Designer Label

Posted on June 25, 2014 by mayfairblog

610Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty visits a home designed by one of the pre-eminent modern British architects. Set in a leafy location less than an hour from London by train, the sale of the house is being handled by MIR member, Putterills.

Si monumentum requiris, circumspice (if you seek his monument look around you) may be the epitaph of Sir Christopher Wren but it could equally be said of Sir Edwin Lutyens, another great British architect. Lutyens’ important monuments include many of the civic buildings in New Delhi, India and the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London – around which we pay homage every year to the fallen in world wars and conflicts.

But perhaps Lutyens’ greatest legacy is the domestic residential houses that he designed and were clearly influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement. Often these were created in collaboration with the great garden designer of the time, Gertrude Jekyll. These English homes, including The Salutation, Kent; Munstead Wood, Surrey; Castle Drogo, Devon and Deanery Garden, Berkshire are as architecturally iconic as Hill House, Glasgow by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and possibly Falling Water, Pennsylvania by Frank Lloyd Wright.

But Lutyens also designed more compact homes and it was one of these I had the great pleasure of visiting recently in Knebworth, Hertfordshire. Lutyens designed several houses in this locale – principally commissioned by his brother in law, the second Earl of Lytton. This particular one, built in 1908, is a treat. It has all the Arts & Crafts references. But it has that other mark of great architecture – somehow it hasn’t dated. Indeed, a later addition at the rear that now wraps around a swimming pool freshens the contemporary feel. I sat in the sunshine by this pool talking to the owner over coffee, and very agreeable it was too.

Here then is a house by one of Britain’s architectural greats. It reminds one of all that is good in superb design. But above all it does what it was designed to do, it houses its occupants in comfortable, secure and sound style and it is a pleasure to live in. Certainly I should be delighted to live there.

 

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The House Whisperer

Posted on June 23, 2014 by mayfairblog

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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty suspects that walls have mouths as well as ears after visiting a beautiful Arts & Crafts inspired house in exquisite, Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California – being handled by Village Properties.

Sometimes I think houses whisper to me. I wonder if they do to you. They seem to let me know if they are happy or sad. The happy ones make me want to stay. The sad ones make me want to leave – quickly.

The Ogilvy House, 680 Ashley Road, Montecito made me want to stay – forever. It told me of families well brought up, of nurture, laughter – and for over a hundred years the American dream coming true for several families over many generations.

It is all set down in a neat nine-page album of pictures and social history that the agents, Bridget Murphy and Paul Suding have helpfully prepared. It charts the life of the house from when a Scottish immigrant, Arthur Ogilvy, had it built in the early 1900s. He had married a local girl and engaged a local architect to design a four-square house in the style of early El Montecito on the outside but influenced by the in-vogue Arts & Crafts movement inside.

It was a very successful mixture and remains unchanged today apart from sensible, sympathetic and attractive modernisation and upgrades.

A covered front wraparound porch introduces the main house with its clear Douglas fir floors and high-beamed ceilings. Highlights include an eat-in kitchen with restored Magic Chef range, light and airy master bedroom suite with fireplace, private balcony with outdoor shower and delightful library with a private balcony.

The house stands in over 2 acres of landscaped garden with mature specimen trees, family orchard, 50-foot long swimming pool, bocce court and four detached ancillary structures – an office/guest suite, art studio, yoga studio and a 1-bedroom/2-bathroom guest house with outdoor deck and dining area.

I enjoyed listening to this house – as I do many others. I just have to try to avoid whispering back to them.

 

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Welcome To Paradise

Posted on June 16, 2014 by mayfairblog

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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty took a trip to Paradise when he visited a heavenly property overlooking the ocean near Santa Barbara, California which is being handled by Village Properties.

A great time to be in Southern California is May and early June when the jacaranda trees burst into an intense violet and the bougainvillea a dazzling cerise. Along with many other colourful varieties these trees and shrubs line the roadways and festoon lush gardens.

A good example is Rancho El Rincon which is sandwiched between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean at Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara, California. But what a sandwich it is. The Santa Ynez Mountains act as a dramatic backdrop while the ocean provides a brilliant blue apron with sensational sunsets.

The present owners are gardeners and serious flower growers. It shows: from the beautiful formal rose gardens to the informal riot of tropical large-leafed plants that raggedly edge the path to the pool and surround the outside kitchen and dining area – de rigeur in this part of the world. Beside the pool is a charming piece of Hollywood. The original owner/builder – film producer, screenwriter and film editor, E Lloyd Sheldon – chose Carpinteria for a home in the 1930s, as he wanted a quiet retreat from LA. But he couldn’t quite leave all the tinsel behind. He salvaged a Tiki house that had been built for a movie set and transported it to this poolside. Thus bringing a little piece of the South Pacific to the East Pacific.

But all this is only an overture to the main house, which is perfectly orientated to enjoy all the area’s natural bounties, and beautifully planned to provide an elegant, relaxed Californian lifestyle. Bedrooms with wide and shady balconies, airy living rooms with large picture windows, a spacious, well-equipped chef’s kitchen, two charming garden-side guest bedrooms and much more all combine to create a sumptuous house within a privacy-giving 7 acre garden.

In the Tiki house is a timeworn hanging sign that says ‘Welcome To Paradise’. But you don’t really need a sign to remind you that you’re already there.

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Spirit of Ecstasy

Posted on June 11, 2014 by mayfairblog

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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty visits an exquisite home at Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara, California being sold through Village Properties and is given a lesson in architecture from an expert.  

Like many people visiting St Peter’s Basilica in Rome I marvelled at the architectural detail. But what I found so amazing was not only the detail one can see but that which one can’t readily see – the detail in the hidden nooks and crannies. The fact is that the same amount of exquisite craftsmanship is in the unseen as the seen.

I was reminded of this on my visit to the beautiful Via Huerto, that faces the ocean at Santa Barbara, California. This too is a labour of love. Indeed the delightful owner would have to be or to become a committed disciple of the 16th century Venetian architect/builder, Palladio, in order to fulfil this particular dream of a small villa.

If you value your privacy and choose to accommodate your intimate friends and family in light numbers; if you don’t subscribe to the modern vogue of contemporary minimalism but prefer to live in high classical elegance: if you demand perfection in every detail of your home: if you want to sweep down a magnificent stair to your lawn fringed pool: if you want the sparkling ocean to provide the backdrop to your life and the sun’s arc to describe the pattern of your day then Via Huerto is for you. In fact it is hard to think of anywhere better.

A couple of hours’ drive up the coast from Via Huerto is Hearst Castle, the magnificent 115 room hilltop home created by William Randolph Hearst at San Simeon. Hearst’s architect, Julia Morgan, worked on that project for 28 years. She was uncompromising over every aspect of its construction and finish. Morgan died in 1957 but I swear her spirit lives on at a Via Huerto.

Of course this villa is tiny by comparison to the Castle and the Basilica but while the scale is different the ambition for perfection and commitment to detail – seen and unseen – is the same. This is so much more than taking a theme or style and just copying it. Here Palladio’s treatise has underpinned the creation of a very modern house of classic style and proportion surrounded by a garden of sublime taste, understanding and execution. Good style never dates. But in the right hands it may evolve. This house was in very good hands.

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Keeping Your Distance

Posted on April 16, 2014 by mayfairblog
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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty discovers a house in Rhode Island where it’s easy to get away from it all – but just as easy to stay in touch. Leading broker, Lila Delman Real Estate, showed him the way.

Whilst some of the most notable homes in America were being built along Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island in the late nineteenth century by some of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the world, just a couple of miles away on Conanicut Island another influential group from Philadelphia were setting up an altogether more understated community.

This group was not following the social lead of Gilded Age New York families with names such as Vanderbilt, Astor and Widener. These Philadelphia families, who sought a quieter life, included the Whartons who made their fortune through manufacturing steel. But perhaps the most celebrated family member to bear that name was Edith Wharton the Pulitzer Prize winning author of novels such as The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. The latter described the Newport social scene at that time.

It was one of Edith Wharton’s sisters-in-law who commissioned Meeresblick, a summer cottage that fronts Mackerel Cove on Narragansett Bay and is only a couple of miles away from Jamestown, named after James II and incorporated as a town in 1678.

While the desire was to get away from the crowd in Newport they did not try to get away from the architecture. The family commissioned Philadelphia architects Pritchett & Pritchett to design the house which is so indicative of the Victorian era. Outside are stone and shingle elevations with shaded verandas under gabled slate roofs. The interior, designed to be cool in hot summers, features finely crafted woodwork and some excellent stained glass windows.

Here then is a delightful waterside home ideal for a family wanting to enjoy the Newport scene from a distance. Keeping distance is a theme at Meeresblick. The original owners could clearly see their parents’ house just over the bay. It is still there and it’s close – but not too close!

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Lasting Impressions

Posted on April 15, 2014 by mayfairblog
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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty visits marine residence in Jamestown, Rhode Island that he will not forget in a hurry. It’s being marketed through Lila Delman Real Estate.

You can’t judge a book by its cover. And you shouldn’t really judge a house by its exterior. Northpoint, 1088 East Shore Rd, Jamestown, Rhode Island is a great case in point. It is a perfectly attractive looking house from the outside. It sits rather unassumingly but comfortably within the vernacular of this part of the world where most houses have great charm. Yet few seem to scream for extra special attention. Jamestown is that sort of place. It is all about under-stated and under-large, handsome but restrained shingle or weatherboard clad houses. It’s a look that can’t have changed much since the town was incorporated in 1678 when King James II bestrode the English, Irish and Scottish thrones – not an easy thing to do and ultimately impossible for James as history attests.

But this house is undoubtedly different from most. Behind the shingle exterior is an interior designed to enfold occupants in a glorious sense of serenity. Also most houses, however good, don’t make you feel as though you have just walked into the pages of House & Garden. This one does. I think the owner has a great deal to do with it. It is the personal touches that make the most of the layout, detail and colour palette. This is a sophisticated and refined but ultimately relaxed space. I didn’t meet the owner but this house made me feel that I should very much like to do so.

Of course the location helps. Northpoint backs North East, overlooking the East Passage of beautiful Narraganset Bay over to Prudence Island. Sitting in almost 1.6 acres and with 215 ft of private shore there is a deep-water dock with boatlift, spring mooring and two additional moorings which transform this house into an active marine residence of the highest order. For those who prefer their water of the fresh variety there is a heated swimming pool with waterfall spa.

Good houses make a great first impression. But great houses make a lasting impression. I see a great many fine homes in my line of work. Most are notable and memorable to one degree or another. But the day after I went to Northpoint I had a surprisingly rare thought: how very much I would like to visit this house again.

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Love Me Tender

Posted on April 11, 2014 by mayfairblog

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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty takes a loving look at a wonderful mid-century modernist house in Palm Springs, California with a real claim to fame. It is being handled by the Altman Brothers through Hilton & Hyland.

One could be forgiven for supposing that there was a certain amount of tender loving going on at 1350 Ladera Circle, Palm Springs, California on May 1st, 1967. This was the date Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu. They honeymooned at this Palm Springs house. Nine months later to the day Presley’s only child, Lisa Marie, was born on February 1st, 1968.

Elvis may have left this particular building over 47 years ago but the Palm Springs house remains little changed and the current owners have certainly made decorative references to the ‘King’ in restoring the house to its wonderful 1960s style. This is a house in the modernist tradition of Palm Springs. Designed in four circles and on three levels the historic mid-century residence sits at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains. It is minutes from downtown Palm Springs and its international airport.

Several films have featured the property including Elvis & Me and Elvis by the Presleys. But it is not just the Elvis connection that gives this house its celebrity connection. Look magazine featured it in 1962 under the title, The House of Tomorrow.

The house features four bedrooms and five baths. Peanut brittle stonework walls transition beautifully between the interior and exterior. The honeymoon suite provides sensational views of the nearby mountains. Outside the secluded grounds include a pool, stage, private garden, tennis court, and fruit orchard.

This year, between 23rd and 27th July, Priscilla Presley will be joining fans for the first time at the huge Collingwood Elvis Festival in Ontario, Canada. There will be lots of Elvis lookalikes there. But if you don’t fancy dressing up to look like Elvis perhaps you could move to Palm Springs and honeymoon like him instead!

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Downsizing Greenwich Style

Posted on April 10, 2014 by mayfairblog
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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty finds that downsizing can be fun at a very smart waterside penthouse in Greenwich, Connecticut – being sold by Houlihan Lawrence.

The kids have left home for college; the house is very large for two; you don’t entertain as often or for as many as you did; you are beginning to wish you had an elevator and you can’t park your car because the pool man’s truck, the gardeners’ truck, the maintenance guy’s truck, the decorator’s van, the caterer’s van and the housekeeper’s car are all blocking the drive. It is beginning not to be much fun any longer. It’s time to downsize.

As it happens, if you live in Greenwich, Connecticut, I may just have discovered the perfect answer. It’s Delamar Court Penthouse at 559 Steamboat Road. Here someone has done all the thinking for you and anticipated your every need. Down by the water, just over the road from the Delamar Hotel and across from Belle Haven, is a rare thing. It is a very sophisticated and large penthouse apartment with rooftop terrace, media floor and individual, private and impressive entrance.

The developer has gone to amazing lengths to put the fun back in owning a large Greenwich property – but with none of the looming downsides. Out is the large garden: in is the roof deck. Out are all the rooms you don’t need any longer: in is a magnificent, spacious and beautifully laid out floor with rooms you will use and a specification you will enjoy. Out is the need for the car every time you want to move: in is a gentle stroll to Greenwich Avenue for the shops and restaurants, and to the railway station to Grand Central in Manhattan in 40 mins.

No need for domestic staff any longer either. The developer has thought of that too. Instead of your own staff – or having to do it yourself – there is a concierge package with the Delamar Hotel that will take care of housekeeping and catering services. There is also a great spa at the hotel and preferred dockage for your boat.

So that seems to be it. Life ‘sorted’, as they would say in certain parts of the UK. Oh, and if you’re worried that you won’t have room for your friends any longer the private rooftop Jacuzzi sits ten!

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Bullseye

Posted on April 9, 2014 by mayfairblog
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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty enjoys a very special New York house that borrows  some distinctive English architectural details, shakes them up a bit – and it all comes out more than all right in the end. Houlihan Lawrence are the brokers.

Every house everywhere has a best time of day. You will see how if you go and visit Arrowhead, Larchmont, New York in the afternoon when the sun is slightly lower in the sky and its light reflects off the 60-acre Sheldrake Lake that provides such a lovely backdrop to this house. It is the afternoon when natural light fills the rear facing rooms and especially the charming sitting room with its arched picture window and lovely aspect – perfect for reading.

But it is not the rear of the house that solely attracts. The extraordinary front elevation does also. This is a fairytale English manor of a house. Under a randomly tiled, steeply pitched roof with feature tall chimneys which are perhaps more fairyland than England is a splendid Tudor style facade with stone mullion windows, polychromatic brickwork in a diamond geometric pattern and a heavy oak door with stately stone cartouche over.

The interior follows the Tudor design theme and detail. Stone fireplaces; leaded and stained glass windows; tracery ceilings; oak panelling, doors and strip flooring all add to this exceptional inner space.

Built in 1921 the house sits in 4.62 beautifully landscaped acres. A gatehouse which matches the main house in style guards the entrance to the property and there is a five-bay garage with an apartment above, flagstone terraces, swimming pool and extensive formal gardens and park.

All these delights are just over 30 minutes from Grand Central station via Larchmont station just a few minutes away. This house works. Arrowhead hits the bullseye. I think you will like it – whatever time of the day or night you see it, but especially in the afternoon.

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Time Machine

Posted on April 8, 2014 by mayfairblog
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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty spends an unforgettable few hours in one of the Hudson Valley’s finest homes -now on the market with Houlihan Lawrence.

Le Corbusier, the éminence grise of modern architecture, said that a house is a machine for living. Well there are machines and machines. Rabbit Hill, Scarborough, New York is a Rolls Royce of a house.

Although built for another age this house manages to purr along with all the grandeur of a stately Rolls but is somehow arranged in a way that fits today’s family lifestyle. Like any grand marque it is timeless. It was built for New York banker, William S Lambie, in the late 1920s by Mott B. Schmitt – architect to the wealthy.

Schmitt was a favourite in the immediate post-Gilded Age for families with names such as Vanderbilt, Astor and Morgan. But the architect also managed to design smaller homes – some based on English country houses. These were for the merely very comfortably off rather than for billionaires with more money than the US Treasury.

The Rabbit Hill location matches the house. Approached along a gently upward sloping drive that winds easily through a delightful wood with rocky outcrops, the house stands behind an elegant carriage forecourt with central fountain. But this is just the beginning. The dramatic backdrop is the majestic Hudson River and its steeply wooded sides.

Over a hundred years ago the super-rich of New York built themselves grand houses overlooking the Hudson. They would use the river to travel to and from these magnificent homes. Rabbit Hill followed this trend but today residents will probably use a car to get to the city, less than an hour away, or use the excellent local rail service from the nearby station into Grand Central, NYC.

So here is a very fine New York house that eyes the mighty Hudson River sliding endlessly by. It may reflect the past but perfectly fits today. It is imposing without ostentation and it is solid, but with a lightness of touch. It politely whispers high status. But then it does that thing that any good house does – it provides the space for a family to grow in size, stature and character. Yes, Rabbit Hill is a machine for living – but what a machine!

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