This information is intended to be useful for those who wish to embark on their own restoration project. Contact details of all architects have been included, along with a brief description and example of their work.
Margaret and Richard Davies
The Handel House Museum, at 25 Brook Street, Mayfair: In 2000-01, the interior decorations were restored to their early Georgian state, by Margaret and Richard Davies & Associates for the Handel House Trust. Before the Handel House Trust leased the property in 2000, it was agreed that the Grade 1-listed building should be returned to its 1720s incarnation: installing beautiful marble fireplaces, reinstating walls, period detail and furniture. The Handel House Museum first opened in November 2001. Although a reconstruction, Handel House is instructive, for it gives the visitor an understanding of what early Mayfair might have looked like.
Country Life, December 15, 2005, by Oliver Bradbury
Contact details:
Margaret and Richard Davies, Architect & Conservation Consultants, 20A Hartington Road, London W4 3UA. Telephone: 020 8994 2803 Fax: 020 8742 0194 email: all@mrda.co.uk
Digby Harris of Francis Johnson and Partners
Kirtling Tower, Cambridgeshire, built in the 16th-century. Grade I listed: a splendid new ensemble, restored by Digby Harris for Lord and Lady Fairhaven. The 16th-century gatehouse tower today forms the centrepiece of a magnificent new country house. The present house, with its Henry VIII centrepiece, Victorian drawing-room and seemingly Georgian library and dining-room wings, all in diapered red brick, looks like a building that has grown over the centuries, but in fact, it was completed only last year to the design of Digby Harris of Francis Johnson & Partners. The achievement of the architectural objective here owes much to Lady Fairhaven’s determination and energy, acting as her own building contractor. The final scheme, devised by Digby Harris added two balanced but not symmetrical wings, on either side of the Tower.
Country Life, December 1, 2005, by John Martin Robinson
Contact details:
Digby Harris, Francis Johnson & Partners, Craven House, 16 High Street, Bridlington, East York, YO16 4PT
Telephone: 01262 674043
Donald Insall Associates Ltd
Kelmscott Manor, West Oxfordshire (made famous as the summer home of William Morris): said to have been built by one Thomas Turner in the early 1600s, built to a simple U-shaped plan; the wing was added about 1665. William Morris’s daughter, May, bequeathed the house and its contents to Oxford University in 1938, as a place of retirement for scholars. The fabric of the house was in bad repair, and modern amenities completely lacking, hence it was never used. Under the terms of May Morris’s will, it then passed to the Society of Antiquaries of London, who thankfully decided to repair Kelmscott. The architects for this work were Donald Insall and his colleague Peter Locke, but more recently, Hal Moggridge has directed the highly successful recreation of the garden, informed by what is known of its layout in the 19th-century.
The house is regularly open during the summer months.
Country Life, November 24, 2005, by Nicholas Cooper
Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, has recently been restored by the conservation architects Donald Insall Associates. Major intervention was necessary to stabilize the building and give it a longer life. The recent completion of a major phase of this work also coincides with a new generation of owners, the Hon Henry and Mrs Lytton Cobbold.
Country Life, April 24, 2003, by Jeremy Musson
Chandos House, London W1: one of Robert Adam’s finest London town houses built between 1769 and 1771. Ten years ago it was in a derelict state, but it has recently been restored for the Howard de Walden estate and the Royal Society of Medicine. Its architects for the restoration projects were ESA Ltd, and Donald Insall Associates.
Country Life, October 28, 2004 by Eileen Harris
Contact details:
Donald Insall Associates Ltd, Chartered Architects, Historic Buildings & Planning Consultants. 19 West Eaton Place, Eaton Square, London, SW1X 8LT. Telephone: 020 72459888 Fax: 020 72354370 Email: architects@insall-lon.co.uk or visit www.insall-lon-co.uk
A. R. P. Lorimer & Associates
Tioram Castle, 13th century, stands in a sublime landscape on a small tidal isle in the West Highlands. The castle was bought in 1997 by Lex Brown; a businessman with local roots. Mr Brown’s proposals for Tioram included the reinstatement of public access, and he intended to restore the castle as a residence. His plans were drawn up by A. R. P. Lorimer & Associates, an architectural firm well respected for its conservation work.
Country Life, September 22, 2005, by Mary Miers
Contact details:
A. R. P. Lorimer & Associates, 11 Wellington Square, Ayr, KA7 1EN
Telephone: 01292 289777 Email: architects@arpl.co.uk or visit www.arpl.co.uk
David Brown and Partners
Dorich House, Richmond Park, London SW15, a property of Kingston University: recently renovated and sensitively restored, and a registered museum since last year. Dorich House was designed by the newly married couple Dora Gordine and Hon Richard Hare in 1936 and built it with the help of a surveyor Henry Ivor Cole. It is listed Grade II. After ten years of restoration of the house and its surviving collection of sculptures, drawings, paintings, prints and furniture, the building has reclaimed its position as one of Britain’s most commanding studio houses of the interwar years. The specialist team who worked on the restoration with Kingston University were architects David Brown and Partners.
Country Life, August 4, 2005, by Rosalind P. Blakesle
Contact details:
David Brown and Partners, Riverbank, Thames Street, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, TW16 5QP
Telephone: 01932 7888328 Fax: 01932 7888329 Email: info@davidbrownandpartners.co.uk
William Bertram
Parnham House, Dorset: The picturesque manor was bought in 2001 by Michael Treichl, and he soon after set about restoring the estate, refurbishing the house and gardens. Mr. Treichl appointed the architect William Bertram of Bath to replan the house for modern living. Mr. Bertram, who trained at the Architectural Association in London, has always worked in a traditional manner, sympathetic to the building, using high quality natural material and good craftsmen. “His planning of Parnham shows strengths as an architect” states John Martin Robinson featured in Country Life July 14, 2005.
Country Life, July 14, 2005 by John Martin Robinson
Contact details:
William Bertram & Fell, 5 Gay Street, Bath. Telephone: 01225 337273
Purcell Miller Tritton
Danson House, Bexleyheath, Kent: designed by Sir Robert Taylor in the 1760s. After 30 years of dereliction, Danson House has been saved due to the efforts of campaigners in the London Borough of Bexley. Architects Purcell Miller Tritton, aided by an expert English Heritage team, have now conserved the exterior and restored the grand interiors on the principal floor. It is now open to the public.
Country Life, March 24, 2005, by Chris Miele
Stowe House, Buckinghamshire. The recent restoration of the north portico presents a chance to reassess the largely overlooked work of Sir John Vanbrugh at Stowe. The restoration, carried out by Purcell Miller Tritton architects under Jane Kennedy, at a cost of £5.8 million, is only the first phase in a £40m project by the Stowe House Preservation Trust that is expected to last until 2014.
Country Life, March 27, 2003 by Giles Worsley
Contact details:
Purcell Miller Tritton, London Office, The Clove Building, Maguire Street, Butlers Wharf, SE1 2NQ. Telephone: 020 73977171 Fax: 020 73977172 Email: enquiries@pmt.co.uk. Other Offices include: Norwich, Liverpool, Colchester, Canterbury, Ely, Sheffield and York. Visit www.pmt.co.uk
ESA Ltd
Chandos House, London W1: one of Robert Adam’s finest London town houses built between 1769 and 1771. Ten years ago it was in a derelict state, but it has recently been restored for the Howard de Walden estate and the Royal Society of Medicine. Its architects for the restoration projects were ESA Ltd, and Donald Insall Associates.
Country Life, October 28, 2004 by Eileen Harris
Contact details:
ESA Ltd, London Office, 75 Wells Street
Telephone: 020 7580 5886 Fax: 020 7612 9200
John McAslan and Partners
78 Derngate, Northampton: Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s last great architectural design project in 1916-17. Now, thanks to a celebrated scheme by John McAslan & Partners, Mackintosh’s only significant English work has been restored and opened to the public. “What has been achieved at Derngate so far confirms McAslan’s skill at marrying careful restoration with bold new design”.
Country Life, September 23, 2004, by Mary Miers
Contact details:
John McAslan and Partners operates from studios in London, at 49 Princes Place, W11 4QA, telephone: 020 7727 2663
Fax: 020 7221 8835
Email: mailbox@mcaslan.co.uk
And Manchester, St John’s House, 2-10 Queen Street, M2 5JB,
telephone: 0161 833 2037
Peter Inskip & Peter Jenkins
Strawberry Hill, Twickenham: an 18th century Gothic villa of Horace Walpole, a folly which he had built in stages to his own specification, and described as his “little Gothic Castle”. Emboldened by the successful example of Stowe, the college and the Friends formed the Strawberry Hill Preservation Trust in 2002, a charitable body which will take over care of the historic fabric at Strawberry Hill. The trust plans an ambitious two-stage restoration project. They appointed as its architect Peter Inskip.
Country Life, August 12, 2004 by Tim Knox
Contact details:
Peter Inskip & Peter Jenkins Architects Ltd
1 Newbury Street EC1A 7HU London
Telephone: 020 7726 8977 Fax: 020 77963930
Ptolemy Dean
Wotton House, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire: built by Richard Grenville between 1704 – 1714 and is the home of Mr. & Mrs. David Gladstone. Three hundred years after it was built, and nearly 50 years after being saved from demolition, restoration of its important Soane interiors is nearly complete. The landscape has been progressively opened up and more of the garden buildings restored. The architect was Ptolemy Dean, an expert in Soane’s country houses.
Country Life, May 13, 2004, by Giles Worsley
Provender, Faversham, Kent: the home of Princess Olga Romanoff, who has recently embarked on the first stage of a phased programme of repairs, masterminded by Ptolemy Dean and Malcolm Simmonds of Richard Griffiths Architects.
Country Life, May 6, 2004, by Mary Miers
Contact details:
Ptolemy Dean Architects, 5 Dryden Street, Convent Garden, London, WC2E 9NB, Telephone: 020 7829 8380 Fax: 020 7829 8381 Email: admin@ptolemydean.co.uk
Richard Griffiths Architects, 5 Maidstone Mews, 72-76 Borough High Street, London SE1 1GN. Telephone: 020 7357 8788 Fax: 020 7403 7887 Email: admin@rgarchitects.com or visit www.ptolemydean.co.uk
Craig Hamilton
The Mynde, Herefordshire, home to Audley Twiston-Davies, dedicated to the restoration of his house. The project encompassed the restoration of the main block, (the walls re-stuccoed in a warmer tone,) a new wing, a cloister court with a colonnaded loggia and a restored 18th century front door. Architect Craig Hamilton, one of the leading young exponents of Classicism, was responsible for the restoration work.
Country Life, November 27, 2003 by John Martin Robinson
Contact details;
Craig Hamilton Architects, Coed Mawr Farm, Hundred House, Radnorshire LD1 5RP Telephone: 01982 570491
Nicholas Groves-Raines
Fenton Tower, East Lothian, the property of John Macaskill and Ian Simpson, who in 2000 set up Fenton Tower Ltd. With the help of the architect Nicholas Groves-Raines, they have embarked on a joint venture to restore it as a private-house hotel. They celebrated its completion last year.
Country Life, November 20, 2003 by Mary Miers
Arniston House, Midlothian, designed by William Adam in 1726 for Robert Dundas, is presently the seat of Mrs Dundas-Bekker. The house suffered badly from dry rot in the 1950s, but its recent restoration under Althea Dundas-Bekker “is a triumph” states Mary Miers. The architect involved in this major phase of restoration in the late 1990s was Nicholas Groves-Raines.
Country Life, June 19 2003, by Mary Miers
Contact details:
Nicholas Groves-Raines Architects Ltd, Liberton House, 73 Liberton Drive, Edinburgh EH16 6NP. Telephone: 0131 467 7777 Fax: 0131 467 7774 Email: mail@nicholas-groves-raines-architects.co.uk
Richard Elphick
Swinburne Castle, Northumberland: home of Major & Mrs. Richard Murphy, is a new house on an ancient site, completed in 2000 by the architect Richard Elphick. A new country house has been built on the site of the demolished Georgian main block, incorporating a 16th century wing, and 18th-century orangery, stables and laundry, all of which have been restored.
Country Life, February 27, 2003 by John Martin Robinson.
Contact details:
Richard Elphick can be contacted at Waring & Netts, Arcadia House, Balliol Business Park, Benton Lane, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE12 8EW. Telephone: 0191 2666900
Malcolm Simmonds of Richard Griffiths Architects
Provender, Faversham, Kent: the home of Princess Olga Romanoff, who has recently embarked on the first stage of a phased programme of repairs, masterminded by Ptolemy Dean and Malcolm Simmonds of Richard Griffiths Architects.
Country Life, May 6, 2004, by Mary Miers
Contact details:
Richard Griffiths Architects, 5 Maidstone Mews, 72-76 Borough High Street, London SE1 1GN. Telephone: 020 7357 8788 Fax: 020 7403 7887 Email: admin@rgarchitects.com
