English House Style from Archives of Country Life

Description

An inspirational look at the most iconic interior styles of magnificent English country houses: a thousand years of decorating as told through famous and many never-published photographs, all culled from the incomparable archive of Country Life magazine. This gorgeously illustrated tome is as indispensable as it is beautiful, a rich resource and a visual guide of quintessential British country house style for decorators, architects, designers, and the many armchair travelers who fantasize about revitalizing or re-creating their own castle on the hill. English House Style traces the evolution of sixteen quintessential interior styles found in British homes that have helped lay the foundations for what have become the touchstones for every decorator, designer, and architect working today. Each style, from Gothic and Tudor to Cottage, Arts and Crafts, and Palladian, is represented through lavish photography culled from the rich archive of Country Life, the hugely popular 120-year-old British magazine about life and living in the estates, castles, and cottages that are ubiquitous across the countryside. Also explored are the most influential tastemakers through the centuries, from Horace Walpole and William Morris to Nancy Lancaster and Colefax and Fowler. Decorators across the globe draw from these styles, which are embodied in the most important homes across England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, many of which are featured here, including the magnificent Castle Howard, Chatsworth House, Strawberry Hill, and Hatfield House, along with exquisite hidden gems, such as Wardington Manor, Marchmont House, and Lindisfarne Castle. Review: Buy this book - This is a sumptuously illustrated book of over 400 pages. Many of the interiors are of well known houses, but the majority are of less famous but equally rewarding places, and for that reason alone makes this book worth a place on anyone’s shelves. Although I have yet to read the full text, the slim essays which proceed each ‘chapter’ don’t appear to be anything more than succinct overviews of the various headings, but that’s no bad thing, this is primarily a picture book. The contents of those chapters (Romanesque, Gothic etc.) are slightly contentious as the headings are very loosely interpreted (after all it’s not called ‘English House Style’ for nothing): the main image for the first, Romanesque, section being an Arts and Crafts house for example, a style given its own section much later on. Annoyances include American spelling of words, ‘parlor’, ‘paneling’ and so on. A minor quibble but as the work is about English house style (enlarged to include Scotland, Wales and Ireland, which is even more incendiary) and written by an Englishman about an English magazine archive, it grates a touch. And yeah, I’m English. The short paragraphs that caption each image are sometimes rather infelicitous: using ‘riotous’ in successive sentences should have been easily avoided; referring to a ceiling as a roof. However, my rather prim concerns are rightly tumbled away by the hundreds of really excellent images, which is absolutely why you should buy this book! Review: Ordered online after checking it out in the book shop. Absolutely beautiful book - Liked everything