Month: March 2024

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Architecture Art Design Luxury People Restaurants

The Standard Hotel King’s Cross London + More Weddings

In Love

Romance starts across the road with artist Tracey Emin’s giant pink LED love letters “I want my time with you” over the Eurostar arrivals in St Pancras Station.

It’s London’s most exclusive inclusive wedding venue. The penthouse level of The Standard Hotel. Decimo restaurant is the perfect setting for holding your licenced ceremony (up to 60 guests) and wedding breakfast (up to 140 guests) before heading across the 10th floor hallway for Champagne in Sweeties bar (up to 400 guests). Those views! Even from the loos! Far below, people scurry about like tiny stick figures in a Laurence Lowry painting, each one the main character of their own story. In the wee small hours you can crawl into a Cosy Core or sashay into a Suite Spot to retire and more.

The in-laws won’t fail to be impressed by indie design stationery from With Bells On. Award winning event planning company Whole Lota Love will make sure the only hitch you’ll have will be getting hitched. My Lady Garden, empowerment through floristry, will transform the restaurant into a horticultural wonderland. Francesca Strange from east London bakery The Proof will make your cake, whether white or rainbow, sponge of chocolate. Shag (named after the carpet, not something else) is their signature style. As for your bridesmaids, Rewritten will dream up contemporary boho dresses for any shape or size of gal. Canapés upon arrival are a must. Baby artichoke, tostada, rose harissa, basil; pea and leek with hollandaise sauce; and spiced fishcake with XO sauce signpost the quality of Michelin starred Chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias’ handiwork.

Cool party hot crowd. Or is it hot party cool crowd? Either way, The Standard’s resident DJs will provide the soundtrack from remixes of Tyla’s Water to mashups of Lola Marsh.

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Art Design Hotels Luxury People Restaurants

Four Seasons Hotel Park Lane London + Pavyllon Restaurant Afternoon Tea

A Why for an Eye

“Time, the great surprise. The tribulations of disguise,” cries musician, fashionista and philanthropist Daphne Guinness. In contrast to the Japanese Peruvian fusion of its neighbour Nobu, Pavyllon restaurant in the Four Seasons is all about Anglo French old school glamour. Park Lane is the second most valuable address in the London edition of the board game Monopoly, only beaten by the adjacent Mayfair. Inn on the Park London which would later be renamed Four Seasons opened in 1970. It was the group’s first European hotel, having started in Toronto nine years earlier. The architect was the Austrian born American Michael Rosenauer who had offices in London and New York.

The 11 storey 193 bedroom hotel has been materially and metaphorically elevated into the 21st century by the crack team of Reardon Smith (structural rebuild), Eric Parry (rooftop spa and Presidential Suite extension), Pierre-Yves Rochon (public areas interiors), Tara Bernerd (guest rooms and suites interiors) and Chahan Minassian (Pavyllon restaurant and Bar Antoine interiors). The first stuffed morels with duxelles sweetbread were still warm when Chef Yannick Alléno scooped up a Michelin star for Pavyllon (and his own 17th), the launch of the British expression of his trademark French cooking. Daphne Guinness: “You can blow out the candle in this chimera of time to end the beginning transcending a new paradigm.”

The design of Pavyllon and the adjoining Bar Antoine are all about blocks and stripes of calming colours to generate a Parisian apartment meets London club ambience. And a touch of Manhattan sophistication: Park Avenue reborn as Park Lane. Murano chandeliers comprising interlocking Cs designed by Chahan illuminate marble and lacquered panelling to establish a sense of understated luxury. New York artist Peter Lane’s pair of ceramic stoneware sculptures in a verdigris glaze pay homage to Michael Rosenauer’s penchant for incorporating artworks into his designs. At his Grade II* Listed Time and Life Building on Bruton Street, Mayfair, completed in 1954, the architect inserted an open base relief by Henry Moore on the second floor elevation.

Born in 1961 in Lebanon, Chahan’s family moved to France when he was 15. After a stint as European Creative Director for Ralph Lauren, he launched Chahan Interior Design in 1993. “Monochromes and textures mark a lot of my interiors,” he discloses. He always has more than 20 projects on the go, involving four to eight international flights a week. “Those days get intense between site visits, overlooking floorplans and designs, planning schedules and designing along the way. No lunch breaks. I read my 350 to 450 emails on my phone and manage to coordinate answers between my team and suppliers. I dine around 10am and sleep at 2am after catching up on work reports.”

Afternoon tea in Chanan’s relaxation inducing environment might cost an arm and a leg but life is for living. A breeze of staff in sandstone hued uniforms serve pistachio then sunflower seed nibbles. The well trodden afternoon tea sequence has variations on the theme. It’s all about differentiation in London five stars, whether The Goring’s Pink Panther with its bottomless curried cauliflower sandwiches or Sanderson’s Mad Hatter’s and its cuckoo cakes. Three finger sandwiches are oak smoked salmon sandwich with shiso butter and teriyaki sauce; Hafod cheddar sandwich with tomato condiment and spring onion; and devilled egg with watercress and mayo. Petite cubic scones come with raspberry compote, orange marmalade and vanilla cream.

Pastries are apple coriander tartlet (green apple ganache, pickles, black lemon); Jaffa cake (orange, caramel); marble cake (vanilla, chocolate, gianduja); mini baba (cachaça, mint, lemon); pavlova (sugar free meringue, fruit); and vanilla caramel cookie (almond praline, hazelnut). Moonlight Yunnan white tea proves to be the perfect accompaniment to the savouries and sweets. What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon in early spring? Daphne Guinness would approve: “Life is a dance and time is the key from the dawn of creation to the twilight of humanity.”

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Architecture Art Design

Christ Church Cathedral Crypt Dublin + Crotchet Cross

Lacrimosa Sola

All the globe is dead to us.

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Art Design Fashion Luxury People

Mary Martin London + Anglo Irish Art de la Haute Couture

A Muse

“The things we truly love stay with us always, locked in our hearts as long as life remains,” Josephine Baker, 1954

Mary Martin London is freedom, protest, a love letter, a manifesto, a shaking of the shoulders, a twisting of the ankles; looking closer, wider and more expansively at the world around us. There is always so much more to the fashion house. It’s about reclaiming agency, asserting subjectivity, authoring a new visual lexicon. As for the lead fashion artist herself? She can do it all: design, draw, cut, drape, fit, model. Both sides of the Atlanta not to mention the Mother Continent are enthralled by her living legacy. Stateside, Atlanta City Council led by its President Doug Shipman dedicated Saturday 9 December 2023 as Mary Martin Appreciation Day. Closer to home, there’s a muse in a mews to be schmoozed. The pedestal worthy cap, tunic and trouser combo may be Afro Caribbean in outline but the robust materiality of tweed with handwoven felt shamrocks is firmly Anglo Irish. Mary Martin London is dancer, legend, green, global.

“I believe we are created by God. In the beginning, God created heaven and earth and everything in them. So, if He created us in His image, we are creators like Him. We create, and God is my creator and inspiration.” Mary Martin, 2024

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Art Design Fashion Luxury People

Mary Martin London + Anglo Ireland

The Tullymurry Set

It’s fine to wear your birthday suit in the countryside. Especially when the view to the horizon is uninterrupted by anyone or anything. Mary Martin London is in fashion anywhere and everywhere.

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Architecture Art Design Hotels Luxury People Restaurants

The Lanesborough Hotel Knightsbridge London + The Garden Room

This Room’s On Fire

We’re back in town and we mean business. Straight off the hot mess express. Owning it. Cutting deals. Not just gadding about. Chop chop. We’re pumped up and pimped up between the plumped up poshness. In a basement next to the bright lights’ busiest roundabout. Sounds glam? It’s The Lanesborough’s Garden Room, darlings. Antiques and antics, busts and bust ups, teas and tiaras.

“A sky full of stars a room full of cigars,” postdebutante Annabel P wistfully murmurs before sinking behind the smoky haze into a Napoléon II club chair. The Garden Room’s impeccable Manager Neil Millington and his team are on it like a Selina Blow bonnet in this exclusive Cuba-on-Thames. “I’m going to keep the table as authentic as possible.” Bolney Estate Bacchus magically appears and reappears. Bad Pollyanna. Bad. And a legacy’s worth of Hoyo de Monterreys. “There are three cuts: punch, straight and V.”

Fresh from VIP seats applauding the thrillingly talented singer Noah Francis Johnson (the late Dodi Fayed’s brother-in-law) bring the (Soho) house down in White City (London not Tel Aviv), we’d glided past a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II en route to The Garden Room. Her painted lips parted: “We are so bemused.” An image of Salisbury’s Wilton House carried our reflection. People do say we’re a pair of oil paintings. “Welcome back!” chime Neil and his cohort each time we re-enter The Garden Room. Standing to attention of course. You can get the staff these days.

“When the party’s over and the lights go on …” sang Noah. This party’s only getting started so keep those lights dim!

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Architects Architecture Art Design Town Houses

Christ Church Cathedral Dublin + George Edmund Street

Up His Street

It boasts the largest cathedral crypt – 63.4 metres long – in Ireland and Britain, constructed in the 1170s. Above ground, Christ Church Cathedral in the heart of historic Dublin is medieval as reimagined with fervent vigour in Victorian times. The cathedral was declared structurally unsafe in the early 19th century. That was enough for English architect George Edmund Street to revive the building or rather complex of buildings with great gusto from 1871 to 1878. Distiller Henry Roe of Mount Anville stomped up the cash, all £230,000 of it. The cathedral’s founder, Hiberno Norse King Sitric Silkenbeard, would’ve no doubt raised an eyebrow or two.

The north porch? Chop. Quire? Chop. Tower? Rebuild. South nave arcade? Rebuild. Baptistry? Add. Flying buttresses? Add lots. Chapter house? Build. Synod hall? Build. For those tourists who make it up Dame Street away from the discombobulating temptations of Temple Bar, the cathedral and its environs – not least St Werburgh’s Church of Ireland – are a place of repose and reflection.

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Architecture Art Design

Dublin Castle Dublin + Jam Sutton

Pink is the New Black

Just when you thought the back of Dublin Castle couldn’t get any more colourful up pops a hot pink statue matching the tulips. The Irish village tradition of painting buildings in bright colours isn’t often applied to institutional buildings never mind castles. Dublin Castle is the exception: the group of blocks closest to the garden are painted ice cream flavours of blueberry, peach and lemon. The courtyard blocks couldn’t be more different with their stone and red brick fronts.

Dublin Castle has been around for 700 years although the current architecture mostly dates from the 17th to 20th century. Once the seat of British rule, it’s now government offices and an arena of state ceremony. Anyhoo back to that hot pink statue. Apparently it’s a modern take on the David and Goliath classic. David has donned a baseball cap and a pair of shorts, with a Nike trainer clad foot resting on Goliath’s severed head. Designed by English artist Jam Sutton, the method of execution is also a modern take: excitingly it’s a 3D print.

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Architects Architecture Art Country Houses Design Developers Hotels Luxury People Restaurants Town Houses

The Wilder Townhouse Hotel Dublin + Gráinne Weber

Incomplete Madness

Arriving at the west facing hotel on a sunny March evening is simply glorious. Doughnuts on demand in the new light filled conservatory and adjoining terrace. In contrast to the stuccoed pairs of Regency villas on the other side of Harcourt Terrace, The Wilder Townhouse is red brick Victorian. It’s a slightly wonky L shape in plan. Designed by architect James Hargrave Bridgford, the building has a long and complicated history. A Church of Ireland notice summarises its unusual genesis:

“The Asylum for Aged Governesses and Other Unmarried Ladies, first opened AD 1838. The only one in Ireland. Proposed new house, Harcourt Terrace, Dublin. In a former circular we gave an elevation of the proposed house, having four storeys, which was objected to as having rooms at such a distance from the entrance hall, that the ascent of the staircase to the upper rooms would be very trying for old and infirm people. We have, accordingly, modified our plan, which will be much more convenient in every way, and we have secured a plot of ground which gives us ample space for all sanitary and commodious arrangements, but the cost will be considerably more than for the original plan. We obtained four estimates from competent builders, and the lowest was £2,800 for the whole building; having, however only £1,600 in hand, and being determined to avoid debt, we have decided to build only the first block shown in the above drawing, with the portion of the wing included within the lines AB and CD. After this is done, we shall wait on the Lord for the means of completing the structure, which, when finished, will be all that can be desired. Subscriptions are earnestly solicited and will be thankfully received by the Trustees, or any Member of the Committee, whose names and addresses are given. Cheques and post office money orders to be made payable to Miss Eliza Meredyth.”

And a quote from Blackrock, County Dublin, based architect Gráinne Weber explaining its latest reincarnation: “Following on from work on Frankie Whelehan’s sister property, the Montenotte Hotel in Cork City, we were asked to take a look at a former residential institutional building on Harcourt Terrace and Adelaide Road in Dublin. A Victorian Protected Structure, it had planning permission for apartments but our client wished to develop it as a hotel. We achieved planning permission for a 42 bedroom guesthouse from An Bord Pleanála as architects for the project and proceeded to substantially upgrade the building’s shell and core: from there went on to create an interior which was modern yet sensitive to the building’s heritage.”

Hôtel Les Bains in Paris and Ham Yard Hotel in London provided two sources of inspiration for the interior design. House of Hackney wallpapers, Matthew Williamson fabrics and contemporary paintings reinvigorate the period interiors. The original inhabitants could only dream of today’s rainforest showers in marble bathrooms and Maison Margiela toiletries. Rooms are of course named after governesses who resided here: for example, the Miss Wade Suite was named after Charlotte Wade whose name appears in the 1911 Census. The Lady Jane Room is named in honour of Jane Harrison, Jane Jeffers and Jane Mercer who also all appeared in the 1911 Census. It’s also an acronym of the owner’s wife and daughters’ names: Josephine, Aoife, Niamh and Eimear. Records reveal 19 governesses were evicted down the years for being quarrelsome.

Gráinne’s client Frankie Whelehan expands the story, “What I was trying to achieve was something a bit different: a bespoke guesthouse with limited food and beverage, catering for a niche market that is under represented in Dublin. The name Wilder is a little bit of playacting because we are focusing on the international market coming to Dublin and Oscar Wilde is synonymous with the city. It’s all about experience. A notice in the deeds calls it ‘a home for bewildered women’ so we had that it mind too when naming the hotel.” The reception helpfully supplies a factsheet on governesses:

· They were employed to teach and train children in private middle and upper class households. The majority were Protestant; in the 1861 Census, 74 percent of Irish governesses were Protestant.

· In contrast to nannies, governesses concentrated on teaching children rather than catering for their physical needs.

· From the 1840s to 1860s, governesses accounted for 10 percent of the total teaching force.

· The profession began to decline at the end of the 19th century when schools became more common.

· The Governess Association of Ireland was established in 1869 on 3 Lower Leeson Street. It provided a two year course and an examination in Trinity College. Once completed, a certificate of proficiency helped to push for better wages.

· The average salary was £40 to £60 per annum but certified governesses could earn up to £80 a year.

· Governesses often didn’t have pensions and could end up homeless or in workhouses.

· The Asylum for Aged Governesses and Other Unmarried Ladies served a great need.

Last used as artists’ studios, the planning permission for hotel use granted by Dublin City Council was subject to a third party appeal in 2017 by neighbours on Harcourt Terrace. Inspector Jane Dennehy found in favour of the applicant: “The proposed development would not be seriously injurious to the integrity, character and visual amenities and setting the existing building, a Protected Structure, would not be seriously injurious to the architectural character, visual amenities and residential amenities of the residential Conservation Area and would be acceptable in terms of traffic and public safety and convenience, and would be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.” The Wilder Townhouse finally opened in 2018.

The February 2024 edition of Business Plus magazine reports: “In the 11 month period to November 2023, Dublin achieved the highest hotel occupancy rate, 83 percent, out of 35 European markets. Dublin also ranked seventh highest in terms of Revenue Per Available Room. Dublin has circa 25,860 hotel bedrooms. By comparison, the Stockholm hotel bedroom stock is about 39,000 while Amsterdam has a total stock of around 42,000. Dublin has fewer bedrooms than both comparably sized cities, despite having the fastest growing economy in Europe.” The Wilder Townhouse provides 42 of the very best bedrooms Dublin has to offer.

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Architecture Design Developers Hotels Luxury People Restaurants Town Houses

Wilde Restaurant + The Westbury Hotel Dublin

Come What May

Oscar Wilde: “I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.” A walk down O’Connell Street and beyond is a walk down memory lane. Dublin is full of ghosts of built and once human form. Clery’s department store closed in 2015. Across the River Liffey, and up Grafton Street, there used to be two department stores facing one another. Switzer’s, once owned by Mohammed Al Fayad, disappeared in 1990 while Brown Thomas has kept going. In 2021, the Weston family sold Brown Thomas and Selfridges in London for a few billion euro to a Thai and Austrian consortium.

Tucked behind Grafton Street, Powerscourt Townhouse Centre is comfortingly still intact as the city’s most original shop and restaurant destination. Once the urban seat of the Wingfield family, it’s full of the exuberant 18th century plasterwork made popular by the Italian Francini brother stuccodores. Walking over the uneven Georgian floorboards along the galleries has the unsteadying feel of being on a slightly rocky ship. Round the corner the only evidence that Odessa bar and restaurant ever existed, never mind being the coolest hangout in town circa 2001, is the sign, and even that’s about to disappear. Also tucked behind Grafton Street is another institution that is very much alive and kicking: The Westbury Hotel, part of The Doyle Collection.

Opened in 1984, this 205 bedroom five star hotel is still highly recognisable even after several multimillion euro renovations. The first floor restaurant Wilde overlooks Balfe Street below. A conservatory was added to the restaurant during one of the renovations. The 90s apricot colour scheme, linen tablecloths and synchronised cloche lifting have all long gone. In their place is a chintz free interior and informal vibe. Cane chairs, fern patterned cushions, botanical prints and tiled floor are all reminders this is definitely conservatory dining. Or rather lunching.

Dublin’s most wonderful waitress is an El Salvadorian lawyer. “Over six million people are squeezed into 21,000 square kilometres. It’s the smallest country in Central America,” she relates. “But there are great places to stay on the Pacific coastline. El Tunco beach and La Tibertand port are two of my favourite places. Our nostalgic produce is horchata: it’s a drink made from a blend of spices and seeds such as morro, sesame and peanut. My family own businesses and there used to be a lot of extortion. That’s all gone: the new President and his strict regime clamping down on gangs has been a gamechanger. El Salvador is the first country to have made Bitcoin a legal tender.” It’s time to book flights with United Airlines.

The Berkeley Court Hotel in Ballsbridge, a couple of kilometres south of The Westbury, has not survived. An RTÉ news report broadcast in 1978, “Providing first class comfort for guests is the aim of Dublin’s newest hotel The Berkeley Court. It is the newest hotel owned by Pascal Vincent Doyle. At £25 a night for a single bed, the majority of us will never be able to afford its delights. The 200 bedroom hotel is situated on the corner of Shelbourne Road and Lansdowne Road. Inside, it provides the standard demanded by wealthy American and Continental guests. With an emphasis on first class comfort, the luxury hotel is indicative of the upward trend of tourism in Ireland. The hotel was formally opened by Minister for Tourism and Transport, Padraig Faulkner.” This fellow epitome of late 20th century glamour was demolished in 2016 and replaced by apartments – Ballsbridge is the best residential address in Dublin.

Wilde deserves a Michelin star, or rather Oscar! It’s the best thing since sliced sourdough (of which there is plenty). So how much is lunch per person? Well, the same price as checking in for six nights to The Berkeley Court. Circa 1978. After Wilde, we’ll walk past the Oscar Wilde statue on Merrion Square and then we’ll head to The Wilder Townhouse to get dolled up for a wild (no E) night out in town. But not before Taizé Prayer in Newman University Church on St Stephen’s Green. Oscar Wilde: “Memory … is the diary that we all carry about with us.”

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Architects Architecture Art Design Hotels People Town Houses

IDA Global Headquarters + Iveagh Gardens Dublin

The Green Stuff

Everyone knows St Stephen’s Green in Dublin. But not so many people are aware that its southside buildings back onto Iveagh Gardens, a lower profile yet equally fine park. The brick rear elevations of Newman University Church (a windowless apse), Museum of Literature Ireland (a bow window and a chamfered bay with Gothick windows) and Stauntons on the Green Hotel (a pair of shallow chamfered bays) all rise above the archery grounds.

Iveagh Gardens are entered from the opposite side, off Upper Hatch Street. A new addition to the encircling cityscape, this time facing the park, is the IDA Ireland global headquarters, completed in 2019. Designed by Dublin practice MOLA, the transparent façade is a glacial foil to the verdancy of the gardens. IDA Chief Executive Martin Shanahan says, “The new location at Three Park Place provides IDA Ireland with an excellent location from which to market to global investors.” The IDA was previously located for 35 years at Wilton Place opposite the canal. Wilton Place is being redeveloped to the design of architects Henry John Lyons.

The Anglo Irish Guinness family have done so much for Ireland including Desmond and Mariga Guinness establishing the Irish Georgian Society in 1958. “Without a doubt,” writes Carola Peck in Mariga and Her Friends (1997), “both Desmond and Mariga worked unremittingly and unstintingly to save Dublin’s architectural heritage.” A century earlier, Benjamin Guinness leased Iveagh Gardens to the Dublin Exhibition Palace. The gardens were designed by landscape architect Ninian Niven, merging French Formal and English Landscape styles. His descendent Rupert Guinness 2nd Earl of Iveagh donated the gardens to the nation in 1939. The public – and IDA employees on their lunch break – can still enjoy the one metre high maze, sunken gardens with fountains, archery grounds, rustic grotto and cascade.

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Art Design Fashion Luxury People Town Houses

Mary Martin London + Zelda Blakley

Haute Cature

Put simply, Gertrude Stein is Zelda Blakley’s favourite author and Tender Buttons of 1914 her favourite book. Transparent intellectual accessibility is not Zelda’s chief concern. Take: “The instance of there being more is an instance of more. The shadow is not shining in the way there is a black line.” She just doesn’t wear her erudition lightly; Zelda also likes to don Mary Martin London and we’re not talking the prêt-à-porter range.

Britain’s leading fashion artist is in her prime, now working at concert pitch: already this month she’s received gongs at The Extraordinary Achievers Charity Awards and Power of A Woman Awards. As always with her one-off pieces, there’s more to Zelda’s cape than meets the eye. “The checked tweed is very British and the handsewn felt shamrocks represent Ireland, reflecting Zelda’s Anglo Irish heritage,” Mary explains. “The duffle coat buckle shows off her street cred too. The costume jewellery is just literally that – fit for royalty!”

The fashion artist was inspired by the oil painting of Queen Charlotte in Zelda’s London residence. Mary shares, “Baron Christian Friedrich von Stockmar, a contemporary of the Queen Consort of King George III, said she had a ‘positive mulatto face’. Her ethnicity as a woman of colour is often denied or ignored by mainstream history.” Queen Charlotte had a celebrated diamond filled collection of jewellery. To segue back to Gertrude Stein, “Giving it away, not giving it away, is there any difference. Giving it away, not giving it away.”

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Uncategorized

Church Hill House Model Farm + Drummond Hotel + Presbyterian Church + Bridge House + Let’s Really Talk About The Unsung Hero of Early 19th Century Irish Palladianism Richard Suter Who Transformed Blink and You’ll Miss It Ballykelly Londonderry

Northern Lights

Breaking the fourth wall to borrow theatre speak, not architectural parlance, we’re all up for a challenge but there’s only so much paparazzo lenses and post shoot editing can achieve. A sea of car parking around County Londonderry’s finest Palladian villa may be an unfortunate modern necessity for its new use as a private hospital but it doesn’t make for the most photogenic foreground. And so we made use of a series of strategically placed shrubs and trees to camouflage the vehicles. Our intelligent readership (more fourth wall breakage) will ably piece together the jigsaw of photographs to get the full picture of that tremendous quinquepartite façade.

English novelist William Thackeray, passing through the village on his 1842 tour of Ireland, was a fan despite not being a nonconformist enthusiast: “In Ballykelly, besides numerous simple, stout, brick built dwellings for the peasantry, with their shining windows and trim garden plots, is a Presbyterian Meeting House, so well built, substantial, and handsome, so different from the lean, pretentious, sham Gothic ecclesiastical edifices which have been erected in late years in Ireland, that it can’t fail to strike the tourist who has made architecture his study or his pleasure. The gentleman’s seats in the district are numerous and handsome; and the whole movement along the road betokened cheerfulness and prosperous activity.”

Ballykelly has been the subject of academic research by Donald Girvan in Buildings of North Derry, 1974, and The History, Architecture and Planning of the Estates of The Fishmongers’ Company in Ulster by James Curl, 1981. Both are Ulster Architectural Heritage Society publications. The land where the village stands was granted by James I in 1613 to the Fishmonger’s Company, one of the ancient Livery Companies of the City of London. The Company’s English architect Richard Suter and Irish builder James Turnbull combined their design and delivery acumen to transform Ballykelly into a village of architectural note. Buff pink sandstone has never looked so good.

James relates, “One of Suter’s first and most happy compositions came off his drawing board and the designs were realised in 1824. This was Church Hill, the Model Farm for the Estate. The cost £900 and was built of Dungiven sandstone by James Turnbull. It consists of a two storey house, three windows wide, with a low hipped roof and wide eaves. High rubble walls link this central building to the single storey rectangular pavilions that again have hipped roofs. These pavilions have semicircular headed windows set in blind arched recesses. The Ordinance Survey Memoirs thought the farm was too ambitious and expensive to be relevant to the circumstances of most farms in the parish. However, the Model Farm remains one of the most distinguished buildings on the estate.”

Church Hill is Palladian in style and function. Palladio’s villas of Veneto were farmhouses. The lefthand pavilion of Church Hill was stables; the righthand one, stores. Behind the connecting high walls lay a walled farmyard. The pavilions were increased in height by 75 centimetres to allow another floor to be inserted into them: the change of material to brick makes this apparent. The overall impact still gives a powerful punch: a noble design separated from the road by a meadow. The central block is almost square in footprint with a double piled roof. In 1988 planning permission was granted to convert the Model Farm into the North West Independent Hospital. A two storey extension for 18 additional bedrooms and services was approved in 2002 for Kingsbridge Private Hospital. The façade remains uninterrupted, a mini Russborough.

Don’t blink when driving through Ballykelly for high up on the opposite side of the road are two more of Richard Suter’s accomplished set pieces: Drummond House (now Drummond Hotel) and Ballykelly Presbyterian Church. The bare pilasters and clean mouldings of Drummond House are late neoclassicism at its most reticent. Donald records, “Turnbull created Drummond House to designs by Suter as a ‘commodious house built by the Fishmongers’ Company for the residence of their agent’. The designs dated from 1822 show Drummond House was a handsome structure, double fronted, three windows wide, and two storeys high. It had the stripped down neoclassical manner to be found at the schools anad the two churches, and had dressed sandstone corner pilasters. Windows had segmental heads and elegant sashes. The porch was added by Turnbull.”

Richard Suter replaces Palladio with Inigo Jones as his chief inspiration for the Presbyterian Church. The boldness of the 30 degree high pediment and deep overhang with moulded soffits are straight from St Paul’s Church Covent Garden, London. Over to Donald: “Ballykelly Presbyterian Church was begun in 1826 and completed in 1827. There is a two storey arrangement of windows as would be expected in galleried churches. The upper windows have segmental, and the lower have straight heads, arranged in six bays along the length of the church, and flanking the central blind arch in which the pedimented entrance doorcase is set. Over the blind arch is a massive keystone. Once more, the building is constructed of coarsed rubble with Dungiven sandstone dressings, and once again the masonry is of superlative quality. Glazing bars are of cast iron.”

Having driven past Church Hill on one side and Drummond Hotel and the Presbyterian Church on the other, still don’t blink. There’s one more architectural treat in store courtesy of our favourite architect and builder duo. Donald Girvan tells all: “Bridge House, 1829. Builder James Turnbull. Cost £2,000. A fine two storey, five bay Dungiven sandstone house, with attic. It was originally the house of the dispensary surgeon and the mark where the dispensary door was can still be seen between the first two bays on the left. Above hung the Dispensaries’ Arms, which the Ordnance Survey Memoirs felt ‘were too thick and clumsy, like the house itself’. The house is three bays deep with extensive offices behind. It is attractively set at an angle on the road.” In 2002 planning permission was granted to restore and convert Bridge House to three apartments and develop its surroundings for 17 townhouses.

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Architecture Art Country Houses Design Luxury People Restaurants

Tullymurry House Newry Down + Slemish Market Supper Club

Mount Charles All Over Again

We’re getting ready to join you on this beautiful life adventure. “County Down in the holidays and Surrey in the term – it was an excellent contrast,” raved Clive Staples Lewis in 1955. We couldn’t agree more and technically we do reside in Surrey albeit the hectarage swallowed up by southwest London. Tullymurry House is only five kilometres on the Belfast side of Newry but feels a world away from everywhere and everything and everyone. There are uninterrupted views across drumlins to the irregular polygon of the snow capped Mourne Mountains.

Tullymurry, blurring the line between a grand farmhouse and a modest country house, is run by the Irish Landmark Trust, founded in 1992. The Trust’s mission is to save, share and sustain. Hearth Revolving Fund restored the house in 2012 before handing it over for use as a holiday home. The Autumn 1989 Heritage Newsletter of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society states, “Hearth has completed 55 houses and flats for rental over the last 10 years …” Tullymurry most likely originated as a single storey Scottish Planters’ house. An extension by the Weir family of circa 1700 is now the kitchen and downstairs bedroom. The L shaped two storey block with its sureness of style was then added in the late 18th century. In 1828 a farmer John Marshall bought the house and remodelled it further 12 years later. A folder beside a vase of fresh (custard yellow and raspberry red) roses on the entrance hall table details the restoration:

“Work started on the house from the top downwards; the roof tiles were taken off and replaced but fortunately the roof timbers were found to be in excellent condition and original to the house. The sash windows were taken out, repaired and painted before being put back in place. The house was riddled with woodworm so large areas of floorboards had to be replaced as necessary. The house was rewired and replumbed with the important addition of central heating and extra bathrooms. A small area of kitchen units was added with plenty of modern appliances and a utility room just across the passage for any extra equipment.”

“As much of the existing decoration as possible was retained including the wood effect graining on many of the doors, shutters and skirting. Where wallpaper had to be replaced and painting carried out, traditional ranges from Farrow and Ball were used. Much of the furniture and pictures are 19th century and were in the house before restoration began. They were removed before work began and replaced when work was complete as close as possible to their original locations. The house is now ready to face the next 200 years and has been given a new lease of life as a holiday home.” Original items include hall chairs, an organ, a piano, a family Bible, portraits and a watercolour of nearby Narrow Water Castle by Tom Irwin.

Like the Sunday school chorus, Tullymurry is “deep and wide”. The ivy cloaked south facing façade and east front are both symmetrically five bay. A very complete (custard yellow) doorcase formed of pilasters rising to brackets supporting a sprocketed hood frame the (raspberry red) door and oblong overlight with its geometric glazing. Over the façade the roof is gable ended to the west and  hipped roof to the east. Single storey older parts of the house are hidden behind these two principal fronts. The dual aspect first floor principal bedrooms each take up two bays of the façade. Coved ceilings push into the roof slopes. Floor height windows add charm to all four upstairs bedrooms.

It’s a long five kilometres from Newry: almost everyone gets lost along the dark country lanes. A Friday night feast from Dong Fang Asian Fusion is eventually spread out on the long kitchen trestle table. The Aga will rest tonight. A Saturday morning walk under low hung grey skies parallel lined with cloud and mist is County Down tranquillity at its best. The lawns on either side of the avenue are speckled with snowdrops. Grey turns to blue as the sound of agricultural machinery gearing up is a reminder this is still a working farm. The burnt red ribbed metal barrel vaulted barn may be aesthetically pleasing but it’s also functional.

Sun streams in through the open door down the entrance hall passing from the glory of the day into the dim hinterland of the back hall on this late February weekend. The Victorian wallpapered drawing room, a polite space full of bygones, is turned into a cinema for the afternoon. And then in a flash it’s Saturday evening. Pre dinner cocktails are served in the drawing room while guests are serenaded by local harpist Sharon Carroll playing Sì Beag Sì Mòr and other sweet melodies. French 75s: squeezed lemon juice and gin mixed with a little sugar and shaken on ice. Pour into Champagne glasses and top up with Champagne. Sidecars: shake equal parts of Cognac Hennessy, Cointreau and lemon juice with a little sugar. Pour into cocktail glasses and place orange peel on top. A tip is to peel the lemons and oranges into the glasses so that zest and spray go over the drinks and glass rims. So that’s two of our five a day!

Chef Rob Curley of Slemish Market Supper Club arrives with the first of the evening’s dishes (service à la Russe not à la Française of course). He explains, “Wee Bites are our style of tapas. You have vol au vents filled with wild mushrooms, parsley and garlic with egg yolk jam inside them. And then you have lovage and cucumber gazpacho. You also have smoked salmon, crème fraîche with elderberry capers pickled pumpkin and fish pancakes flavoured with dolce seaweed.” Lovage is a green plant used in soups and also for medicinal purposes. Gazpacho is a tomato and red pepper based Spanish soup served cold. So more of our five a day!

The curtains and shutters in the blue painted dining room are pulled back: there are no neighbours. Rob’s dinner courses reflect Slemish Supper Club’s commitment that, “The land, sea, rivers and lakes are really important to our gastronomy. Every ingredient is chosen to honour and pay tribute to the important local resources of our cuisine.” The starter is beetroot tortilla, goat’s cheese, beetroot, liquorice, winter leaves. The main is king scallops, Rathlin Island sea lettuce, cucumber pearls, elderberry capers, potato noisette, buttermilk whey sauce. Pudding is spiced orange cake, milk ice cream, liquorice gel. Haute monde, haute couture, haute cuisine.

Just as Rob and his team wave goodbye to a thrilled dinner party, who pulls up but American chanteuse Kara Kalua with all the pyrotechnical melisma of a diva. The highly versatile drawing room is now a disco and soon everyone is singing for their supper like a scene from Saltburn, murdering Sophie Ellis Bexter’s hit Murder on the Dancefloor. It’s an eclectic late night for boon companions, older and wilder, ending in the relaxing spa carved out of the former stables with their merry assortment of lattice, casement and sash windows. “All reality is iconoclastic,” as Clive Staples Lewis used to say.