View allAll Photos Tagged TileWork
My favorite doorway. Ever. I'd really like to see the inside of this otherwise unassuming brick apartment building in downtown Houston. Not sure how much longer it'll be there. Houston doesn't value its old buildings much.
Brickhouse Tileworks specializes in the design and creation of one-of-a-kind, site-specific works of art. Every tile at Brickhouse is meticulously hand crafted for our customers. Whether you are looking for three-dimensional sculpted-relief, hand painted, mosaic or handmade field tiles, our artists will work with you to meet your specific needs. Add exquisite beauty and personalized style to your home, indoors or out, with Brickhouse tiles.
Brickhouse will create a one of a kind custom look for your kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, pool or anywhere you’d like to personalize your home; and we can also produce breathtaking full mural designs. Work with Brickhouse artists to create custom-designed tiles or select from the original Brickhouse Tile Line. At Brickhouse Tileworks we are dedicated to the design and development of high-quality tiles that are distinctive, one-of-a-kind works of art.
Brickhouse Tileworks specializes in the design and creation of one-of-a-kind, site-specific works of art. Every tile at Brickhouse is meticulously hand crafted for our customers. Whether you are looking for three-dimensional sculpted-relief, hand painted, mosaic or handmade field tiles, our artists will work with you to meet your specific needs. Add exquisite beauty and personalized style to your home, indoors or out, with Brickhouse tiles.
Brickhouse will create a one of a kind custom look for your kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, pool or anywhere you’d like to personalize your home; and we can also produce breathtaking full mural designs. Work with Brickhouse artists to create custom-designed tiles or select from the original Brickhouse Tile Line. At Brickhouse Tileworks we are dedicated to the design and development of high-quality tiles that are distinctive, one-of-a-kind works of art.
This man has been working on this portion of the new courtyard at Bradley University for the last three or four weeks. Today he's putting on the finishing touches of the project. I can't wait to see how it looks when it's completely done.
This is the entrance to a building in downtown Racine. The Red Cross Drug Store went out of business in the 1980's, but the logo is set in tile in the entryway.
For the All New Scavenger Hunt #21 - A plus sign (be creative).
Hildo Krop, tilework, 1924; made in Eerste Steenwijker Kunst-Aardewerk Fabriek (ESKAF).
One of the two sculptures on either side can be seen in detail on this picture
A few more pictures of this school building and some information about it are found in this set.
Brickhouse Tileworks specializes in the design and creation of one-of-a-kind, site-specific works of art. Every tile at Brickhouse is meticulously hand crafted for our customers. Whether you are looking for three-dimensional sculpted-relief, hand painted, mosaic or handmade field tiles, our artists will work with you to meet your specific needs. Add exquisite beauty and personalized style to your home, indoors or out, with Brickhouse tiles.
Brickhouse will create a one of a kind custom look for your kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, pool or anywhere you’d like to personalize your home; and we can also produce breathtaking full mural designs. Work with Brickhouse artists to create custom-designed tiles or select from the original Brickhouse Tile Line. At Brickhouse Tileworks we are dedicated to the design and development of high-quality tiles that are distinctive, one-of-a-kind works of art.
Brickhouse Tileworks specializes in the design and creation of one-of-a-kind, site-specific works of art. Every tile at Brickhouse is meticulously hand crafted for our customers. Whether you are looking for three-dimensional sculpted-relief, hand painted, mosaic or handmade field tiles, our artists will work with you to meet your specific needs. Add exquisite beauty and personalized style to your home, indoors or out, with Brickhouse tiles.
Brickhouse will create a one of a kind custom look for your kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, pool or anywhere you’d like to personalize your home; and we can also produce breathtaking full mural designs. Work with Brickhouse artists to create custom-designed tiles or select from the original Brickhouse Tile Line. At Brickhouse Tileworks we are dedicated to the design and development of high-quality tiles that are distinctive, one-of-a-kind works of art.
Brickhouse Tileworks specializes in the design and creation of one-of-a-kind, site-specific works of art. Every tile at Brickhouse is meticulously hand crafted for our customers. Whether you are looking for three-dimensional sculpted-relief, hand painted, mosaic or handmade field tiles, our artists will work with you to meet your specific needs. Add exquisite beauty and personalized style to your home, indoors or out, with Brickhouse tiles.
Brickhouse will create a one of a kind custom look for your kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, pool or anywhere you’d like to personalize your home; and we can also produce breathtaking full mural designs. Work with Brickhouse artists to create custom-designed tiles or select from the original Brickhouse Tile Line. At Brickhouse Tileworks we are dedicated to the design and development of high-quality tiles that are distinctive, one-of-a-kind works of art.
Stone Creations of Long Island Pavers and Masonry specializes in masonry design and outdoor living, serving communities all across Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn in all aspects of home improvement and repair. From custom brickwork and pavers to asphalt and concrete, Stone Creations of Long Island provides free estimates at your home or business seven days a week. With experienced employees, and a knowledgeable staff, Stone Creations of Long Island knows your home is your greatest investment and choosing the right masonry team to protect and enhance that investment is important. For any inquiries, we look forward to your questions and helping on your next home improvement or commercial project of any scale.
Paul Saladino
Office (631) 678-6896
Mobile (631) 404-5410
Visit Our Website www.stonecreationsoflongisland.net
See our work on You Tube www.youtube.com/user/stonecreationsLI/videos
Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/stone_creations
Check us out on Pinterest www.pinterest.com/stonecreations
See Our Work On Houzz www.houzz.com/pro/stonecreationsoflongisland
Follow our Updates on www.stonecreationslongisland.tumblr.com
Follow us on Google Plus @ www.google.com/+StonecreationsoflongislandNetLI
Follow us on Wordpress www.stonecreationsoflongislandinc.wordpress.com
Like us on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/stonecreationsoflongisland
Stone Creations of Long Island Pavers and Masonry specializes in masonry design and outdoor living, serving communities all across Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn in all aspects of home improvement and repair. From custom brickwork and pavers to asphalt and concrete, Stone Creations of Long Island provides free estimates at your home or business seven days a week. With experienced employees, and a knowledgeable staff, Stone Creations of Long Island knows your home is your greatest investment and choosing the right masonry team to protect and enhance that investment is important. For any inquiries, we look forward to your questions and helping on your next home improvement or commercial project of any scale.
Paul Saladino
Office (631) 678-6896
Mobile (631) 404-5410
Visit Our Website www.stonecreationsoflongisland.net
See our work on You Tube www.youtube.com/user/stonecreationsLI/videos
Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/stone_creations
Check us out on Pinterest www.pinterest.com/stonecreations
See Our Work On Houzz www.houzz.com/pro/stonecreationsoflongisland
Follow our Updates on www.stonecreationslongisland.tumblr.com
Follow us on Google Plus @ www.google.com/+StonecreationsoflongislandNetLI
Follow us on Wordpress www.stonecreationsoflongislandinc.wordpress.com
Like us on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/stonecreationsoflongisland
Compared with the Shah Mosque, the design of the Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque is quite simple, there is no courtyard and there are no interior iwans. The building itself consists of a flattened dome resting on a square dome chamber.[12] Though, in contranst to the simple structure of this mosque, the decoration of both interior and exterior is exceedingly complex,[13] and in its construction the finest materials were used and the most talented craftsmen employed
At the beginning of the 20th century the roof tiles industry of the Kortrijk area (near the French border) was considered to be the most modern, most mechanized and most productive in Europe. All the historic brick and tileworks of this area have been demolished in the 1980s and 1990s, except the Tuileries du Littoral.
A long weekend in Istanbul, with Janette.
www.sparklytrainers.com/blog/archives/2003/03/08/istanbul...
www.sparklytrainers.com/blog/archives/2003/03/09/istanbul...
www.sparklytrainers.com/blog/archives/2003/03/10/istanbul...
www.sparklytrainers.com/blog/archives/2003/03/11/istanbul...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul
124-2411_IMG
In many ways this chimney piece is typical of the tile work produced in the small town of Iznik in north-west Turkey from about 1550 to 1700. The pottery industry there eventually went into decline, however, and when the Ottoman court renewed its interest in tile production in the reign of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–1730), it had to reinvent the industry, which was relocated to Istanbul. Ottoman grandees were again able to decorate their palaces with tile work ensembles such as this chimney piece, dated 1731 and reportedly rescued from the palace of a high official called Fuad Pasha.
The shape is relatively complex, and many of the tiles had to be moulded to fit. The body fabric is an artificial paste called fritware, composed mostly of ground quartz rather than clay. Fritware was preferred because of its whiteness, which provided the background for decoration painted under the glaze in blue, turquoise, green and red. The designs belong mostly to the repertory of ornament developed by the Ottoman court around 1500–1600: scrollwork set with large composite blossoms; arabesque scrolls; and pairs of wavy lines around a group of three large spots – the ‘tiger-stripe and leopard-spot’ motif – here combined with Chinese-style cloud bands. However, the large-scale pattern of leafy scrollwork in blue on white on either side of the hood and running down the sides is in a Europeanising style that was introduced into Ottoman art around 1700–1730.
Seven tiles with inscriptions in the Arabic script form a frieze around the hood. They give the names of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus – a group of Christians who were miraculously rescued from religious persecution under the Roman emperor Decius by falling asleep in a cave and waking several centuries later. Their story is mentioned in the Qur’an, and their names were often displayed in Turkish houses because they were thought to ward off misfortune.
"Architextures" is a series of composite images. Each image is a mashup of multiple photographs. At least one of the sources is of an architectural subject, anything from closeup walls or windows to broad cityscapes. The added images provide texture or pattern. In some, the architectural forms are preserved and obvious. In others, the pictures become pure abstractions. Yet in all of them, the inherent geometry, angles, lines, and repetitions of the architecture are essential to the geometry and esthetics of the final image. Most of the source images used for this series are already posted in this photostream. The links to the original and source images are listed below.
Inspiration for the name “Deco Tileworks” is in the geometry of the images. Decorative motifs suggestive of 1920’s and 1930’s art meld with rectilinear blocks suggestive of tilework in the public spaces and architecture of that era, such as railway and subway stations, movie theaters, and high rise office buildings. The Deco Tileworks sets all share a common foundation image. That base picture derives from views of the Atlanta, Georgia skyline and its tall buildings (source images and explanatory notes are elsewhere in this photostream). Specifically, there were two original source images, Facets #1a and #2a. These were combined to create Facets #2e, which by itself was reworked into the common core for the Deco Tileworks. Image 11a, the first in this set, is the common foundation image for the rest of the Deco series.
Base images used for the Deco Tileworks series are:
atlanta highview _ grey sky facets #1a _ (© 2012 megart)
atlanta highview _ grey sky facets #2a _ (© 2012 megart)
atlanta highview _ grey sky facets #2e _ (© 2012 megart)
www.flickr.com/photos/meg99az/7587589876
www.flickr.com/photos/meg99az/7587598284
www.flickr.com/photos/meg99az/7587599742
The Architextures 11 series of Deco Tileworks uses no other source images or composition elements. Only the Facets #2e image is present. Variations of texture, color, and form come from mathematical merges and blends, and from simple mirrors and rotations.
The Architextures 12 series of Deco Tileworks continues the basic themes and geometries of the Deco Tileworks 11 series, but it introduces bright colors. Whites and yellows were created with no additional source images or composition elements, just various merges and saturations of the common deco tileworks foundation image. Blues and greens were created by overlays with another of the Atlanta Highview images (blue sky facets v2). Oranges and reds were introduced by overlays with an unrelated non-architectural image (sunset trees & red rock cliffs _ arches national park, utah).
Daffodils and tulips at Tudor Grange House, Blossomfield Park, Solihull.
Kept spotting daffodils from the no 6 bus going past here, so wanted to get them before they finished flowering. Looks like tulips now in flower.
Grade II* listed building
Reasons for Designation
Tudor Grange, Solihull is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * The house contains a series of carefully designed reception rooms which incorporate panelling, plasterwork, antique glass panels and tilework of considerable quality. * Tudor Grange is an interesting example of a new type of late-C19 house which was built for a generation of confident businessmen who did not establish themselves as country gentlemen but preferred to build houses which were within easy reach of their businesses but enjoyed the attributes of country house life. * The plan form of the house has been little altered and all of the principal areas and many of the different rooms can be identified. * The exterior of the house, with its joined stable block, terracing and walling forms a coherent group.
Details
SOLIHULL
732/0/10042 BLOSSOMFIELD ROAD 24-OCT-08 Tudor Grange House and Stable Block
II* A large suburban house with attached stable block. It was designed and built in 1887 in a loosely Jacobean style by Thomas Henry Mansell of Birmingham for the industrialist Alfred Lovekin with panelling by Plunketts of Smith Street, Warwick. The house is of red stretcher bond brick with ashlar dressings and a tiled roof and has two storeys with attics and basement. The stable block is T-shaped in plan and attached to the west side of the house. EXTERIOR: The northern entrance front has a near-symmetrical centrepiece which is recessed at first floor level and above but which has a projecting three-bay porch to the ground floor with door to the right. At either side are projecting, gabled wings and these and the central bay all have shaped outlines to their gables. The windows to the ground and first floors are mullioned and transomed, and there are projecting bay windows to the ground floor at either side. There are panels of carved stonework, particularly around the porch, featuring strapwork and grotesque masks. A further bay to the east then joins to the low wall screening a service court and this in turn joins to the stable block. Extending to the west is a single-storey range of two bays added by Sir Alfred Bird with a square bay window and small, elaborately-carved oriel capped by a battlemented parapet. The garden front is composed with deliberate asymmetry, having five bays with shaped gables to the left of centre and far right and a canted and square bay, each of two storeys, as well as a single-storey bay to the far right. At the west end is a low screen wall which connects to the stable block. To the far east is a portion of walling, the southern side of which was formerly inside the conservatory. Attached to this are concrete containers attached to the wall which are moulded in immitation of rock. The skyline on both principal fronts has a very full array of clustered octagonal chimneys with moulded caps. The balustrade at the top of the wall has moulded balusters and the balustrade piers are surmounted by statues personifying a variety of figures including Hercules, Brutus and William the Conqueror some of which were carved by White's, according to George Noszlopy, who has identified the overall scheme as based on late C16 and early-C17 English engravings of heroes from Greek mythology, Roman Emperors and characters from English legend, some of which were added by Sir Alfred Bird who employed Robert Bridgeman. INTERIOR: The ground floor plan approximates to a double-pile plan with a large central staircase and entrance hall at either side of which are corridors leading to the former conservatory and the kitchens and service court. The ground floor has a series of lavishly decorated rooms, including the Dining Room, Morning Room, Drawing Room and Music Room. The Jacobean and Elizabethan styles are freely mixed and there are also elements of Georgian joinery, particularly in the Music Room. Each room has an elaborate fireplace with a carved oak surround and overmantel and panelling to dado height. Many of the fireplaces have tiled cheeks by the De Morgan or Ruskin potteries. The plaster ceilings are decorated with strapwork, fruit and flowers in high relief. Many of the windows contain panels of stained glass of good quality showing coats of arms or mottoes. Several also have panels of Flemish or German C16 or C17 glass. The Study and Music Room are particularly sumptuous, with richly carved woodwork. The Study, which was added to the earlier house by Sir Alfred Bird in the same style, has a screen of free-standing columns behind which is a small, richly-modelled, barrel-vaulted ceiling and, in the Music Room, there is panelling to the full height of the walls, divided by Ionic pilasters with panels of bay leaves to their lower bodies and strapwork and masks above. To the western end of the room are fitted cabinets with glazed doors and a smaller, central fireplace with flambeau glazing to the tiled surround. Above is an inset tapestry panel running the width of the wall showing a Tudor hunting scene. Sir Alfred Bird was a collector of Old Master paintings and several of the panels in the Music Room and Hallway have buttons to their lower rims which allow the panels to be removed and it is possible that pictures were incorporated into the panelling with a mechanism to release them in the event of a fire, as is the case with the heavy frames at the Wallace Collection and other C19 collections. The panelling is recorded as being fitted by Plunkett's of Warwick, and it seems likely that they were responsible for fitting out the rooms in their entirety. The staircase hall contains further panelling and the window has nine panels of Flemish or German glass. To the first floor one bedroom has a fireplace with richly figured wood and ivory inlay. There is a first floor corridor with housekeepers' panelled cupboards to either side and Lyncrusta wallpaper and the former bedrooms contain a series of fireplaces with wood or cast metal surrounds.
STABLE BLOCK: The stables, with coach houses and, possibly, garaging are attached to the west side of the house. They have a T-shaped plan. The cross-stroke is oriented north-south and has a partially-glazed roof. The stables were arranged at either side of the central passageway of the downstroke, which runs east-west, but these have now been re-arranged to form teaching rooms. This part of the building is also richly decorated, with statuary and a louvered octagonal bellcote to the skyline and ball and sceptre finials. Several of the original windows have been replaced with uPVC windows and the openings appear to have been enlarged.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Terrace Balustrade and Stone Bench: Immediately to the south of the house is a terrace which is bounded to its south and east sides by a stone balustrade which has oval and diamond motifs and a moulded handrail. The balustrade connects at its east end to the foundations of the former conservatory. On the terrace is a stone bench with shaped ends which include lions masks and to its back it has a cresting incorporating carved acanthus leaves. HISTORY The opening of the Birmingham-Oxford Railway in 1852 caused the initial expansion of Solihull's urban area and throughout the later C19 and much of the C20, the borough has expanded to become an affluent commuter suburb of Birmingham. Tudor Grange was built for Alfred Lovekin of Adie & Lovekin, jewellers and silversmiths in 1887. The company manufactured a wide range of silver fancy goods at the end of the C19 and had a factory in Regent Street, Hockley. In 1894 they commissioned Mansell & Mansell to design a new factory for them at 23, Frederick Street, Birmingham which became known as `Trafalgar Works' (Grade II). Lovekin's wife died in 1900 and in 1901 the house was sold to Alfred Bird, son of the founder of Bird's Custard Company. He enlarged the house, adding the library and a sizeable conservatory to the east, and had Blossomfield Road moved northwards, away from the entrance front, and built a new entrance lodge at the end of the re-configured drive. He also employed Robert Bridgeman to ornament the house with statuary and furnished it with an extensive art collection which included paintings and also with panels of C16 and C17 Flemish stained glass, which survive in situ. Alfred Bird became M.P. for Wolverhampton West in 1910. In 1920 he was knighted and in 1922, the year of his death, he was made a baronet. His widow lived on at Tudor Grange until her death in 1943 and the house is believed to have been used as a Red Cross auxiliary hospital during and after the Second World War. In 1946 the house was bought by Warwickshire County Council and became a school for children with special needs until 1976 when it became part of Solihull Technical College.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION Tudor Grange, Solihull is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * The house contains a series of carefully designed reception rooms which incorporate panelling, plasterwork, antique glass panels and tilework of considerable quality. * Tudor Grange is an interesting example of a new type of late-C19 house which was built for a generation of confident businessmen who did not establish themselves as country gentlemen but preferred to build houses which were within easy reach of their businesses but enjoyed the attributes of country house life. * The plan form of the house has been little altered and all of the principal areas and many of the different rooms can be identified. * The exterior of the house, with its joined stable block, lodge, terracing and walled garden forms a coherent group.
SOURCES John Cattell, Sheila Ely, Barry Jones, The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, 2002, 219; George T. Noszlopy, Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, Liverpool University Press, 2003, 301.
Brickhouse Tileworks specializes in the design and creation of one-of-a-kind, site-specific works of art. Every tile at Brickhouse is meticulously hand crafted for our customers. Whether you are looking for three-dimensional sculpted-relief, hand painted, mosaic or handmade field tiles, our artists will work with you to meet your specific needs. Add exquisite beauty and personalized style to your home, indoors or out, with Brickhouse tiles.
Brickhouse will create a one of a kind custom look for your kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, pool or anywhere you’d like to personalize your home; and we can also produce breathtaking full mural designs. Work with Brickhouse artists to create custom-designed tiles or select from the original Brickhouse Tile Line. At Brickhouse Tileworks we are dedicated to the design and development of high-quality tiles that are distinctive, one-of-a-kind works of art.
Brickhouse Tileworks specializes in the design and creation of one-of-a-kind, site-specific works of art. Every tile at Brickhouse is meticulously hand crafted for our customers. Whether you are looking for three-dimensional sculpted-relief, hand painted, mosaic or handmade field tiles, our artists will work with you to meet your specific needs. Add exquisite beauty and personalized style to your home, indoors or out, with Brickhouse tiles.
Brickhouse will create a one of a kind custom look for your kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, pool or anywhere you’d like to personalize your home; and we can also produce breathtaking full mural designs. Work with Brickhouse artists to create custom-designed tiles or select from the original Brickhouse Tile Line. At Brickhouse Tileworks we are dedicated to the design and development of high-quality tiles that are distinctive, one-of-a-kind works of art.
Daffodils and tulips at Tudor Grange House, Blossomfield Park, Solihull.
Kept spotting daffodils from the no 6 bus going past here, so wanted to get them before they finished flowering. Looks like tulips now in flower.
Grade II* listed building
Reasons for Designation
Tudor Grange, Solihull is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * The house contains a series of carefully designed reception rooms which incorporate panelling, plasterwork, antique glass panels and tilework of considerable quality. * Tudor Grange is an interesting example of a new type of late-C19 house which was built for a generation of confident businessmen who did not establish themselves as country gentlemen but preferred to build houses which were within easy reach of their businesses but enjoyed the attributes of country house life. * The plan form of the house has been little altered and all of the principal areas and many of the different rooms can be identified. * The exterior of the house, with its joined stable block, terracing and walling forms a coherent group.
Details
SOLIHULL
732/0/10042 BLOSSOMFIELD ROAD 24-OCT-08 Tudor Grange House and Stable Block
II* A large suburban house with attached stable block. It was designed and built in 1887 in a loosely Jacobean style by Thomas Henry Mansell of Birmingham for the industrialist Alfred Lovekin with panelling by Plunketts of Smith Street, Warwick. The house is of red stretcher bond brick with ashlar dressings and a tiled roof and has two storeys with attics and basement. The stable block is T-shaped in plan and attached to the west side of the house. EXTERIOR: The northern entrance front has a near-symmetrical centrepiece which is recessed at first floor level and above but which has a projecting three-bay porch to the ground floor with door to the right. At either side are projecting, gabled wings and these and the central bay all have shaped outlines to their gables. The windows to the ground and first floors are mullioned and transomed, and there are projecting bay windows to the ground floor at either side. There are panels of carved stonework, particularly around the porch, featuring strapwork and grotesque masks. A further bay to the east then joins to the low wall screening a service court and this in turn joins to the stable block. Extending to the west is a single-storey range of two bays added by Sir Alfred Bird with a square bay window and small, elaborately-carved oriel capped by a battlemented parapet. The garden front is composed with deliberate asymmetry, having five bays with shaped gables to the left of centre and far right and a canted and square bay, each of two storeys, as well as a single-storey bay to the far right. At the west end is a low screen wall which connects to the stable block. To the far east is a portion of walling, the southern side of which was formerly inside the conservatory. Attached to this are concrete containers attached to the wall which are moulded in immitation of rock. The skyline on both principal fronts has a very full array of clustered octagonal chimneys with moulded caps. The balustrade at the top of the wall has moulded balusters and the balustrade piers are surmounted by statues personifying a variety of figures including Hercules, Brutus and William the Conqueror some of which were carved by White's, according to George Noszlopy, who has identified the overall scheme as based on late C16 and early-C17 English engravings of heroes from Greek mythology, Roman Emperors and characters from English legend, some of which were added by Sir Alfred Bird who employed Robert Bridgeman. INTERIOR: The ground floor plan approximates to a double-pile plan with a large central staircase and entrance hall at either side of which are corridors leading to the former conservatory and the kitchens and service court. The ground floor has a series of lavishly decorated rooms, including the Dining Room, Morning Room, Drawing Room and Music Room. The Jacobean and Elizabethan styles are freely mixed and there are also elements of Georgian joinery, particularly in the Music Room. Each room has an elaborate fireplace with a carved oak surround and overmantel and panelling to dado height. Many of the fireplaces have tiled cheeks by the De Morgan or Ruskin potteries. The plaster ceilings are decorated with strapwork, fruit and flowers in high relief. Many of the windows contain panels of stained glass of good quality showing coats of arms or mottoes. Several also have panels of Flemish or German C16 or C17 glass. The Study and Music Room are particularly sumptuous, with richly carved woodwork. The Study, which was added to the earlier house by Sir Alfred Bird in the same style, has a screen of free-standing columns behind which is a small, richly-modelled, barrel-vaulted ceiling and, in the Music Room, there is panelling to the full height of the walls, divided by Ionic pilasters with panels of bay leaves to their lower bodies and strapwork and masks above. To the western end of the room are fitted cabinets with glazed doors and a smaller, central fireplace with flambeau glazing to the tiled surround. Above is an inset tapestry panel running the width of the wall showing a Tudor hunting scene. Sir Alfred Bird was a collector of Old Master paintings and several of the panels in the Music Room and Hallway have buttons to their lower rims which allow the panels to be removed and it is possible that pictures were incorporated into the panelling with a mechanism to release them in the event of a fire, as is the case with the heavy frames at the Wallace Collection and other C19 collections. The panelling is recorded as being fitted by Plunkett's of Warwick, and it seems likely that they were responsible for fitting out the rooms in their entirety. The staircase hall contains further panelling and the window has nine panels of Flemish or German glass. To the first floor one bedroom has a fireplace with richly figured wood and ivory inlay. There is a first floor corridor with housekeepers' panelled cupboards to either side and Lyncrusta wallpaper and the former bedrooms contain a series of fireplaces with wood or cast metal surrounds.
STABLE BLOCK: The stables, with coach houses and, possibly, garaging are attached to the west side of the house. They have a T-shaped plan. The cross-stroke is oriented north-south and has a partially-glazed roof. The stables were arranged at either side of the central passageway of the downstroke, which runs east-west, but these have now been re-arranged to form teaching rooms. This part of the building is also richly decorated, with statuary and a louvered octagonal bellcote to the skyline and ball and sceptre finials. Several of the original windows have been replaced with uPVC windows and the openings appear to have been enlarged.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Terrace Balustrade and Stone Bench: Immediately to the south of the house is a terrace which is bounded to its south and east sides by a stone balustrade which has oval and diamond motifs and a moulded handrail. The balustrade connects at its east end to the foundations of the former conservatory. On the terrace is a stone bench with shaped ends which include lions masks and to its back it has a cresting incorporating carved acanthus leaves. HISTORY The opening of the Birmingham-Oxford Railway in 1852 caused the initial expansion of Solihull's urban area and throughout the later C19 and much of the C20, the borough has expanded to become an affluent commuter suburb of Birmingham. Tudor Grange was built for Alfred Lovekin of Adie & Lovekin, jewellers and silversmiths in 1887. The company manufactured a wide range of silver fancy goods at the end of the C19 and had a factory in Regent Street, Hockley. In 1894 they commissioned Mansell & Mansell to design a new factory for them at 23, Frederick Street, Birmingham which became known as `Trafalgar Works' (Grade II). Lovekin's wife died in 1900 and in 1901 the house was sold to Alfred Bird, son of the founder of Bird's Custard Company. He enlarged the house, adding the library and a sizeable conservatory to the east, and had Blossomfield Road moved northwards, away from the entrance front, and built a new entrance lodge at the end of the re-configured drive. He also employed Robert Bridgeman to ornament the house with statuary and furnished it with an extensive art collection which included paintings and also with panels of C16 and C17 Flemish stained glass, which survive in situ. Alfred Bird became M.P. for Wolverhampton West in 1910. In 1920 he was knighted and in 1922, the year of his death, he was made a baronet. His widow lived on at Tudor Grange until her death in 1943 and the house is believed to have been used as a Red Cross auxiliary hospital during and after the Second World War. In 1946 the house was bought by Warwickshire County Council and became a school for children with special needs until 1976 when it became part of Solihull Technical College.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION Tudor Grange, Solihull is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * The house contains a series of carefully designed reception rooms which incorporate panelling, plasterwork, antique glass panels and tilework of considerable quality. * Tudor Grange is an interesting example of a new type of late-C19 house which was built for a generation of confident businessmen who did not establish themselves as country gentlemen but preferred to build houses which were within easy reach of their businesses but enjoyed the attributes of country house life. * The plan form of the house has been little altered and all of the principal areas and many of the different rooms can be identified. * The exterior of the house, with its joined stable block, lodge, terracing and walled garden forms a coherent group.
SOURCES John Cattell, Sheila Ely, Barry Jones, The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, 2002, 219; George T. Noszlopy, Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, Liverpool University Press, 2003, 301.
Now a Royal Palace of the Spanish Monarchy, the site was originally built as a Moorish fort under the Almohad Caliphate in the 12th Century A.D.
As a fine example of Mudéjar architecture, it is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Daffodils and tulips at Tudor Grange House, Blossomfield Park, Solihull.
Kept spotting daffodils from the no 6 bus going past here, so wanted to get them before they finished flowering. Looks like tulips now in flower.
Grade II* listed building
Reasons for Designation
Tudor Grange, Solihull is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * The house contains a series of carefully designed reception rooms which incorporate panelling, plasterwork, antique glass panels and tilework of considerable quality. * Tudor Grange is an interesting example of a new type of late-C19 house which was built for a generation of confident businessmen who did not establish themselves as country gentlemen but preferred to build houses which were within easy reach of their businesses but enjoyed the attributes of country house life. * The plan form of the house has been little altered and all of the principal areas and many of the different rooms can be identified. * The exterior of the house, with its joined stable block, terracing and walling forms a coherent group.
Details
SOLIHULL
732/0/10042 BLOSSOMFIELD ROAD 24-OCT-08 Tudor Grange House and Stable Block
II* A large suburban house with attached stable block. It was designed and built in 1887 in a loosely Jacobean style by Thomas Henry Mansell of Birmingham for the industrialist Alfred Lovekin with panelling by Plunketts of Smith Street, Warwick. The house is of red stretcher bond brick with ashlar dressings and a tiled roof and has two storeys with attics and basement. The stable block is T-shaped in plan and attached to the west side of the house. EXTERIOR: The northern entrance front has a near-symmetrical centrepiece which is recessed at first floor level and above but which has a projecting three-bay porch to the ground floor with door to the right. At either side are projecting, gabled wings and these and the central bay all have shaped outlines to their gables. The windows to the ground and first floors are mullioned and transomed, and there are projecting bay windows to the ground floor at either side. There are panels of carved stonework, particularly around the porch, featuring strapwork and grotesque masks. A further bay to the east then joins to the low wall screening a service court and this in turn joins to the stable block. Extending to the west is a single-storey range of two bays added by Sir Alfred Bird with a square bay window and small, elaborately-carved oriel capped by a battlemented parapet. The garden front is composed with deliberate asymmetry, having five bays with shaped gables to the left of centre and far right and a canted and square bay, each of two storeys, as well as a single-storey bay to the far right. At the west end is a low screen wall which connects to the stable block. To the far east is a portion of walling, the southern side of which was formerly inside the conservatory. Attached to this are concrete containers attached to the wall which are moulded in immitation of rock. The skyline on both principal fronts has a very full array of clustered octagonal chimneys with moulded caps. The balustrade at the top of the wall has moulded balusters and the balustrade piers are surmounted by statues personifying a variety of figures including Hercules, Brutus and William the Conqueror some of which were carved by White's, according to George Noszlopy, who has identified the overall scheme as based on late C16 and early-C17 English engravings of heroes from Greek mythology, Roman Emperors and characters from English legend, some of which were added by Sir Alfred Bird who employed Robert Bridgeman. INTERIOR: The ground floor plan approximates to a double-pile plan with a large central staircase and entrance hall at either side of which are corridors leading to the former conservatory and the kitchens and service court. The ground floor has a series of lavishly decorated rooms, including the Dining Room, Morning Room, Drawing Room and Music Room. The Jacobean and Elizabethan styles are freely mixed and there are also elements of Georgian joinery, particularly in the Music Room. Each room has an elaborate fireplace with a carved oak surround and overmantel and panelling to dado height. Many of the fireplaces have tiled cheeks by the De Morgan or Ruskin potteries. The plaster ceilings are decorated with strapwork, fruit and flowers in high relief. Many of the windows contain panels of stained glass of good quality showing coats of arms or mottoes. Several also have panels of Flemish or German C16 or C17 glass. The Study and Music Room are particularly sumptuous, with richly carved woodwork. The Study, which was added to the earlier house by Sir Alfred Bird in the same style, has a screen of free-standing columns behind which is a small, richly-modelled, barrel-vaulted ceiling and, in the Music Room, there is panelling to the full height of the walls, divided by Ionic pilasters with panels of bay leaves to their lower bodies and strapwork and masks above. To the western end of the room are fitted cabinets with glazed doors and a smaller, central fireplace with flambeau glazing to the tiled surround. Above is an inset tapestry panel running the width of the wall showing a Tudor hunting scene. Sir Alfred Bird was a collector of Old Master paintings and several of the panels in the Music Room and Hallway have buttons to their lower rims which allow the panels to be removed and it is possible that pictures were incorporated into the panelling with a mechanism to release them in the event of a fire, as is the case with the heavy frames at the Wallace Collection and other C19 collections. The panelling is recorded as being fitted by Plunkett's of Warwick, and it seems likely that they were responsible for fitting out the rooms in their entirety. The staircase hall contains further panelling and the window has nine panels of Flemish or German glass. To the first floor one bedroom has a fireplace with richly figured wood and ivory inlay. There is a first floor corridor with housekeepers' panelled cupboards to either side and Lyncrusta wallpaper and the former bedrooms contain a series of fireplaces with wood or cast metal surrounds.
STABLE BLOCK: The stables, with coach houses and, possibly, garaging are attached to the west side of the house. They have a T-shaped plan. The cross-stroke is oriented north-south and has a partially-glazed roof. The stables were arranged at either side of the central passageway of the downstroke, which runs east-west, but these have now been re-arranged to form teaching rooms. This part of the building is also richly decorated, with statuary and a louvered octagonal bellcote to the skyline and ball and sceptre finials. Several of the original windows have been replaced with uPVC windows and the openings appear to have been enlarged.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Terrace Balustrade and Stone Bench: Immediately to the south of the house is a terrace which is bounded to its south and east sides by a stone balustrade which has oval and diamond motifs and a moulded handrail. The balustrade connects at its east end to the foundations of the former conservatory. On the terrace is a stone bench with shaped ends which include lions masks and to its back it has a cresting incorporating carved acanthus leaves. HISTORY The opening of the Birmingham-Oxford Railway in 1852 caused the initial expansion of Solihull's urban area and throughout the later C19 and much of the C20, the borough has expanded to become an affluent commuter suburb of Birmingham. Tudor Grange was built for Alfred Lovekin of Adie & Lovekin, jewellers and silversmiths in 1887. The company manufactured a wide range of silver fancy goods at the end of the C19 and had a factory in Regent Street, Hockley. In 1894 they commissioned Mansell & Mansell to design a new factory for them at 23, Frederick Street, Birmingham which became known as `Trafalgar Works' (Grade II). Lovekin's wife died in 1900 and in 1901 the house was sold to Alfred Bird, son of the founder of Bird's Custard Company. He enlarged the house, adding the library and a sizeable conservatory to the east, and had Blossomfield Road moved northwards, away from the entrance front, and built a new entrance lodge at the end of the re-configured drive. He also employed Robert Bridgeman to ornament the house with statuary and furnished it with an extensive art collection which included paintings and also with panels of C16 and C17 Flemish stained glass, which survive in situ. Alfred Bird became M.P. for Wolverhampton West in 1910. In 1920 he was knighted and in 1922, the year of his death, he was made a baronet. His widow lived on at Tudor Grange until her death in 1943 and the house is believed to have been used as a Red Cross auxiliary hospital during and after the Second World War. In 1946 the house was bought by Warwickshire County Council and became a school for children with special needs until 1976 when it became part of Solihull Technical College.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION Tudor Grange, Solihull is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * The house contains a series of carefully designed reception rooms which incorporate panelling, plasterwork, antique glass panels and tilework of considerable quality. * Tudor Grange is an interesting example of a new type of late-C19 house which was built for a generation of confident businessmen who did not establish themselves as country gentlemen but preferred to build houses which were within easy reach of their businesses but enjoyed the attributes of country house life. * The plan form of the house has been little altered and all of the principal areas and many of the different rooms can be identified. * The exterior of the house, with its joined stable block, lodge, terracing and walled garden forms a coherent group.
SOURCES John Cattell, Sheila Ely, Barry Jones, The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, 2002, 219; George T. Noszlopy, Sculpture of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, Liverpool University Press, 2003, 301.