a reminder of the memories they are creating together.”

The memorable line from Steel Magnolias – ‘What separates us from the beasts is our ability to accessorise’ – springs to mind.

Suresh Dutt Artist; The Breakers Palm Beach

2012-06-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

Scale to Fit

Commission and exhibition in South Kensington and Canary Wharf

Artist Suresh Dutt’s conceptual framework integrates drawing with sculpture. A translation of the two dimensional onto multiple three dimensional planes, so to speak. He applies and deconstructs geometric forms and grid structures into space and onto surfaces. Immersive sculptures are devised that explode into an unknown yet certain dimension.

Dutt prescribes a pragmatic approach to his creative endeavours. He provides efficient solutions which resolve the relationship between two and three dimensions. This analysis reaches a fait accompli – in the present – with his latest major work.

(photo courtesy of JudyGr)

Winning the First@108 Public Award in 2011 enabled Dutt to create a sculpture outside the conventional confines of a white cube gallery space. The stereotypical artistic context with its three dimensional limitations is replaced by an exposed public space and all its embroiled complexities.

To add a further layer to this contextual complexity, the sculpture was commissioned to inhabit two urban, but very distinct, built environments. The first setting was in front of an Edwardian villa on Old Brompton Road, South Kensington. The second and current setting is Montgomery Square in Canary Wharf.

An ornate red brick traditional enclosed backdrop in West London; a geometric mirrored contemporary exposed backdrop in East London. Dutt’s chromatic response is ingeniously simple. Paint it blue. An apparent simplicity of form – line drawn, no less (no more) – belies the intensity of his thought process. An hypothesis is presented to the viewer. He explains,

“When we view an object in space, we are able to gauge the scale of that object by using visual information surrounding that object and previously learned knowledge. We scale the object in relation to other objects the size of which we already know and comprehend. This information and understanding is essential when we draw a three dimensional object or covert an object into an image.”

Dutt contemplates that the visual effect of foreshortening can be used to create the illusion of depth on a two dimensional surface. This allows the drawing of the object to retain the same scale as the actual three dimensional object. He enthuses,

“I wanted to construct a physical representation of foreshortening in three dimensional space through the drawing of a cube. The cube is the most easily perceived and recognised geometric structure.”

This desire stems from a concern about the way a person’s perception can be altered. An unorthodox paradox emerges. A parallel lined world arises. The starting point for him is something that is universally understood.

Immersed in art theory, Dutt applies anamorphosis, the principle method of manipulating perspective. Anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective which requires the viewer to use special devices or to occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute an image. Lines and shapes create an alternating perspective. It becomes impossible to retain the two and three dimensional aspects together in one view.

Dutt manipulates spatial perception to great effect in this sculpture. The viewer is left disorientated in self made illusions. It exclaims, “We know nothing about space!” Euclidian geometry and the assumption of space are questioned. Even the tense of the sculpture, Drawing Cube Blue, exudes uncertainty in the dimension of time.

An equally brilliant and academic accompanying solo exhibition in the Salon Gallery of Dora House explores light and perception through reflection. Dutt’s ongoing fascination with the structure of the cube inspires the creation of objects of unsettling ambiguity. Visible yet invisible, physical but intangible, they exist where volume and surface collide.

Watch this space. Although Dutt may make us question if it is a space.

Drawing Cube Blue shares the same structural engineers as The Shard: WSP
The award jury consisted of Johannes von Stumm (Chair), Mark Davy (Futurecity), Andrew Shoben (Greyworld), Isabel Vasseur (ArtOffice) and Sally Williams (Canary Wharf Group)
Canary Wharf acquired Drawing Cube Blue for its permanent public art collection
Dutt received a personal sponsorship award from Sir George Iacobescu
The maquette of Drawing Cube Blue was purchased by a New York collector for over £15,000

Artist Impressions

Suresh Dutt completed his MPhil at the Royal College of Art in 2010. He was subsequently invited to become an Associate of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. Dutt operates nationally and internationally. His work has been exhibited at Bonhams, Manchester Art Gallery, Sotheby’s and the V&A. Residencies, projects and research trips have taken Dutt to Berlin, Tokyo, Delhi, Kyoto, Prague, Madrid, Munich and New York supported by Arts Council England, Crafts Council, British Council and Visiting Arts.

His work can be found in the permanent collections of Canary Wharf, Manchester Art Gallery, Brighton Museum and National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh. His numerous awards include the First@108 Public Art Award, The International Artists Fellowship and a significant sponsorship award from Sir George Iacobescu.

Breaking Records

Kiwi Collection Launches Top 20 Eco Friendly Hotels and Resorts

The world’s largest portfolio of luxury hotels, Kiwi Collection, has unveiled a new eco collection. It has selected the top 20 hotels and resorts around the world that have shown a commitment to sustainable operations, conservation and preservation, both on-site and in their communities. Pig methane gas and bio diesel from coconuts are just some of the more innovative solutions employed to gain this status.

This collection within a collection has been compiled with the help of Kiwi Collection’s Sustainable Tourism Advisor Hitesh Mehta. Dubbed one of the five international sustainable tourism pioneers by National Geographic, architect and author Mehta has sought out hotels and resorts that are forerunners in the eco luxury sector worldwide. He says,

“Eco friendly is the term on everyone’s lips as we look to a future in tourism which is increasingly tipped towards environmentally and socially friendly travel. By acknowledging and promoting the sustainable efforts of these properties making headway in the sustainable tourism sector, Kiwi Collection hopes to educate and steer travelers towards making a conscious choice about the way they travel. We hope to see this evolution continue as more luxury developers and operators recognize the long term economic savings and benefits of going green.”

Extensive research was undertaken by Kiwi Collection to identify those properties demonstrating the greatest strides in sustainability, from sourcing alternative energy and reforestation programs to marine ecology and reverse-osmosis irrigation systems.

Take the five star oceanfront resort The Breakers in Palm Beach. It is committed to working with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to implement environmentally responsible practices. These include retrofitting high efficiency lighting, smart thermostats, ozone washing systems and even a deep water well and water plant that converts undrinkable water for use in the Ocean Golf Course irrigation sprinklers.

“Most hotels today partake in some sort of environmentally friendly initiatives,” comments Jean Marie Healy, Chief Marketing Officer of Kiwi Collection, “but we want to applaud those who go above and beyond. That’s what this list is about.” She adds, “We hope to continually add to this list, but as with all hotels in Kiwi Collection, if a property should fall below our set of standards, its eco friendly status will be rescinded.”

Kiwi Collection’s Top 20 Eco Friendly Hotels

The Americas

The Breakers, Florida

Cavallo Point, California

Hotel Punta Islita, Costa Rica

Fairmont Mayakoba, Mexico

Lapa Rios, Costa Rica

Post Ranch Inn, California

Wickaninnish Inn, Canada

Europe Middle East and Africa

Adrere Amellal, Egypt

Lake Manyara, Tanzania

One Aldwych, London

The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin

The Savoy, London

Asia/Pacific

Banyan Tree Bintan, Singapore

Chiva-Som International Health Resort, Thailand

Gayana Ecoresort, Malaysia

Nihiwatu, Indonesia

Soneva Gili, Maldives

Six Senses Nin Vanh Bay, Vietnam

Soneva Kiri, Thailand

Wolgan Valley, Australia

www.kiwicollection.com/luxury/eco

Made in Chelsea II: Rosie Fortescue, Giles Deacon + The Models

2012-05-22T00:00:00.001+01:00

Fashion Rocks

Lavender’s Blue were back this week at our regular party venue the Swarovski Crystallised Lounge, a diamond ring’s throw from Liberty. It was the launch of Aurora, a sparkling new collection of dazzling jewellery. The pieces are made with Swarovski Elements, the premium brand for fine loose cut crystals.

Our favourite Made in Chelsea star Rosie Fortescue arrived looking every inch the exquisite china doll. So petite! Porcelain skin, flowing brunette ringlets, killer heels and of course – those eyes that are entrancing a besotted generation of TV fans.

Before long, Rosie’s Made in Chelsea co star Gabriella Ellis stormed into the party. So fierce! Only Gabriella could wear a polychromatic Versace blouse and psychedelic hair extensions and make it work. The girl rocks!

After the King’s Road set, east London fashion maestro Giles Deacon looked handsomely understated in a round necked black top and of course his trademark retro glasses complete with swept asymmetric hairstyle. His recent London Fashion Week 2012 collection was inspired by society girls of the past.

Goats’ cheese lollypops and prawn cocktails squeezed into edible paper cones distracted us for a moment from society girls of the present. Before long though we caught up with models Sophie Harries and Petra Jedinak. Devastatingly divine, who better to show off Aurora? We were reminded of William Butler Yeats’ immortal lines:

“Two girls in silk kimonos, both

Beautiful, one a gazelle.”

“I’m 5’10” without heels,” giggled Sophie as she posed, towering above the surrounding mere mortals. “I started modelling for Elite in October. Actually I just flew back from Paris this morning.” Petra confided admiringly, “Sophie’s just landed her first major hair campaign and she’s only 18!”

Sophie told us in her classy cut glass English accent, “I’m Welsh – but from quite near Bristol. I only got my fringe earlier today so I’m still getting used to it.” Now that she’s cracked photographic modelling, Sophie’s off to this season’s catwalks. Next stop Paris. Again.

Petra is from Bratislava, Slovakia. She’s been editorial modelling in London for three years now. Next stop New York. Let’s hope our favourite models are back before too long, adorning the party scene of our capital.

All photography © www.stuartblakley.com

Bend Over Backwards

Manifold Editions Launches Debut Exhibition @ St Martin’s Lane

Virtual gallery Manifold Editions has taken up residence this month at Front Room, St Martin’s Lane Hotel. Marc Quinn’s famous sculpture of Kate Moss – Sphinx – has turned 2D. Prints in gold and silver leaf are available exclusively at Front Room or www.manifoldeditions.com. They are priced £960 including VAT and measure 67 x 100cm. Manifold Editions’ founder James Booth-Clibborn says,

“I am delighted to be exhibiting at Front Room and collaborating with Morgans Hotel Group. It gives Manifold Editions an opportunity to showcase our commitment to offering the very best in contemporary art at value prices.”

Also on show are prints by Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Elizabeth Magill and 2011 Turner Prize nominee George Shaw. The white cube that is Front Room right on the street is perfect as a gallery. The hotel’s Asia de Cuba restaurant next door is the perfect venue to celebrate a purchase.

Manifold Editions Exhibition

Front Room St Martin’s Lane London

Until 27 May 12

Ilya Gaponov: Erarta Galleries London

2012-05-15T00:00:00.000+01:00

Apocalypse Now

Gallery Director and exhibition curator Dr Diego Giolitti explains that the current show at Erarta Galleries London, Undiscerning Appetites by Ilya Gaponov, is inspired by the memento mori (Latin for ‘remember you must die’) style of still life painting. This idiom emphasises the brevity of all earthly delights. Gaponov has adopted a passage from the Book of Revelations as his main inspiration. Verses 2:18 to 2:29 state:

“18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; 19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 24 But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. 26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

The message speaks of Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, whose name is associated with the Apocalypse, heresy and depravity. Jezebel is significant to the artist as a symbol of contemporary society. Gaponov’s work, like the biblical passage, captures the pre Apocalyptic condition of our own world.

Born in 1981, his world began in Kemerovo, an industrial town in the Novosibirsk region. Gaponov graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts aged 23 and continued his studies at the acclaimed Mukhina Academy in St Petersburg, graduating in 2007. He continues to reside in St Petersburg. The large scale of Gaponov’s work recalls the epic revolutionary paintings of his compatriots of last century.

He brings intense originality of subject to an ancient message and traditional medium. In place of the handcrafted luxuries in embracing domestic interiors of a typical 17th century still life are objects of consumption – a Starbucks coffee here, McDonalds fries there – against stark backgrounds.

But a commonality of message uses symbolical codes warning against indulgence, waste and greed. The skeletal animal forms are a reminder that our cheap fast food comes at a price, confirms Giolitti. Undiscerning Appetites may be more dramatic than its forerunners but the message remains the same: life is short and can end at any moment. Take heed.

Gaponov’s allusions to the tradition of the memento mori reveal both the depth of his immersion in the history of still life paintings and paradoxically how he has broken free to create art resonating from his own distinctive cultural background. Notable private collectors of his work include Sir Elton John, Evgeny Lebedev and Kirill Serebrennikov. It hangs in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg and the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Lebedev says,

“I admire Ilya Gaponov’s paintings not just because they present a cogent commentary that is increasingly valid to our contemporary society, but also because I find the paintings hold within them something of the Russian soul. The use of Christian iconography and mythology is deeply ingrained in the Russian psyche.”

Seeing Undiscerning Appetites we are faced with the reality of our deeply complex relationships with the world of objects, whether secular or religious. Gaponov’s still life paintings present an invitation to dwell on these relationships, how they are formed and what they reveal to us about our moment in history. Apocalypse nearly.

Ilya Gaponov

Undiscerning Appetites

Erarta Galleries London

Till 9 June 12

Nor Does He Spin

Selected Exhibitions and Fairs

2011 The Throne of Thyatira. Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia

2011 In the Depths. IX Krasnoyarsk, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

2011 Sandpit. New Holland Summer Festival, St Petersburg, Russia

2010 Vive la Jeune Garde. Les Ateliers du Vent, Rennes, Russia

2010 Summer Snow, Maison du Loir-et-Cher, Blois, France

2010 A Hero of our Time. II Moscow Young Art Biennial, Moscow, Russia

2010 Futurologia. Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia

2009 Kandinsky Prize Exhibition. Louise Blouin Foundation, London, England

2009 Krasnoyarsk Biennial, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

2009 The Topography of Happiness. Tsaritsyno Estate, Moscow, Russia

2009 Art Factory Festival, Ekaterinburg, Russia

2009 Russian Beauty. National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia.

2009 Europ’Art. Oboima Project Bureau, Geneva, Switzerland.

Titania

On a recent visit to Northern Ireland, we couldn't help noticing the Province has gone overboard (!) with Titanic mania. Or as Lavender's Blue have christened it, Titania, in honour of our favourite David Guetta track.

Titanic chocolate, souvenirs and teatowels greet the unsuspecting visitor at Belfast City Airport (presumably Titanic ice would be a step too far) so we were quite relieved to be whisked off to the countryside. Imagine our surprise, on visiting Springhill, to see a sign pointing to its very own Titanic exhibition. Turns out, a daughter of the house got on the doomed ship but hopped off at Cherbourg. We gave in and splashed out on a soap.

Pippa Middleton: Favour Royal; Colebrooke Park

2012-05-08T00:00:00.003+01:00

Royal Favour

In yet another photojournalistic coup, Lavender’s Blue are pleased to have captured the last images of Favour Royal minutes before it was boarded up for good. Strolling over the grass covered bridge across the River Blackwater, past scampering red squirrels, wandering through gothic halls, gliding up crumbling staircases, hanging over collapsing banisters, in the words of Sir James Hall we were ‘struck with awe by its solemn grandeur’.

In 1613 King James I granted lands in County Tyrone to Sir Thomas Ridgeway, 1st Earl of Londonderry. Sir Thomas was an English administrator of the Ulster Plantation. Nine years later Sir James Erskine bought the two Augher estates from Ridgeway. A defect was discovered in the original grant of lands to Ridgeway so Charles I reissued the grant to Erskine. Hence the name Favour Royal. The other estate was Spur Royal. Erskine’s son Archibald had two daughters who inherited the estates. Mary married William Richardson and settled at Spur Royal. Ann married John Moutray and together they built a ‘spacious and handsome mansion’ in 1670 at Favour Royal. It accidentally burnt down in 1823 and work on the present house began the following year. Captain John Corry Moutray chose John Hargrave as architect.

Hargrave’s father Abraham came from Yorkshire to Cork around 1790 and remained in Ireland until his death 18 years later. Hargrave senior made his name as a bridge builder, a skill learned from his relative Thomas Harrison of Lancaster and Chester. Hargrave senior also designed a series of villas for bankers and merchants overlooking the River Lee and Cork Harbour including Dunkettle, Lotabeg, Woodhill and possibly Vernon Mount.

John’s oldest brother Abraham junior assisted his father on Ballyedmond near Midleton but gave up architecture to go into the corn business with another brother, Joshua. The Hargrave architectural mantle fell to John who was articled to Harrison. John Hargrave built up an extensive practice from his base at 16 Talbot Street, Dublin. Aged 45, he was killed with his family in a yachting accident in Cardigan Bay in 1833.

Hargrave was described by Thomas Reid in 1822 as, ‘an architect, in whom first-rate talent, unwearied industry, and inflexible integrity, are said to be united’ (a bit like Lavender’s Blue then). He applied unsuccessfully to replace Francis Johnston as architect to the Irish Board of Works in 1826. A sale of some of his architectural drawings took place in Dublin on 1 December 1836.

Like most leading early 19th century architect, Hargrave had no qualms about designing in various styles depending on the taste of his patrons. He designed the nearby neoclassical Ballygawley Park with its temple front between 1825 and 1833. A house in a more similar vein to Favour Royal is Ballymacool in County Donegal. Both the latter two houses are neo Elizabethan in style with gothic detailing.

In the Irish Architectural Archive is a copy of Sir James Hall's Essay on the Origin, History and Principles of Gothic Architecture, 1813, which is stamped on the cover: 'To John Hargrave Esqr. Archt. this book is presented as a mark of respect for his professional talents by his friend John Lyons'. Its didactic tone and pages of illustrations influenced many architects of this era including Hargrave. Below is an extract:

‘A Gothic edifice receives and accommodates an immense multitude of people, and furnishes an unbounded supply of light, in a manner which constitutes one of its principal ornaments. And this advantage seems to belong to the Gothic exclusively; for it does not appear, that in any other style of architecture, a provision has been made for the admission of light in an ornamental manner. It possesses, in the highest degree, several different and seemingly incompatible qualities. When entire in all its parts, every where [sic] clean and fresh, and enlightened by a bright sunshine, we admire its airy lightness, and lively elegance; but when clothed in a majestic veil of obscurity, or reduced in ruins and overgrown with moss and ivy, we are struck with awe by its solemn grandeur.’

The Elizabethan style was particularly appropriate for Favour Royal as that was the period when the original house was built. Its pared down look with great expanses of wall appeals to a modern aesthetic. The ashlar faced house is shaped as a backwards C with lower wings tailing off the two ends of the C leading into stables and outbuildings. Flat headed windows filled with Perpendicular timber mullions inset with coloured glass like heraldry crests light the rooms on the principle floors. Stepped label mouldings over the windows resemble severely plucked eyebrows. Grouped multi pane sash windows are on the gabled attic floor, basement and side wings. String courses elegantly follow the outline of the gables to climax in tall finials.

The symmetrical entrance front is three bays wide with upper floor decorative loophole windows over a central castellated porte-cochère. In the middle of the symmetrical five bay side elevation is a shallow single storey canted bay window. The rear elevation has a shorter two bay elevation with an adjoining three bay wing the same height but squeezing in four storeys. Tall Elizabethan style chimneys are clustered in diamond shaped stacks. The overall effect is austere, recalling the strong houses of 16th and 17th century Ireland.

A gothic arched fanlight and sidelights with much tracery encase the heavy vertically panelled entrance door. It opens into a ribbed vaulted entrance hall which continues into a central staircase hall with the main reception rooms opening off it. Coffered ceilings are formed by criss-crossing beams resting on corbels. Chimneypieces have long gone. The timber staircase is a grand cantilevered affair with handsome newel posts embellished with barley twist carving and diamond motifs. A large gothic arched window with geometric tracery overlooks the stables courtyard. A secondary staircase with a metal banister, elegant in its stripped down functionality, runs parallel to one side off the main staircase and is accessed off an ancillary passageway.

Spur Royal has fared rather better than Favour Royal and is a safer bet for the future. It was until recently the home of racing driver Stephen Finlay. Mrs Anketell Moutray died in 1975 and Favour Royal was sold. Around 1,250 acres of the estate was acquired by the Forest Service. Favour Royal may be a lot more dangerous, but like the Middleton sisters, we know which house we prefer (the one with the gun toting pal).

Chronicler of our (Northern Irish) times the Right Honourable Lord Belmont has also visited Favour Royal

Colebrooke

Those of you with eagle eyes (literally!) will have spotted an aerial view of Favour Royal in the opening sequence of the new series of Country House Rescue. The first episode began with great aplomb as debonair presenter Simon Davies visited Viscount and Viscountess Brookeborough at their splendid pile Colebrooke Park.

The dashing duo have done up their country seat over the last three decades and with the help of Simon it looks like their spa in the stables will stick a few quid to the coffers. To celebrate, we’re publishing this pen and ink and transfer drawing which was lingering in Lavender’s Blue archives.

The Russians Have Arrived

Lavender’s Blue take a private view of Russian art in London. We talk to the best informed insider in the capital. Coming soon.

Pink: The Olde Pink House Savannah

2012-05-01T00:00:00.002+01:00

Get the Party Started

Pink. There’s no escaping the infusion of fuchsia hue at the Olde Pink House in Savannah. Pink azaleas frame the view of its portico from Reynold’s Square, one of Savannah’s 22 legendary 18th and 19th century public garden squares. Built in 1771, the building itself s a luscious pink thanks to the redness of the brick construction seeping through to the facing render.

The builder was James Habersham Junior, a wealthy cotton merchant. The lot was originally a land grant from the British Crown. Its five bay façade with a Palladian window over the Grecian portico is one of the few pieces of architecture to survive the Savannah fire of 1796. The umbrella spine fanlight over the front door is one of the oldest in Savannah.

In 1811 the house was converted to Georgia’s first bank but in recent years it has reverted to what it does best: being a splendid setting for entertaining. The William Balish family, native Charlestonians, purchased Habersham House (to give the building its correct historical name) in 1992. An extensive programme of restoration was undertaken and eventually the Olde Pink House has come back to life.

The ambience of a period house has been beautifully reinvigorated. But gone are the bedrooms and sitting rooms. Each principle room is now a dining room interconnected by wooden doors and archways. Family portraits line the panelled walls and exposed wood floors. Richly steeped in the cuisine traditions of the Low Country, local shrimp and frits are just some of the highlights of the extensive menu. The busiest dining times are 6pm to 730pm.

Eventually if you are still sober and can pull yourself away from the austere elegance of the upper rooms, there’s more relaxed fun to be had in the cellars. You can raise your glass in the Planters Tavern to Savannah’s leading pianist and chanteuse, Diana Rogers. Regaled in pink, she tinkles the ivories wearing long gloves and oyster shell earrings. Things weren’t always so jolly at this level. James Habersham Junior hanged himself here in 1800. His restless spirit haunts the tavern, no doubt enjoying the music of Diana in Savannah.

The Olde Pink House

Restaurant and Planters Tavern

23 Abercorn Street

Reynolds Square

Savannah

Georgia

(001) 912 232 4286

The National Trust Guide to Savannah by Roulhac Toledano:

’23 Abercorn Street. Habersham House (Pink House), an exciting Georgian house, was built for prominent merchant and founding-family member, James Habersham, Jr., in 1798, soon after the end of the Revolution. In 1804, architect William Jay’s sister and brother-in-law, the Boltons, lived in the house. Between 1812 and 1865 the house was used by the Planters’ Bank and First State Bank of Georgia. The portico and window lintels were added by the bank between 1812 and 1820 and the wing was built in the 1870s.

A young woman, Alida Harper, saved the house by opening a tea room in it in the 1930s, long before preservation of historic houses was stylish, and it continues today to be a restaurant. The formalized, symmetrical arrangement of parts, such as the then-new-style six-over-six windows, is enriched with classical detail reflecting the English Palladian revival. The center-hall floor plan was initiated in England and became the hallmark, much later, of the Greek revival house in the United States. This Georgian house is less vertical in appearance that the Federal houses that followed it. The roof pitch is lower and there is less distance between the bottom of the eaves and the tops of the second-storey windows.’

Old photo courtesy of Georgia Historical Society

The Olde Pink House

Pink House Platters

Arches Platter Calamari, Southern Sushi, Shrimp Spring Wrap 23.95

Tavern Platter Fried Green Tomato, Portobello Mushroom, Artichoke Fritters 25.95

Reynolds Square

Platter Mac and Cheese Poppers, BBQ Chicken Sliders, Blackened Oysters 26.95

Habersham Platter Shrimp and Grits, Crab Cake, Seared Scallops 32.95

Chilled Seafood Platter 85.00

Chilled Seafood Tower 115.00

Seafood Cocktail 25.00

Appetizers

Crispy Fried Calamari, Duo of Dipping Sauces 8.95

Fried Green Tomato with Applewood Smoked Bacon, Sweetcorn Cream 8.50

Blackened Oysters on the Half Shell. Watermelon Relish, Pear + Apricot Chutney, Green Tomato Chow Chow 12.95

Goat’s Cheese Stuffed Artichoke Fritters with Red Pepper + Honey Mustard Sauces 7.95

BBQ Chicken Sliders with Cheerwine BBQ Sauce, Vegetable Slaw, Bread + Butter Pickles 7.95

Pan Seared Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Fried Green Tomatoes, Rémoulade Sauce 13.95

Pan Seared Jumbo Sea Scallops with Savory Sautéed Spinach

Corn Bread Fried Oysters, Green Goddess Sauce 8.95

Mac + Cheese Jalapeno Poppers, Red Pepper Coulis, Salsa Verde 7.95

Sautéed Local Shrimp with Country Ham Gravy, Cheddar Cheese Grits Cake 10.95

Grilled Marinated Portobello Mushrooms with Blue Cheese + Balsamic Glaze 7.50

Southern Sushi Smoked Shrimp + Grits rolled in Coconut Crusted Nori 9.95

Shrimp, Crab + Sausage Spring Roll, Honey Mustard Drizzle 9.95

Cheese Plate with Savannah Bee Honeycomb, Season Fruit 12.95

Blue Point Oysters on the Half Shell 19.00

Ice Chilled Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail 12.00

Soups + Salads

Chilled Gazpacho 6.95

Low Country She Crab Soup 8.00

Iceberg Wedge with Blue Cheese Dressing, Tomatoes + Cucumbers 7.50

Strawberry Arugula Salad, Spiced Pecans, Goat’s Cheese, Poppy seed Vinaigrette 8.95

Caesar Salad + Country Croutons 6.95

Fried Green Tomatoes + Sweet Bacon with Black Pepper Thyme Buttermilk Dressing 9.95

Baby Greens Salad, Caramelized Apples, Pecans, Goat’s Cheese Fritter, Champagne Vinaigrette 8.95

Entrées

Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie 16.95

Jumbo Sea Scallops with Herb Butter, Mashed Potatoes + Mixed Beans 26.95

Fish of the Day featuring Seasonal Local Ingredients

Almond Encrusted Tilapia with Shrimp Herb Butter, Anson Mills Grits + Mixed Beans 24.95

Pan Seared Salmon, Horseradish Whipped Potatoes, Warm Cucumber Dill Sauce 24.95

Crispy Scored Flounder with Apricot Shallot Sauce, Anson Mills Grits + Collards 27.95

Sautéed Shrimp + Scallops with Parmesan Cream Sauce over Fettuccine 21.95

Kobe Beef Burger, Tillamook Cheddar, Applewood Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Kaiser Roll with French Fries 14.95

Crab Stuffed Black Grouper, White Wine Lemon Sauce, Mashed Potatoes + Mixed Beans 31.95

Crispy Fried Lobster Tails with Sweet Chilli Dijon, Bacon Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes + Butter Beans 36.50

Grilled Whole Maine Lobster, Corn Butter, Chorizo Oil + Anson Mills Grits 38.50

Filet Mignon with Green Peppercorn Demi Glace, Twice Baked Potato + Asparagus 31.95

Caramelized Vidalia Onion + Sweet Potato Ravioli with Oyster Mushrooms, Savory Pecan Cream Sauce 18.95

Pecan Crusted Chicken Breast, Blackberry Bourbon Glaze, Sweet Potato with Pecan Vanilla Butter + Collards 19.95

New York Strip with Bordelaise Sauce, Crispy Onions, Twice Baked Potato + Asparagus 28.95

A Colourful Past

Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours… We do like to tell our readers that we’re strong on colour at Lavender’s Blue as well as the obligatory puns and metaphors thanks to our artistic and literary backgrounds. Incidentally what do you get if you combine puns and metaphors? Petit fours? Getting distracted. And you would too if you saw this terrace on a windswept April evening. It’s hard not to drive straight into the marina when gawping at the colourful foursome in Whitehead, a genteel and slightly faded Victorian coastal resort. Although the slightly faded abruptly stops at these houses. Honestly, we haven’t gone mad on the Photoshopping again.

We’re glad to see that the duck egg blue and beetroot burgundy painted neighbours on either side aren’t averse to l’art d’architecturale maquillage either. Likewise there are more correctly detailed sashes on display than a 12th July parade. Our favourite touch is the salmon pink Sky dish. They’ll be tuning in for more episodes of Balamory.

Game Change: Finchatton @ 53 Chester Square Belgravia

2012-04-22T00:00:00.000+01:00

The Diamond in the Square

A Parisian visitor to 18th century London observed that the English gentry live in houses like birdcages. He was referring to the verticality of a typical townhouse in contrast to the lateral living of Parisian apartments. This house on Chester Square in Belgravia – all seven and a bit storeys of it – may fall into the category of birdcage albeit the quietly gilded variety.

What is the relationship of container to contents? That is a question often asked by the formal school of architecture writing. Earl Grosvenor laid out Chester Square using the distinguished architect Thomas Cundy II. Conceived in 1828 and commenced in 1835, each house is an early Victorian two bay wide unit cloaked in Regency dress. First floor cast iron balconies of anthemion pattern provide light relief.

Well, appearances can deceive. Between the perfectly preserved stuccoed façade and rear mews brick elevation, über high end international design and development firm Finchatton have conjured up the ultimate 21st century living experience. It’s time for a promenade architecturale through the 763 sqm of this magical trophy home and to meet Sophie Wharmby who with her colleague Jiin Kim Inoue was responsible for the interior design.

Sidelights to the right and left of the shiny black panelled door, shielded by a portico (natch!), offer a glimpse to curious passersby of what lies beyond. For the privileged few, on entry one is offered four circulation choices, a happy dilemma of potential progression. Continue ahead up the houndstooth carpeted dogleg staircase; enter the ascending room of the leather wrapped lift; glide down the marble corridor towards the centrally located kitchen; or turn sharp left through double doors into the dining room.

“The look is quintessentially English,” says Sophie, “and everything is finished to a turnkey standard.” Finchatton’s “simple code of symmetry” is reflected in silver framed mirrors on either side of the dining room chimneybreast. It will later become apparent that mirrors are something of a theme, from the bevelled antiqued variety in panels on the reception room walls to chrome mirrored ceilings over the bathroom showers.

She adds, “It’s classic contemporary in a traditional framework. We've married the two.” A sense of harmonious contrasts is emerging. The curls and swirls of the restored plasterwork are illuminated by Lutron lighting. Air cooling, underfloor heating and Crestron audio visuals are at hand to perfect the ambience. A second set of double doors that disappear into the wall when open lead through to an octagonal ante room. A liminal area, it establishes a rhythm of compression and expansion of space which defines the floorplates. A 19th century bronze by Edgar Degas takes pride of place against a backdrop of limed oak cabinetry.

The rich diffusion of light from a large rooflight set flush into the decking of the terrace above descends on the muted tones of the discrete kitchen cupboards and island unit. A second large rooflight is placed over a double height bamboo filled winter garden which rises through the kitchen from the lower ground floor in a glazed atrium. The kitchen is timelessly elegant.

A family room, open to its gabled roof, occupies the upper level of the mews. Finchatton celebrate the voguish Out of Africa theme with organic textures and tribal patterns. Indeed the company’s Google search-friendly name originates from Denys Finch Hatton, the swashbuckling big game safari leader of the movie. Downstairs, a double garage is accessed off Ebury Mews.

Sophie’s advice for successful interior design is: “Start big. Get the curtains and carpet sorted first. Then work your way down to the accessories.” Take the first floor drawing room. Dove grey silk curtains simply hung complement a beige carpet placed on parquet flooring. An 18th century portrait by Joseph Wright of Derby, ‘Painter of Light’, hangs over the marble chimneypiece. A game of bridge is half played on a mahogany whatnot. But where’s the family? Are they all out at Pantechnicon? An original print of Christy, Cindy, Linda, Naomi and Tatjana pouts from a picture frame. Could it be the home of a supermodel and her gorgeous offspring? Certainly quite a few of the neighbours are household names: Roman Abramovich, Lady Thatcher and until recently Nigella Lawson.

The drawing room flows into a rear study enlivened by contemporary photography by Candida Höfer and Robert Polidori. Photographs of grand interiors in grand interiors are in vogue… it’s the Matryoshka doll effect. Modern British artworks by Barbara Hepworth, Victor Pasmore and William Scott hint at the occupants’ appreciation of art. Circular circulation – exit through French doors down steps to the terrace and back through French doors down steps to the landing – is ideal for uninterrupted promenading while balancing a quail’s egg canapé and glass of Pernod-Ricard Perrier-Jouet champagne.

The master bedroom suite fills the entire second floor. Again timeless elegance is achieved by Finchatton with modestly toned bed linen from nearby Motcomb Street. Back to Sophie: “We wanted the essence of warmth, elegance and glamour all in one, really. It’s made to look effortless. Clearly it’s not – from custom designed towels to book matched marble in the en suite bathroom every last detail is handpicked. The dressing room shoe racks are made to measure for both Louboutins and Crockett & Joneses. The double bath is tucked under the rear bipartite sash window. Upstairs, the third floor bedroom suite is a carbon copy of the master bedroom suite layout.

The fourth floor is half hidden behind the parapet. An aerial view out of this airy eyrie sweeps across the 0.7 hectare private square managed by the Grosvenor Estate. An inner garden swathed in high hedgerows, timber benches for two, invisible to the public, accessible to the select, perfect for midnight trysts. Finchatton designed Greek key patterned natural sycamore sets of drawers for the two intimate bedrooms. The pattern is ever so subtly repeated in the light grey carpets. The top storey is a slightly reduced carbon copy of the fourth floor layout. Forget Saki’s story of The Lumber Room. The marginality of attics and basements is banished. The only flowers in the these upper floors are in Baccarat vases.

And so it what lies beneath. A one bedroom apartment overlooks the lower ground floor lightwell, creeping under the road into the vaults. Behind it is an entertainment suite. A passageway lined with Dunlop inspired polished Macassar ebony shelves leads to two means of getting fit and two ways of getting fat. The fitness suite includes a 34 sqm gym plus a travertine tiled steam and shower. A wine cellar accommodating 350 bottles – one for every day of the year with a working week off – opens into a 33 sqm cinema. The two tiered cinema is a symbiosis of luxury and technology. An on trend original print of Marilyn Monroe rests against the cocoon of suede covered soundproofing. The room is complexly configured and restfully modulated.

This is a building about sequence. Every moment is spatially imagined or re-imagined by Finchatton. It shows the craftsperson’s love of construction and materials, drawing attention to an idea of integrity which Alex Michelin and Andrew Dunn, the glamorous directors of the company, have elevated to an ethic. The strength of Finchatton’s work is not simply its singularity but its refined embodiment of luxury. Furniture and fittings are frank, strong and shapely. The periodic surprise of oval shaped oil paintings, light fittings and coffee tables offers counterpoint to overall orthogonality.

So who is the family who lives in this house on Chester Square? There isn't one. It’s for sale by Savills and Strutt & Parker, a snip at £32 million. “The restoration and redecoration was three years in the making,” confirms Sophie. The art collection was curated by leading art consultant Christopher Penn and is for sale under separate negotiation. It will set one back a cool £3 million plus. It could be you.

The 18th century French commentator Le Chevalier de la Tocnaye quipped, “A house that is comfortable appears to be preferable to a palace which is not. The temples should be left to the gods.” At 53 Chester Square, Finchatton have completed a house that encompasses both in a celebration of palatial comfort.

Alex Michelin, Director of Finchatton

This property at Chester Square is a triumph of modern detailing on an historical platform. It encompasses the primary appeals of buying a home in London: exceptional period architecture in an uninterrupted streetscape with its own private garden square and faultless interior fit-out. It is Finchatton’s first of several projects to launch this year, inaugurating with impact our 10th anniversary in business.”

Christopher Penn, Art Consultant

“My main objective was to bring the house to life with a collection of exceptional quality but to do this with the flexibility of enabling the buyer to adapt it, with my help if they need it, to suit their own individual taste and style. I hope the new owner will share the pleasure I have myself enjoyed in putting these wonderful artworks together and that they, and whoever comes to the house, will continue to do so long into the future.”

Charlie Willis, Partner at Strutt + Parker's Knightsbridge Office

"Currently this house in Chester Square is the only newly refurbished trophy townhouse to come to the market in Belgravia. It provides a unique opportunity to purchase a quintessential family home with great entertaining space combining impeccable workmanhip and style. Finchatton, who managed and developed the rebuild, have surpassed themselves."

“One uses up so many red carpets in a season.”

Margaret Greville of Polesden Lacey

MIA: Tynan Abbey County Armagh

2012-04-15T00:00:00.001+01:00

A Grimm Tale

Tynan Abbey in Northern Ireland was the scene of one of the worst atrocities of The Troubles. Lavender’s Blue want to dwell on its happier period. Downton Abbey before the war, Titanic before the reviews, so to speak. We first visited the Abbey in spring 20 years ago when it was a picturesque ruin, daffodils hinting at rebirth, a new chapter in draft.

One of our heroes, Henri Cartier-Bresson, once described the camera as "an instrument of intuition and spontaneity". Little did we know how spontaneous (in the combustion sense) this historic photo shoot nearly became. Unbeknownst to us, unexploded incendiaries were dotted throughout the building as we gamboled around pointing and shooting. Fortunately we didn't have an M.I.A. Born Free moment and lived to tell the tale.

To our amazement, on our revisit this late winter we discovered the once relatively intact ruin has been demolished.

The original house was built in 1750 by Reverend James Stronge. The library, which would be transmogrified into a tragic temporary mausoleum in 1981 for the murdered last members of the Stronge dynasty, was believed to be part of the original house.

In 1818 to 1830 Sir James Stronge, 2nd Baronet, transformed the house into a Gothic cathedral of living, a make-believe abbey. Later in the same century William J Barre continued the transformation.

Vast Gothic tracery windows in the Perpendicular vein, steep dormer gables, a tower, a spire… it’s a cloistered romantic confection that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm.

Tynan Abbey once formed part of a powerful trio of estates in this locale alongside Castle Leslie and Caledon. The latter two houses have fared rather better.

In a reoccurring theme of Lavender’s Blue (until we got distracted by too many London parties) the accompanying photos are the only tangible reminders that the Irish country house that was Tynan Abbey ever existed. They represent the last photographic record before the ruins were blown to bits.

The two 1817 gatelodges remain, forlorn and empty, like two lost dogs missing their master. JAK Deane accredits them to John Nash.

Lemnagore Lodge is a half timbered affair with lattice casements and chess piece chimneypots, fit for Hansel and Gretel. Cute, sweet. Castle Gate is a turreted stone fortress with a double portcullis and machicolations, suited to Rapunzel. Cold, brutal. The daffodils have died; in their place are nettles.

"Another coup with great snaps!"

Lord Belmont

“The front of the house seems to have a blank look, the windows staring across the country, like blind eyes. It is a look that the windows of Irish country houses often have, as though indeed that was the spirit of the colonists and conquerors, looking out across the country which they possessed, but never owned."

Great Aunt Margery writing about her own lost Big House, Castle Copeland

Chester Square + Ebury Mews

Belgravia

SW1

Next week, Lavender’s Blue have been exclusively invited to a £32 million (that will be $50ish million to you dear American readers) house a few doors down from Lady Thatcher’s des res. We’ll be there with our Smythson notepad and Dunhill pen at the ready.

Not forgetting the Canon camera in the pocket of our Hackett tweeds. Watch this ~~product placement~~ space. As always, we’ll keep you posted (sorry, dreadful pun).

Blacksheep: Jamie Oliver’s Union Jacks

2012-04-08T00:00:00.001+01:00

Flying the Flag

Lavender’s Blue are here to bring colour to your life. So is design agency Blacksheep. Their latest project is Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant Union Jacks. There’s a lot more than the tricolour in its colourway. Muted blues, browns, greys and pinks of post-war nostalgia celebrate an innate Britishness. And it’s in London’s most colourful new development, Renzo Piano’s Central St Giles.

Co founded by Tim Mutton and Jo Sampson a decade ago, London based Blacksheep specialise in the creation of branded food and beverage experiences. Royals favourite Whisky Mist is one such venture. Hot on its heels comes Gillray’s Steakhouse and Bar, soon to open in the London Marriott Hotel County Hall.

Blacksheep also work with Hermès, creating rich environments to showcase world leading luxury goods. Starting with the design of the brand’s London HQ, they were implementing architects for a new retail concept called the Wonder Room in Selfridges. It’s 1,900 sqm of shopping heaven: Hermès, Bulgari, Theo Fennel and Tiffany & Co all outdazzling each other. The concept is being rolled out in top notch department stores across the UK. Coutts cards at the ready, please.

The greatest challenge Blacksheep faced at Union Jacks was the space itself. It’s a glazed C shape peninsula unit wrapped round a central lift shaft. Obscuring the glass walls wasn’t an option. So they started with the only three internal solid walls which Jo refers to as “the canvas”. These walls are covered with Fifties cinema style signage and neon Union Jacks lettering. The British theme rears its head again. The “canvas” has become a backdrop to wood fired ovens overlooked by diners who can watch their flatbreads taking shape.

Alternative dining experiences are offered by the intimate lower ground floor booths and alfresco seating in the adjoining piazza. Jo says, “Objects collected by Jamie on his travels inspired the space and retro elements that appear to be found trinkets have actually been made by Blacksheep and are dotted round the restaurant. Knitted Seventies style tea cosier are use for teapots outside. Graph paper is printed on counter tables and stools by Trainspotters are reminiscent of a school science lab.” A reference perhaps to Jamie’s school dinner endeavours?

Jo confirms the name Union Jacks relates to the theme of a union, of people coming together to work on a common goal to create a great place to eat. Provenance is something close to Blacksheep’s heart. The glass pendant lights are from Curiouser and Curiouser and the poise lamps are by Angle Poise. A novel called The Union Jacks sits on the counter, its faded cover reflecting the muted post-war colour theme. Next to it is Tom Parker Bowles’ cookery book Full English. Now you don’t get any more British than the step grandson of the Queen.

Black to Blacksheep

“When working with Jamie, as with all our clients, we try and capture ‘him’, not a pastiche of his character or the best bits. Simply his genuine spirit and honest approach to good and wider ethical concerns. That is what is emulated in the design of Union Jacks.”

Jo Sampson, Creative Director of Blacksheep

Union Jacks flagship restaurant is now open at:

4 Central St Giles Piazza

London

WC2H 8AB

0203 597 8AB

unionjacksrestaurants.com

Victoria’s Secret

Lavender’s Blue were more than a little sad to discover this fine and robust building formerly at 124 Victoria Street has become a victim of the otherwise to be lauded redevelopment of the area around Victoria Station in London. The wrecker’s ball aimed its final swing at the house last week to make way for an extension to the neighbouring Grade II Listed Victoria Palace Theatre. A six storey stuccoed end of terrace, in recent years it stood in splendid isolation as a fading reminder of early Victorian glamour. The central canted bay window burst onto a balcony balanced on brackets at piano nobile height. Miniature conservatories and monstrously large chimneystacks added to its kerb appeal. This is the final photograph. Going, going, gone.

Homes by Skanska UK; CP Hart

2012-04-01T00:00:00.003+01:00

Please go to LVB for this article

Architect John O'Connell: Wallace Collection; Misha Milovanovich

2012-03-22T00:00:00.001+00:00

Going Dutch

It is London’s most central best kept secret. Despite being a Sevres urn’s throw from Marylebone High Street, the Wallace Collection at Hertford House radiates an air of calm and civility. Perhaps it’s the sylvan setting of Manchester Square. Or maybe the muted acoustics of the glazed courtyard restaurant. There's nothing subdued though about the interiors of Hertford House. A blaze of (historically correct) colour awaits the visitor.

Sir Richard Wallace was born in London in 1818. He was the illegitimate son of Richard Seymour-Conway, Viscount Beauchamp, later 4th Marquess of Hertford, and Agnes Jackson. His mother left him in Paris aged six with his father and grandmother. Sir Richard was employed by his father as a secretary of the family art collection which he inherited on Lord Hertford’s death in 1870. The inheritance also included properties in London and Paris, a château in Bois de Boulogne and – after some litigation – estates in County Antrim.

The Seymour-Conway family owned estates in County Antrim from the 17th century onwards. The rents from these lands contributed to the wealth of the Marquesses of Hertford. The 3rd and 4th Marquesses paid little regard to their Irish estates. Sir Richard did. Famed for his charitable acts during the Siege of Paris, Sir Richard visited Lisburn with Lady Wallace in 1873. They received a tumultuous welcome. Sir Richard served as MP for Lisburn for the next 11 years. He built assembly rooms, a courthouse and a school.

In 1880 Sir Richard splashed out £20,000 on a red brick with stone dressings house probably* designed by architect Thomas Ambler. Round headed dormers set in a hipped mansard** roof are partially concealed behind a balustrade surmounting the two storey building. Pedimented aedicules surround the ground floor windows. String courses and quoins accentuate the horizontals and verticals. Under the central first floor tripartite window stands a balustraded tetrastyle Doric portico. Like Hertford House, a busty bow window protrudes to the rear. Lavish use of timber distinguishes the interior. A grand top-lit central hall has a wraparound gallery carried on richly carved pine console brackets. A doorcase leads through to an equally grand staircase.

Sir Richard hoped in vain that his son Edmond would take up residence in Lisburn. Lady Wallace subsequently left the house to her secretary Sir John Murray who visited the town several times but never resided in Wallace House. Its contents were removed to Hertford House. In 1914 Lisburn Council purchased the building for use as a technical college.

The family name lives on in the town. The citizens of Lisburn erected a monument to Sir Richard in Castle Gardens opposite the house. There are two Wallace Fountains, Wallace High School, Wallace Park and even Wallace Colonnades, a new shopping centre.

Wallace House has not fared as well as its city cousin. It bears the scars of almost a century of institutional use but the interior remains mostly intact. A car park is squeezed between the façade and front railings. Things could be worse. The courthouse was demolished in 1971 despite the best efforts of conservation campaigner Lady Dunleath. Perhaps it’s time for an Irish Wallace Collection?

Ding-a-ling-ling.

Hertford House was not a newbuild. Sir Richard commissioned Thomas Ambler to transform an existing 18th century building. Linear enfilades of top-lit galleries were added above the stables and coach house to create a two storey quadrangle to the rear of the house. An additional floor was added to the side wings to form a three storey main block. This extra space accommodated Sir Richard’s growing art collection which he had brought back from Paris after the Siege.

Ambler attached a balustraded Doric tetrastyle portico to the central two storey projection which is fully glazed on the upper floor. He encased the exterior in red brick with stone dressings. Double height Corinthian pilasters rising from ground floor rustication accentuate the horizontals and verticals. No less than seven tripartite windows grace the façade. Round headed dormers set in a hipped mansard roof are partially concealed behind a balustrade surmounting the three storey main block. Aedicules surround the upper floor windows with segmental pediments over the first floor tripartite windows.

The Entrance Hall leads to the staircase which is framed by paired Doric columns and pilasters. Beyond the staircase the Oval Drawing Room bursts into the bow window. The other State Rooms, accessed off the Entrance Hall, sweep round into the Galleries. Upstairs a similar arrangement opens off the Vestibule. The vast Great Gallery – all 380 square metres of it – fills the entire first floor of the block at the back of the quadrangle. The Wallace Collection accumulated by Sir Richard and his predecessors, from Old Masters and an armoury to French furniture and porcelain, glistens and sparkles in these opulent surroundings.

Lady Wallace outlived her husband by seven years, dying in 1897. She bequeathed the Wallace Collection to the nation. Hertford House flung open its doors as a museum three years later. In the early 1990s Dame Rosalind Savill, at that time the Museum Director, invited John O’Connell Architects to join the design team. The first project was a full restoration of the Small State Drawing Room relying on an archival photograph. John explains the overarching concept:

“In principle, each room is enhanced to stress the domestic or private mansion aspect of the main house. The Director specifically set down the primary theme for each space. Hence this became the brief for each room. Perhaps the best example is the Oval Drawing Room. It is in fact a great homage to Boucher and Fragonard on the walls and the dramatic setting for the elaborate bureau by the master craftsman Reisner. In this instance the set of four chairs formerly in the Salon du Jeu at Fontainebleau acted as the catalyst for the decorative scheme both of the walls and the curtains. The latter are in lampas of three colours.”

His main aim is to provide an augmented setting for the collection. It is not about re-creating rooms as they were but rather re-presenting them for today’s visitors and scholars. The one exception is the Small State Drawing Room. Now that the State Rooms are complete, attention has turned to the Galleries. East Galleries 1 to 3 have reopened as the Dutch Galleries. The new design introduces a fresh architectural language for the display of the most important collection of Dutch art in Britain after the National Gallery. Back to John:

“The A Frame roof over the East Galleries, by deduction, had only been installed in the early part of the 20th century. The outline of a mansard roof is indicated on an archival drawing which was made available to us. Thus a planning application was lodged to remove the entire 20th century roof and to rebuild it as a mansard type roof to allow for a better junction with the Great Gallery. This permitted the housing in an orderly manner of the new air conditioning ductwork and at the same time puncturing each of the Galleries with an oval funnel to admit natural light into each room. I specifically requested that the spectator should have a clear view of the sky.”

The new rooflights sit more than two metres higher than the previous ceiling and the original cornices have been revealed. Direct natural light onto paintings has been avoided. John’s detailed inspiration for this redesign derives from the staircases of 20 St James’s Square by Robert Adam and Ballyfin by Sir Richard Morrison and his son William Vitruvius. He says,

“Whereas most of the materials are of local origin, all the wall hangings are specially commissioned and usually woven by the distinguished and long established firm Prelle of Lyon. A deep rich blue silk was selected for the Dutch Galleries. Contemporary illustrations of the Prince Regent’s Carlton House and the Duc de Choiseul’s Parisian townhouse show their Dutch paintings displayed against a similar background.”

In a Huxtablesque*** moment, this segment of Hertford House compares in effect and elegance with any celebrated Renaissance palace or Baroque villa. The scale, the use of space, the views revealed or suggested, the contrasts of architectural style and material, of carved gilt borders against slinky textured silk, the visible change and continuity of the Wallace Collection’s remarkable aesthetic history, the brilliant accent of the poised sequence of rooms – colour, size, style, mass, space, light, dark, solids, voids, highs and lows – all are just right.

*Sir Charles Brett considered that Wallace House was probably designed by architect William McHenry who designed Lisburn courthouse

**Monsieur Mansard is the only person who has the pleasure of having a roof named in his honour

***Ada Louise Huxtable was appointed the first architectural critic of the New York Times in 1963 and is the leading exponent of the formal approach to writing about buildings

With special thanks to our Northern Irish chauffeur Catherine Blease for her assistance

Team Effort

Architects John O’Connell Architects Ltd + Purcell Miller Tritton LLP

QS Alan Pfeffer Associates

Structural Engineer The Morton Partnership

Main Contractor Coniston Ltd

Services Consultant Project Design Services Ltd

CDM Coordinator PFB Construction Management Services Ltd

Lighting Consultant IN2 Engineering Design Partnership + The Wallace Collection Conservation Team

http://www.wallacecollection.org/

Silk Uncut

Round the corner from the Wallace Collection is art shop Other Criteria owned by Damien Hirst. That's where Belgrade born artist Misha Milovanovich launched her Misha World collection of luxury silk scarves over afternoon tea in the shop.

She has funnelled fantasy fashion into the square frame to launch 10 designs in editions of 200 priced £325. Picasso paint meets Emilio Puccio print; Allen Ginsberg against Martin Scorsese stills; Voodoo Hip versus Kansas City Jazz… a cacophony of colour climaxes to a visual crescendo. Who else better to model one of the patterns than six foot tall Misha herself?

Harry Handelsman: St Pancras Renaissance Hotel Review

2012-03-15T00:00:00.000+00:00

Renaissance Man

Paris in two hours. Amsterdam in four hours. Lobby in 10 seconds. Those are the travel times from the 1st Class platform of the Eurostar train in London to St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.

The motif of the hotel is the peacock. It represents rejuvenation. When a peacock loses a feather it grows back perfectly. In 1865 architect Sir George Gilbert Scott won a competition held by Midland Railway to design a hotel for the new St Pancras Station. The vision was for an understated building. Gilbert Scott had other ideas.

A gothic extravaganza, his gargantuan fairytale confection of towers, turrets and terracotta tiles overwhelmed visitors when it opened in 1873. The design incorporated all the latest fittings too: the first lift in a UK hotel; the first revolving door in the UK; and 16 inch thick fireproof walls.

The latter was to contribute to its downfall though. Not long after it opened, en suite bathrooms became de rigeur for grand hotels. Such substantial walls did not adapt well to the insertion of bathrooms. The hotel closed in 1935 and became offices for British Rail. It was even threatened with demolition in the 1960s before Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman successfully campaigned for its retention.

This Grade I protected building has now been saved by Harry Handelsman. A labour of love, albeit an expensive one. 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 regrown.

What rare and colorful plumage! The original entrance hall is now a bar with a polychromatic corniced ceiling, walls dripping in gold leaf and encaustic tiled floors. 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 terrace for smoking.

The St Pancras railway shed designed by engineer William Henry Barlow was the single largest structure of its time. The former taxi rank between the railway shed and the original hotel has been converted into a vast glass roofed lobby. The adjacent Booking Office is now a restaurant serving traditional English delights such as quails’ eggs with anchovies and Eton Mess. Victorian drinks like Garrick Club Punch and Moonlight White Tea are served at a 95 foot long bar.

The grand staircase is the pièce de résistance of the interior. It’s a cathedral of colour with hand painted fleur de lys walls framed by Midland Stone arches and vaults. Harry Handelsman’s workforce even ‘aged’ the carpet on the dizzying array of fanciful flights of stairs.

The limestone pillared Gilbert Scott restaurant looks positively restrained in comparison. Celebrity chef Marcus Wareing’s team offer their own take on nostalgic classics such as Queen Anne’s Artichoke Tart and Mrs Beeton’s Snow Egg.

Harry Handelsman has created 38 rooms in the old building and 207 rooms in a new sympathetically designed extension. Once again, the hotel caters for the demands of five star guests. A luxurious subterranean spa occupies the former steam kitchen. Guests staying in suites dine in privacy in the Chambers Members’ Club. Banqueting and conference facilities cater for high end corporate needs.

A new room for £230. An old room for £330. The Royal Suite for £10,000*. Those are the prices per night to stay at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. Christian Bale, Johnnie Depp and Katie Holmes have all enjoyed the experience. The pride of the peacock is fully restored.

*Prices exclude VAT and contact http://www.stpancrasrenaissance.com/ for room and seasonal price variations

Stairway to Seven (facts)

A double storey apartment is housed in the clock tower
English Heritage only allowed a 20 colour palette which includes Midlands Red and Barlow Blue
On Thursday nights DJ Eloise in the Booking Office and on Friday nights it’s the turn of DJ Zulu
The diamond shape is another motif of the hotel and 725 can be found in the Booking Office
Standalone art in the hotel is for sale
The painted niche in the landing is a larger version of an illuminated manuscript found in the British Library next door
Residents of suites at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel receive automatic admission to the 1st Class Eurostar Lounge

Sir John Betjeman in Westminster Abbey

“Now I feel a little better,

What a treat to hear Thy Word,  

Where the bones of leading statesmen 

Have so often been interr'd. 

And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait 

Because I have a luncheon date.”