Today's post on Habitually Chic has a photo of the room above but in a more recent incarnation. This photo from Living in Vogue, 1984, is of the saloon as decorated by the then tenant Charles Beresford-Clark. Seeing the modern version sent me to my pile of yet unwritten about favorite rooms and here this was, right there in the pile.
Yellow was a theme color of the 80s and I am pleased to see how after 24 years this room holds up in style and decor. Beresford-Clark's intent apparently was to let the architecture speak for itself so he used the warmest of yellows to set off the fine ceiling and chimney piece, Suffolk rush matting on the floor, and unbleached calico (muslin) for the very grand 18th century style festoons and curtains. The central pouf, though that is too small a word for such a large object, is in fact a divan (boxspring) covered in ticking. The chintz, Colefax and Fowler's Old Rose with Fancy, I think, adds a note a note of soft country-side pattern in what is really a superb example of what John Fowler himself called " humble elegance."
Elegant, indeed.
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I said before (loved you choice of B/W old Country Life pIx) and I will say it again- loving your eye for remembering great rooms! I too have always loved this room and saved this picture somewhere- THANK YOU for digging it up!! Now I don't have to go dig for it- I can just drag it off your brilliant blog. Shouldn't we also have the David Hicks version in a book somewhere.....?
ReplyDeleteRed or dark brown Albany? Or country house?
ReplyDeleteIm not sure I know what you mean by "Red or dark brown Albany?Or country house?" ....I think this little pavilion was originally restored by David Hicks. Im wondering if pictures of his version are in one of his books- it's not in the book his son wrote, maybe it's in the his own book "David Hicks on decoration -5" ?
ReplyDeleteI looked in that book - I have two by Hicks "... on decoration" and "... with fabrics" and neither mention it as far as I can see. However, I'll look again because what you say rings a bell.
ReplyDeleteI misunderstood what you meant - I referred to the two versions, red and brown, of his Albany set and to his red dining room at his first house.
a big thank you for this before photo. I was staring at the HC post today and wanted to see more of the overmantel and now I can. This perhaps is the sort of wonderful dialogue that the blogosphere has opened up - at any rate, much more interesting than musings on shower curtains!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about it before, but yellow really was an 80s color - Mario B and his buttah yellow sitting room, et al. I very much like the pink used now. Those curtains however are to die for now matter what decade, don't you think?
I find the pink peely-wally, as my other half would say, but still love the yellow. Overall, the 80s scheme is much better to my eyes, curtains both form and fabric, furniture placement and color - said he in his forthright and blunt manner!
ReplyDeleteIf one is searching for the most Iconic rooms in the history of interior design, it is necessary only to look at the 'Fashions in Living' section of American Vogue throughout the 1960s and early 70s - Jean H. Vanderbilt's vast and luxurious NY apartment, for instance, in the June 1974 issue...or Jay Steffy's ode to modernism in the August 1, 1969 issue...or the art-upholstered walls - Warhol, Rothko, Rosenquist - of the Manhattan apartment of collectors Robert and Ethel Scull in the July 1964 issue..or - I just cannot stop, the magazines are such a treasure trove - the August 1, 1966 issue featuring the orchidaceous Lady and Lord Eliot at their Cornish pile, Port Eliot..all of these issues I found at paperpursuits.com and, because they are such a wonderful archive, I store them as meticulously as if they were ingots of gold...Jane Hess, Toronto
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