Stephen Calloway in House and Garden

     Just sorting through some old papers and I found these pages torn from an edition of 'House and Garden' from sometime in the early/mid 80s - when Robert Harling was editor. The interior featured is the then London flat of Stephen Calloway.
     Calloway is a wonderfully eccentric character - art historian, author, broadcaster, aesthete & dandy.  Between 1974 and 2013 he was a curator at the V&A; for part of that time he was assistant to the great Sir Roy Strong then Director of the museum.  Although I admire the bold use of colour, I think the most successful space, over all, is the bedroom. (I also like the kitchen, but the image is too small to get a proper feel for the space.)  I particularly like the faux paneling.  More of that please.  The fabric used on the bed hangings is by Timney Fowler rather than Fornasetti.

House & Garden Guide to Interior Decoration

     Another lucky charity shop find here.  'The House & Garden Guide to Interior Decoration' dates from 1967 (my copy is a 2nd edition from 1969) when the multi-talented Robert Harling was editor. (I really must do a post about him.)  Anyway the book is a wonderful period gem, marvellous in every way, full of strong, confident designs and colours such a contrast to today's bland, safe interiors. Clever and witty too. Below is a small selection - favourites, yes - of a vast array images this fascinating book contains.

House & Garden 1968 III Miss Pauline Vogelpoel at home

     Back to my occasional series taken from House & Garden, March 1968.  In this case the article, by Jesse Roberts, about the flat of Pauline Voegelpoel, then Organising Secretary to the Contemporary Art Society.  She raised in South Africa, was awarded an MBE in 1962, and occasionally pops up in Sir Roy Strong's published diaries - 'everything about Pauline Vogelpoel exudes style'.  Here are a couple of obituaries of this remarkable woman: The Independent and The Guardian
     Anyway the flat is wonderfully chic, I only wish there were more colour images judging by what that one glorious image.  What a wonderful room, and what a wonderful colour.  Just splendid.  The scene, I'd like think, of some literary/artistic salon.

House and Garden 1968 II David and Pamela Hicks

    Another article for you from the March edition of House and Garden 1968.  Four shillings well spent, I'd say.  This article is about the holiday home of David and Pamela Hicks in the south of France.  It is an incredibly sophisticated work by one of Britain's leading post-War interior designers.  The dining room is amazing, the balance of colour and texture, old and new is exquisite.  Everything so well chosen, I would however mention...no, it's not possible to highlight one or two objects.  Not without naming everything.  It's all good.  I suspect, however, the thought of eating with the Hicks would have terrified most people.  It would me, or rather terrified and excited me in equal amounts.  They seem impossibly grand.  But, although tempted to, I wouldn't have refused.  The added treat with this article is that it is written by Mary Gilliatt.  Enjoy.

Mary Gilliatt: 'A House in the Country' I

    Regular readers of this blog will have noticed the sudden spate of posts about interior design.  It is certainly the thing that's inspiring me most at present.  It all started as a teenager and has been a recurring interest since.  I have never practiced as an interior designer although it was an early ambition.  I got seduced by architecture and went into that without the sort of success I would have wanted and so I became a carer.  I simply don't have the temperament to be a designer.  Sometimes this is a cause for regret, but then I remember the amount of stress I used to get, the deep unhappiness that was my passage through the education system and I'm pleased I didn't take things further.  And now, after the caring has (not quite) finished, and only two years off fifty I think it's too late to pick things up again - and in any case I don't have enough confidence.  That I do regret.
Anyway.....Mary Gilliatt.

    Mary Gilliatt is a writer on interior design.  In the 1960s she wrote for 'House and Garden' under the editorship of Robert Harling.  In 1968 she wrote her first book 'English Style', and it was Ben Pentreath's post on that book that sparked my interest. (What would we do without Mr Pentreath?)  'A House in the Country' followed three books later in 1973. The photographer was Brian Morris.  Although not so lavishly produced as 'English Style' - not so much colour photography or 'empty page' - it does acquit itself well.  The photography is good, sometimes quite evocative.  The layout too; the title pages are very good.

   Mary Gilliatt's own house in the country in west Suffolk - a bold, eclectic mix of tradition, Victoriana and Italian Modernism.  Note the same fabric recurring as table cloth, napkin and scatter cushion. An early design from the Designers Guild.

   The home of artist William Scott.

   This, I think, is the country home of Richard Guyatt, the designer (the text only refers to Prof Guyatt).  'Casa Pupo' rug in the entrance hall.  Not sure about that fitted carpet!  The dining room is really attractive - seagrass matting, brick floors.

   The weekend cottage of Terence and Caroline Conran.

   The country home of a retired general and is artist wife.  I find the austerity of both the dining room and sitting room very satisfying.  Shame that these are only black and white images though. (07.07.2020 There is a tiny colour picture of the kitchen in Terance Conran's 'The House Book')

A House in the Country

      The Second Home from Cottages to Castles

Text:  Mary Gilliatt

Photography: Bryan Morris

Hutchinson & Co Ltd

London

1973

ISBN 0 09 111610 4

House and Garden 1968 I The Conrans at home

     

     Sheer coincidence.  After a couple of posts on Habitat catalogues from the mid-to-late seventies there arrived in yesterday's post the March 1968 edition of 'House and Gardens' (edited by the multi-talented Robert Harling).  Unbeknownst to me when I bought it on ebay - from a lovely seller, who very kindly sent a short, hand-written letter with the magazine: turns out they were a bit of a Conran fan too - the March edition contains a smallish feature on the London town house of the Conrans - Caroline and Terence.  (It had to be an NW postcode didn't it?)  I simply bought the magazine because it (also) features the home of Osbert Lancaster, a bit of a hero of mine.  A real bonus then.  I hope to post some more pictures in the coming weeks, the magazine is such a delight.

No hint of the Conrans on the cover - it shows the Cotswold cottage of Hugh Francis.  No idea of who he is but he does have a lot of taste.