DOI Heft:
No. 56 (November, 1897)
DOI Artikel:White, Gleeson: An epoch-making house
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18390#0138
An Epoch-Making House
rich with colour as it is, is far less ornate than it is technically interested in such matters, it seems
appears in our reproduction from a photograph. quite possible that he might dine in this room and
For where black-and-white makes the detail appear never remember aught beyond a pleasant sense of
" fussy," colour has welded it to a certain unity that comely fitness—such as do/ens of rooms impart
keeps every item of its scheme duly subordinate to where no great taste has been expended, and no
the effect of the whole. Indeed, it would he very single item of the whole was specially designed,
hard to find another instance of equally elaborate Here everything has been made for its place, yet
decoration that was so cunningly kept within the the assemblage of "star" artists gathered together
proper restraint. Here (as I said before) comfort have sunk their own personality in the nobler effort
and quiet beauty are the earliest and latest impres- to make a room which, like a well-dressed woman,
sion which all the splendour produces. The leaves only an impression of faultless attire, with
question whether it cost thousands of pounds or scarce a memory of the colour, much less of the
only a few shillings does not force itself upon you ; fashion of each garment.
nor at first are you even curious to hunt out its The billiard-room is lined with Japanese paint-
details of interest : they may accidentally attract your ings on silk, and Japanese colour-prints under
attention afterwards. But, unless to a person who glass, framed in polished wood ; in the ceiling
panels of Japanese lac-
quer (mostly red) are used
in like fashion. The
overmantel is a happy
example of a quasi-Japan-
ese treatment, which has
in late years suffered by
travesties, so that its
original charm no longer
impresses one. Yet that
it was both excellent
treatment for wood, and
could be designed with
fine proportion, the struc-
ture proves clearly enough.
The marble hall, which
is illustrated here, is
in every respect a really
unique interior: its very
proportions suggest a
picture by Mr. Alma-
Tadema. So cleverly has
Mr. Philip Webb em-
ployed his material that
a sense of translucency,
almost of transparency, is
its dominant note. In-
stances of interiors lined
with marble are not un-
common here or in Ame-
rica ; yet with a vivid
memory of a certain
"bar" in New York,
where a huge picture by
Mr. E. A. Abbey in a
pale scheme of greens
takes its place in a room
PORTION OF DRAWING-ROOM NO. I HOLLAND PARK lmed ^ marbK. {hc
I I o
rich with colour as it is, is far less ornate than it is technically interested in such matters, it seems
appears in our reproduction from a photograph. quite possible that he might dine in this room and
For where black-and-white makes the detail appear never remember aught beyond a pleasant sense of
" fussy," colour has welded it to a certain unity that comely fitness—such as do/ens of rooms impart
keeps every item of its scheme duly subordinate to where no great taste has been expended, and no
the effect of the whole. Indeed, it would he very single item of the whole was specially designed,
hard to find another instance of equally elaborate Here everything has been made for its place, yet
decoration that was so cunningly kept within the the assemblage of "star" artists gathered together
proper restraint. Here (as I said before) comfort have sunk their own personality in the nobler effort
and quiet beauty are the earliest and latest impres- to make a room which, like a well-dressed woman,
sion which all the splendour produces. The leaves only an impression of faultless attire, with
question whether it cost thousands of pounds or scarce a memory of the colour, much less of the
only a few shillings does not force itself upon you ; fashion of each garment.
nor at first are you even curious to hunt out its The billiard-room is lined with Japanese paint-
details of interest : they may accidentally attract your ings on silk, and Japanese colour-prints under
attention afterwards. But, unless to a person who glass, framed in polished wood ; in the ceiling
panels of Japanese lac-
quer (mostly red) are used
in like fashion. The
overmantel is a happy
example of a quasi-Japan-
ese treatment, which has
in late years suffered by
travesties, so that its
original charm no longer
impresses one. Yet that
it was both excellent
treatment for wood, and
could be designed with
fine proportion, the struc-
ture proves clearly enough.
The marble hall, which
is illustrated here, is
in every respect a really
unique interior: its very
proportions suggest a
picture by Mr. Alma-
Tadema. So cleverly has
Mr. Philip Webb em-
ployed his material that
a sense of translucency,
almost of transparency, is
its dominant note. In-
stances of interiors lined
with marble are not un-
common here or in Ame-
rica ; yet with a vivid
memory of a certain
"bar" in New York,
where a huge picture by
Mr. E. A. Abbey in a
pale scheme of greens
takes its place in a room
PORTION OF DRAWING-ROOM NO. I HOLLAND PARK lmed ^ marbK. {hc
I I o