Early Saturday morning and I am playing Tourist in my home-town and walking the Tourist route (before they arrive). London like and major cosmopolitan city with a lengthy history is constantly full of endless surprises. Here are two gems the disciplined gothic structures of Westminster and a full façade supported by scaffolding as it accommodates its new function on Pall Mall St James.
This morning we are up super early to tour the recently completed buildings by Norman Foster. In The City there are several within a short walk from each other and the City is empty this early on a Saturday. The buildings on our list are not the iconic Foster buildings but low key office developments. Foster fully understands that buildings have hierarchy and that each has a place within the city context, some go almost unnoticed, some simply line the street, others open up hidden gardens or create public piazzas. I have a lot of time for the work produced by Foster’s office. Here the spaces and context need to be experienced so I took no photos.
Along the walk we discover other hidden surprises, a tiny grade 2 listed pub, The Ship 1802, a tile from the likes of Banksy, to the ‘Parents and Children’ vents on London Wall by Richard Rogers.
Further a statue by artist Damien Hirst, which aims to challenge our prejudices around disability next to London’s Gherkin tower. The seven-metre high sculpture, called Charity, is based on a 1960s charity collection box depicting a disabled young girl clutching a teddy bear and a collection tin. The charity Scope withdrew the collection boxes in the 1980s in favour of promoting positive images of disabled people. Hirst’s version depicts the charity box as worn and vandalised, with a crowbar lay next to the girl and her empty collection tin. This was a very interesting day out taking photos all the way.
Harewood House by John Carr and Roberts Adams is a twin winged single axis classical stately home. The house has all the hallmarks of Adams, with neo-classical decoration, exquisite proportions and beautiful ceilings and plasterwork. Heavy outbursts of rain are not going to dampen our spirits, as we manage to avoid getting too wet. Harewood is one of the Treasure Houses of England set in the heart of Yorkshire. With rolling ‘Capability’ Brown landscapes, an impressive art collection including works by JMW Turner & El Greco, renaissance masterpieces, the largest collection of Thomas Chippendale furniture, fabulous Robert Adam interiors, combined with 100 acres of award-winning Gardens and a renowned lakeside Bird Garden.
Today, nearing the end of our vacation, we are at Middlethorpe Hall, York, a William III country house close to the city of York and set in 20 acres of its own gardens and parkland. Built in 1699, it was once the home of the famous diarist, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. It was bought in the 1980’s and reopened as a luxury Hotel, restaurant and Spa. In 2008 it was donated to The National Trust with all profits benefiting the house and the charity. A quite lovingly restored house that had fallen into quite alarming decay and it was a pleasure to study, camera in hand.
A day of two halves that covers 100 years and spanning the rise of the Industrial Revolution. First the Dunmore Pineapple of 1761 a walled garden with a folly for entertaining, the play things of the landed gentry.
Then on to see the Forth Bridge, the Victorian engineering masterpiece of Fowler and Baker. The Forth Bridge has to be seen up close to be fully appreciated. The shear scale, bravado and confidence of the Victorians is so impressive.
I have not been to The Hill House since I was an architectural student. The work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh has always been a little OCD for me but in the work of Mary Macdonald I see a softer more intuitive feel. At Hill House we get to see lots of work from both designers.
Stonefield castle was an unexpected gem. Now a boutique hotel submerged in deep green woodlands with views over the lochs of The Firth Of Clyde to rolling hills and low lying clouds. The perfect place for a quiet afternoon lunch.
Barnard Castle, a French Chateau in Durham, now the Bowes museum. Sadly we were a few days too early to see the Yves Saint Laurent Exhibition: Style is Eternal but we did get to see The Silver Swan, a musical automaton and icon of the Museum along with the permanent collection of Canaletto’s, Turner’s, Courbet’s and El Greco’s. An interesting collection of early nineteenth century dresses meant that I never really was on holiday. There is too much here for the short visit our schedule allows and a focussed day would have been very useful.
Wortley Hall. It is hard to imagine that this stately home hotel is now part of the co-operative union. The underlining grandeur of days past is still visible. Once the home of the Earls of Wharncliffe dating from 1165 the Hall has been left derelict on numerous occasions prior to its conversion into a Hotel and company in it’s own right. Very odd indeed.
Gideon Tapestries. So the road trip begins with a visit to Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, an architecturally significant and leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house. Built between 1590 and 1597 for the formidable Bess of Hardwick, it was designed by the architect Robert Smythson, an exponent of the early Renaissance style of architecture and renown for its brave use of glass. Hardwick also houses the Gideon Tapestries. The images below capture the intense and detailed workmanship of the tapestries used to line the walls of the stairwell and main hall and are themselves a virtual addition the enclosed space.
