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The arcade around the courtyard is supported by columns of white, black and pink marble. Plasterwork ornaments the gallery.
In the Dar el Bacha in Marrakesh.
Also known as the Museum of Confluences, and originally an 18th century palace.
This palace was built for Pacha Thami El Glaoui, also known as the Lord of the Atlas, who ruled over Marrakesh from 1912 to 1956. It is one of the medina's finest examples of riad architecture, dripping with zellige (colourful geometric tilework), intricate white plasterwork and heavy carved cedar-wood lintels, and opened to the public in 2015 as the Museum of Confluences.
"The Theatre Royal is a historic theatre, a Grade I listed building situated on Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The theatre was designed by local architects John and Benjamin Green as part of Richard Grainger's grand design for the centre of Newcastle, and was opened on 20 February 1837 with a performance of The Merchant of Venice. One of the first managers here was Thomas Ternan who employed his wife, Frances Ternan as the main actress.
The shareholders of the Proprietors' Committee appointed lessees to manage and programme the theatre. The longest running individual lessee, before Ltd companies, was Edward D Davis from 1845 to 1870 during which in 1867 the interior was redesigned by architect Charles J. Phipps. William Glover and George Francis, both of the Theatre Royal, Glasgow took over from 1871 to 1878; to be followed by Charles Bernard of the Gaiety Theatre, Glasgow until 1882. James Howard and Fred Wyndham of Edinburgh and Glasgow became lessees from 1883 to 1887. Due to their intention, carried out, of also leasing the Tyne Theatre and Opera House, the shareholder committee did not renew their lease of the Royal.
Instead, Robert Arthur of Glasgow and now lessee of Her Majesty`s Theatre, Dundee took over in 1888. After the fire of 1899 he instructed architect Frank Matcham to totally redesign the interior, re-opening in 1901. The venues of Robert Arthur Theatres Ltd in Scotland and England, which had many shareholders in Tyneside, prospered until losses overwhelmed the company in 1911. At this point the Arthur shareholders, led by the family of Joseph Cowen MP, appointed a new chairman of the lessee company, Michael Simons, of Glasgow, who in 1895 had created Howard & Wyndham Ltd.
From 1912 onwards the Theatre Royal Newcastle was an important part of the Howard & Wyndham group, led successfully by chairman Simons, followed by the Cruikshank family, whose King's Theatre, Edinburgh joined the group in 1928. Newcastle City Council took over ownership in 1967.
Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh formed a triangle of industry, commerce and entertainment business from the 1870s onwards. From 1962 and increasingly from the 1970s the interchange of shows and pantomimes was joined by tours each year of Scottish Opera and of Scottish Ballet. Opera North joined in.
Following a performance of William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, a huge fire destroyed the interior of the building in 1899. It had its interior redesigned by Frank Matcham and reopened on 31 December 1901. Externally, the building is exactly as it was when it was first built.
It underwent a major refurbishment and restoration in the latter part of the 1980s, reopening on 11 January 1988 with a performance of A Man For All Seasons starring Charlton Heston.
The Theatre Royal went dark on 14 March 2011 due to a major restoration of the auditorium, box office, bars and restaurant. The restoration restored the theatre to the original 1901 Frank Matcham Edwardian interior. The whole interior was stripped apart from the original plasterwork which was carefully preserved. The proscenium arch, tiers and boxes were gold leafed and the plasterwork restored. On all levels the seats were replaced with Edwardian-style theatre seats in keeping with the restoration. The amphitheatre which was removed during previous renovations was restored to offer more leg room and better views than the gallery. This took the theatre to five distinct seating areas, the stalls, grand circle, upper circle, amphitheatre and gallery. Wheelchair spaces were installed on levels which had previously been inaccessible. As well as the boxes near the stage, boxes at the rear of the grand and upper circles were also restored taking the total number of boxes up to ten. The stage lift and orchestra pit were replaced to offer better facilities for opera and musicals. A new ventilation system was put in place to improve comfort levels in the theatre. New frescos for the lobby and upper circle were commissioned and put in place. This £4.75m project introduced higher standards of comfort and improved energy. The Theatre Royal reopened on 12 September 2011 with Alan Bennett's epic period drama The Madness of George III; George III was in fact the monarch who gave the Theatre Royal its charter.
The theatre currently hosts a variety of shows, including ballet, contemporary dance, drama, musicals and opera. The Christmas pantomime is one of the UK's most popular. Clive Webb, Danny Adams and Chris Hayward are the main actors.
Almost all of the shows that come to the Theatre Royal are part of national British tours, and in a typical year the theatre will have 30 to 35 visiting shows. For the annual pantomime, and any visiting musicals and opera performances, there is a sizeable orchestra pit available which can seat 60 musicians if necessary. The stage itself is also of substantial size, and can house 50 singers, dancers, actors and musicians.
Grainger Town is the historic heart of Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Incorporating classical streets built by Richard Grainger, a builder and developer, between 1824 and 1841, some of Newcastle's finest buildings and streets lie within the Grainger Town area of the city centre including Grainger Market, Theatre Royal, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street. These buildings are predominantly four storeys, with vertical dormers, domes, turrets and spikes.
Richard Grainger was said to 'have found Newcastle of bricks and timber and left it in stone'. Of Grainger Town's 450 buildings, 244 are listed, of which 29 are grade I and 49 are grade II*.
Grainger Town covers approximately 36 ha (89 acres), and the architecture is dubbed 'Tyneside Classical' architecture. One of the streets of Grainger Town, Grey Street, was described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as 'one of the finest streets in England'. The area also includes a mediaeval 13th-century Dominican friary, pieces of the historic Town Walls and many fine Georgian and Victorian buildings.
Almost all of Grainger Town is within Newcastle's Central Conservation Area, one of the first to be designated in England. The majority of the buildings are in private ownership. The area around Grey's Monument and Grey Street is expanding fast, with high quality shopping outlets, designer fashions and jewellery. The Central Exchange, containing the Edwardian Central Arcade, is located within this area.
Grey Street was built by Grainger in the 1830s with the aid of several architects, including John Dobson. The whole of the western side of the street was designed by two architects from Grainger's office, John Wardle and George Walker. Dean Street, which continues south from Grey Street was constructed earlier, in 1749. Grey Street contains the Theatre Royal designed by John and Benjamin Green, the southern entrance to Monument Metro station and the Central Arcade. It is renowned for its Georgian architecture, and was in 2010 voted 'Best street in the UK' by BBC Radio 4 listeners.
The street runs south from Grey's Monument; after the junction with Mosley Street it continues as Dean Street. Like Dean Street, it follows the route of the Lorke or Lort Burn, which formerly flowed into the Tyne but is now underground and so it curves slowly to the east as well as descending towards the river. The street was initially named Upper Dean Street, but it was subsequently renamed as Grey Street.
Sir John Betjeman said:
As for the curve of Grey Street, I shall never forget seeing it to perfection, traffic-less on a misty Sunday morning. Not even Regent Street, even old Regent Street London, can compare with that descending subtle curve.
Newcastle upon Tyne (/ˌnjuːkɑːsəl -/, locally /njuːˌkæsəl -/), commonly known as Newcastle, is a city in Tyne and Wear, North East England, 103 miles (166 km) south of Edinburgh and 277 miles (446 km) north of London on the northern bank of the River Tyne, 8.5 mi (13.7 km) from the North Sea. Newcastle is the most populous city in the North East, and forms the core of the Tyneside conurbation, the eighth most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Newcastle is a member of the UK Core Cities Group and is a member of the Eurocities network of European cities.
Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it became a county of itself, a status it retained until becoming part of Tyne and Wear in 1974. The regional nickname and dialect for people from Newcastle and the surrounding area is Geordie. Newcastle also houses Newcastle University, a member of the Russell Group, as well as Northumbria University. Newcastle is member of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
The city developed around the Roman settlement Pons Aelius and was named after the castle built in 1080 by Robert Curthose, William the Conqueror's eldest son. The city grew as an important centre for the wool trade in the 14th century, and later became a major coal mining area. The port developed in the 16th century and, along with the shipyards lower down the River Tyne, was amongst the world's largest shipbuilding and ship-repairing centres.
Newcastle's economy includes corporate headquarters, learning, digital technology, retail, tourism and cultural centres, from which the city contributes £13 billion towards the United Kingdom's GVA. Among its icons are Newcastle United football club and the Tyne Bridge. Since 1981 the city has hosted the Great North Run, a half marathon which attracts over 57,000 runners each year." - info from Wikipedia.
Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.
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On the outskirts of Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh stands Castle Coole, the family home of the Earls of Belmore and one of the treasures of the National Trust. Designed by James Wyatt, this magnificent neo-classical house took ten years to build. It was completed in 1798. The interior of the house was created by some of the leading craftsmen of the late 18th century with chimney pieces carved by Westmacott, plasterwork created by Rose, columns and pilasters created by Bartoli. Highlights of a tour of Castle Coole are the magnificent state rooms with their sumptuous Regency furnishings. These include the State Bedroom said to have been prepared for a visit by George IV in 1821. The surrounding estate is a fitting setting for the house, with parkland, Lough Coole and extensive woods. Visitors may enjoy walks in the grounds and also see the Grand Yard, the Servants’ Tunnel, the recently restored Ice House, the dairy, stables, laundry house and display room which includes the Belmore Private Coach.
THIS ELIZABETHAN HALL AND STANDS ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER CALDER IN PADIHAM IN THE HEART OF INDUSTRIAL LANCASHIRE. THE HALL WAS BUILT BETWEEN 1600 AND 1605 GAWTHORPE HALL WAS THE FAMILY HOME OF THE SHUTTLEWORTH FAMILY FOR OVER 300 YEARS. INSIDE THE HOUSE YOU WILL FIND PERIOD ROOMS ON DISPLAY FROM THE 1850 REMODELLING BY RENOWNED ARCHITECT SIR CHARLES BARRY AND PUGIN AS WELL AS ORIGINAL PLASTERWORK CEILINGS, PANELLING AND THE IMPRESSIVE LONG GALLERY. ALSO ON DISPLAY ARE OVER 200 PIECES FROM THE NATIONALLY IMPORTANT GAWTHORPE TEXTILE COLLECTION.
THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY HAS LOANED OVER 20 PAINTINGS TO THE HALL ALL OF WHICH ILLUSTRATE ITS FASCINATING CONNECTIONS AND HISTORY, PARTICULARLY WITH THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR. GAWTHORPE HALL IS AN ARTISTIC AND HISTORIC TREASURE TROVE IN THE MIDDLE OF INDUSTRIAL LANCASHIRE.
GAWTHORPE HALL IS CLOSED COMPLETELY FOR THE REST OF 2015. THIS IS DUE TO MAJOR BUILDING CONSERVATION WORK TO THE HALL, AND IS EXPECTED BE OPEN FULLY FOR 2016.
This small patio between the Mexuar and the Gilded Room connects both palaces. On the façade there are two identical gates with lintels, tiles on a ceramic skirting board and plasterwork decoration. Above it are two twin windows with canted festoon and a smaller one in the middle, surrounded by inscriptions from the Koran.
The Alhambra is an ancient palace, fortress and citadel located in Granada, Spain. It was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1984.
The eighth-century-old site was named for the reddish walls and towers that surrounded the citadel — al-qal’a al-hamra in Arabic means red fort or castle. It is the only surviving palatine city of the Islamic Golden Age and a remnant of the Nasrid Dynasty, the last Islamic kingdom in Western Europe.
The Alhambra is located on the Sabika hill — a strategic vantage point that provides views of the city and plain of Granada. The Alhambra complex had three main sections: The Alcazaba, a military base that housed guards and their families; the palatial zone, which contained several palaces for the sultan and his kin; and the Medina, a quarter where court officials lived and worked.
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
The Edinburgh Festival Theatre (formerly Empire Palace Theatre) is a performing arts venue located on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, Scotland used primarily for performances of opera and ballet, large-scale musical events, and touring groups. After its most recent renovation in 1994, it seats 1,915. It is one of the major venues of the annual summer Edinburgh International Festival and is the Edinburgh venue for the Scottish Opera and the Scottish Ballet.
The present theatre’s location is Edinburgh’s longest continuous theatre site, for there has been a theatre in that location since 1830. From being Dunedin Hall, the Royal Amphitheatre, Alhambra Music Hall, the Queen’s Theatre, Pablo Fanque's Amphitheatre, and Newsome’s Circus, the site became the Empire Palace Theatre, the first of the famous Moss Empires’ chain, opening on 7 November 1892. Designed by the great British theatre architect, Frank Matcham, (who built the London Coliseum, among others) its décor was lavish, with elephants with Nubian riders, nymphs and cherubs in abundance on the plasterwork, and it seated 3000 people on four levels.
For the following twenty years all the top artists of the day played at the Empire Palace until, on 9 May 1911, there was a disastrous fire on stage. While all 3000 theatre goers escaped safely (there were eleven backstage deaths and the death of a lion), the theatre reopened three months later. However, given the long term competition from the growth of film as a popular medium, the theatre was re-equipped to present bigger and more spectacular shows. Reusing some of Matcham’s original design concepts, the theatre reopened on 1 October 1928 with the musical Show Boat.
Between 1928 and 1963 the Empire was a variety, musical and opera house, often including ice shows. Big names like Harry Lauder, Charles Laughton, Fats Waller, Joe Loss, and Laurel and Hardy appeared, while English comedians Max Wall, Morecambe and Wise and Harry Worth established themselves at the Empire.
In addition to the music hall and popular entertainers who appeared at the Empire, the theatre became a principal venue of the Edinburgh International Festival between 1947 and 1963. It was particularly associated with international ballet and, during the first Festival in 1947, Margot Fonteyn danced in The Sleeping Beauty, while in subsequent years, performances by the Old Vic theatre company, the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera were presented.
However, for nearly thirty years after 1963 the theatre became a bingo hall, only temporarily serving as a Festival venue. Finally, after its third major remodeling, the Empire Palace Theatre reopened in June 1994 with a glass-fronted structure for the new entrance (created by Law & Dunbar-Nasmith Architects), as the now-renamed Edinburgh Festival Theatre. In 1997, the distinguished theatre manager and artistic director Stephen Barry was appointed to shape the rejuvenated venue's future. With the restoration of the Empire Theatre’s former 1928 glory, plus a dramatic mix of art nouveau, beaux arts and neo-classicism, and including adequate acoustics, the new theatre serves all the artistic needs of the community.
The theatre is said to be haunted by a tall, dark stranger rumoured to be the famous illusionist Sigmund Neuberger, aka The Great Lafayette, who was one of those who burned to death in the fire at the Empire in 1911. [Wikipedia]
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There were a series of circuses and performance halls on this site from the 1820s (Ducrow’s, etc) and a music hall from about 1860 (Alhambra, Queen’s etc). Frank Matcham built the very first Moss Empire (the Empire Palace) here in 1892 and also carried out its reinstatement after a destructive fire in 1910. The 1892 theatre had a circus-theatre interior of almost barbaric magnificence. In 1928 the Matcham house was demolished and a new theatre built by W & T R Milburn, who were amongst the most competent theatre designers of their time (see e.g. London Dominion, Liverpool Empire and Southampton Mayflower). The Edinburgh auditorium is arguably their best surviving work. The subsequent transformation of the Empire into the Edinburgh Festival Theatre by Law & Dunbar-Nasmith (Colin Ross) completed in 1994 was (until the Royal Opera House reopening) perhaps the most radical make-over of an old theatre undertaken in Britain in modern times. Edinburgh’s long drawn-out quest for an opera house, which spawned a number of abortive new-build projects over the years, had become a standing joke by the 1980s. Theatre Projects Consultants with Law & Dunbar-Nasmith identified the Empire as a prime candidate for conversion for this purpose as early as 1975, but it was to be nearly twenty years before their sensible idea was followed up. When it was eventually done, there was no penny-pinching. The undistinguished façe and front of house were demolished and, with the acquisition of additional space, rebuilt on spacious modern lines, with a curved, transparent façe, visible distantly as a glowing landmark in Nicolson Street. The back of house, too, was totally demolished and a new stage house built, together with dressing rooms and a generous staircase, described as a ‘vertical green room’. The stage itself is immense at 25m x 18m (82ft x 59ft), plus huge wing space on stage left and a rear scene dock which can be opened up for deep vistas. The retained Milburn auditorium has become the splendid filling in a modern sandwich. Like most of the Milburns’ designs, it owes more to contemporary North American models than to the Matcham school. Two balconies with slips meeting a deep-splayed ante-proscenium with pairs of boxes stepping down on either side. Rectangular enriched proscenium frame with a flaming urn at the centre. Ceiling divided into panels with a central dome. Three forestage lifts. Sighting throughout is excellent. The stalls (altered for bingo) have been re-raked to work with the now flattened stage which has thereby been raised at the front edge and thus improved sightlines from the unaltered circles. Necessary changes of this kind have been easily absorbed. The architects did not lose their nerve (as so often happens with so-called restorations) over matters of detail. The seats, for example, are either 1928 originals or careful reproductions. The decorations are not an exact recreation of the Milburn scheme, which was rather skimped, but a convincing essay in the manner of the period with sensitively applied patina glazes to avoid an over-bright appearance. [Theatres Trust ]
Croome Court is a mid 18th century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by an extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Pershore in south Worcestershire. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry, and was Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the internal rooms of the mansion were designed by Robert Adam.
The mansion house is owned by Croome Heritage Trust, and is leased to the National Trust who operate it, along with the surrounding parkland, as a tourist attraction. The National Trust own the surrounding parkland, which is also open to the public.
Location[edit]
Croome Court is located near to Croome D'Abitot, in Worcestershire,[1] near Pirton, Worcestershire.[2] The wider estate was established on lands that were once part of the royal forest of Horewell.[3] Traces of these older landscapes, such as unimproved commons and ancient woodlands, can be found across the former Croome Estate.[4]
House[edit]
Croome Court South Portico
History[edit]
The foundations and core of Croome Court, including the central chimney stack structure, date back to the early 1640s.[5] Substantial changes to this early house were made by Gilbert Coventry, 4th Earl of Coventry.[6]
In 1751, George Coventry, the 6th Earl, inherited the estate, along with the existing Jacobean house. He commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown, with the assistance of Sanderson Miller, to redesign the house and estate.[7][1] It was Brown's "first flight into the realms of architecture" and a "rare example of his architectural work",[8] and it is an important and seminal work.[9] It was built between 1751 and 1752, and it and Hagley Hall are considered to be the finest examples of Neo-Palladian architecture in Worcestershire. Notable Neo-Palladian features incorporated into Croome Court include the plain exterior and the corner towers with pyramidal roofs (a feature first used by Inigo Jones in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire).[1] Robert Adam worked on the interior of the building from 1760 onwards.[10]
The house has been visited by George III,[2][11] as well as Queen Victoria[7] during summers when she was a child, and George V (then Duke of York).[11]
A jam factory was built by the 9th Earl of Coventry, near to Pershore railway station, in about 1880, to provide a market for Vale of Evesham fruit growers in times of surplus. Although the Croome connection with jam making had ceased, during the First World War, the building was leased by the Croome Estate Trust to the Huddersfield Fruit Preserving Company as a pulping station.[12]
The First World War deeply affected Croome, with many local casualties, although the house was not requisitioned for the war effort. This is possibly because it was the home of the Lord Lieutenant of the County, who needed a residence for his many official engagements.[13]
During the Second World War Croome Court was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works and leased for a year to the Dutch Government as a possible refuge for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands; to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. However, evidence shows that they stayed two weeks at the most, perhaps because of the noise and fear created by the proximity of Defford Aerodrome. They later emigrated to Canada.[14]
In 1948 the Croome Estate Trust sold the Court, along with 38 acres (15 ha) of land, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, and the mansion became St Joseph's Special School, which was run by nuns[15] from 1950[11] until 1979.[15]
The house was listed on 11 August 1952; it is currently Grade I listed.[10]
In 1979 the hall was taken over by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement), who used it as their UK headquarters and a training college[16] called Chaitanya College,[15] run by 25 members of the movement.[16] During their tenure they repainted the Dining Room.[17] In 1984 they had to leave the estate for financial reasons. They held a festival at the hall in 2011.[16]
From 1984 onwards various owners tried to use the property as a training centre; apartments; a restaurant and conference centre; and a hotel and golf course,[15] before once more becoming a private family home,[2][15] with outbuildings converted to private houses.[15]
The house was purchased by the Croome Heritage Trust, a registered charity,[18] in October 2007,[19] and it is now managed by the National Trust as a tourist attraction. It opened to the public in September 2009, at which point six of the rooms had restored, costing £400,000, including the Saloon. It was estimated that another £4 million[2][20] to £4.8 million would be needed to restore the entire building. Fundraising activities for the restoration included a 2011 raffle for a Morgan sports car organised by Lord and Lady Flight. After the restoration is complete, a 999-year lease on the building will be granted to the National Trust.[21] An oral history project to record recollections about Croome was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.[15] As of 2009, the service wing was empty and in need of substantial repair.[22]
Exterior[edit]
The mansion is faced with Bath stone,[7] limestone ashlar, and has both north and south facing fronts. It has a basement and two stories, with three stories in the end pavilions. A slate roof, with pyramid roofs over the corner towers, tops the building, along with three pair-linked chimneys along the axis of the house.[10]
Both fronts have 11 bays, split into three central sets of three each, and one additional bay each side. The north face has a pedimented centre, with two balustraded staircases leading to a Roman Doric doorcase. The south face has a projecting Ionic tetrastyle portico and Venetian windows. It has a broad staircase, with cast stone sphinxes on each side, leading to a south door topped with a cornice on consoles. The wings have modillion cornice and balustrade.[10]
A two-story L-shaped service wing is attached to the east side of the mansion. It is made of red brick and stone, with slate roofs.[10] It was designed by Capability Brown in 1751-2.[22] On the far side of the service wing, a wall connects it to a stable court.[10]
Interior[edit]
The interior of the house was designed partially by Capability Brown, with plasterwork by G. Vassalli, and partially by Robert Adam, with plasterwork by J. Rose Jr. It has a central spine corridor. A stone staircase, with iron balusters, is at the east end.[10]
The entrance hall is on the north side of the building, and has four fluted Doric columns, along with moulded doorcases. To the east of the entrance hall is the dining room, which has a plaster ceiling and cornice, while to the west is a billiard room, featuring fielded panelling, a plaster cornice, and a rococo fireplace. The three rooms were probably decorated around 1758-59 by Capability Brown.[10] The dining room was vibrantly repainted by the Hare Krishnas in the 1970s-80s.[17]
The central room on the south side is a saloon, probably by Brown and Vassalli. It has an elaborate ceiling, with three panels, deep coving, and a cornice, along with two Ionic fireplaces, and Palladian doorcases.[10] George III was entertained by George Coventry, the 6th Earl, in the house's Saloon.[2] A drawing room is to the west of the saloon, and features rococo plasterwork and a marble fireplace.[10]
To the east of the saloon is the Tapestry Room.[10] This was designed in 1763-71, based on a design by Robert Adam, and contained tapestries and furniture covers possibly designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot, and made by Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins.[23] Around 1902 the ninth Earl sold the tapestries and seating to a Parisian dealer. In 1949 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the ceiling, floor, mantlepiece, chair rails, doors and the door surrounds, which were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1958. In 1959 the Kress Foundation also helped the Metropolitan Museum acquire the chair and sofa frames, which they recovered using the original tapestry seats.[7][23] A copy of the ceiling was installed in place of the original.[10] As of 2016, the room is displayed as it would have looked after the tapestries had been sold, with a jug and ewer on display as the only original decoration of the room that remains in it. The adjacent library room is used to explain what happened to the tapestry room;[17] the former library was designed by Adam, and was dismantled except for the marble fireplace.[10]
At the west side of the building is a long gallery,[10] which was designed by Robert Adam and installed between 1761 and 1766. It is the best preserved of the original interior (little of the rest has survived in situ).[1] It has an octagonal panelled ceiling, and plaster reliefs of griffins. A half-hexagonal bay faces the garden. The room also contains a marble caryatid fireplace designed by J Wilton.[10] As of 2016, modern sculptures are displayed in empty niches along the Long Gallery
wikipedia
Main rooms[edit]
The gatehouse is of 1406, and the block to its left, now the shop and cafe, has Gothic windows facing the moat. The main facade is medieval to the left, but in Elizabethan prodigy house style at the centre and right. The chapel is 14th-century Decorated Gothic, the other main rooms that are opened mainly Elizabethan. The great hall runs along the facade. Upstairs there is a long gallery overlooking the gardens at the rear.[4]
The best bedrooms have two very elaborate chimneypieces, in the Queen's Bedroom (used by Anne of Denmark) a stone one heavily decorated with ornament in a style "proclaiming the Renaissance but simultaneously revealing a still very imperfect comprehension of what it was all about". This was presumably the result of a local carver with access to an ornament pattern book such as those by Hans Vredeman de Vries; the two human heads still look distinctly medieval. The other chimneypiece, in the bedroom James I used, is at another stylistic extreme; a very polished and spacious stucco piece in a style comparable to that of the First School of Fontainebleau, and probably not made by English artists. The central medallion, with a mythological scene, is designed by Rosso Fiorentino, and also appears in the Palace of Fontainebleau. This is flanked by two large nude boys. The Italian artists of the Tudor court Henry VIII used at Nonsuch Palace have been suggested; the pieces were almost certainly made elsewhere and taken to Broughton.[5]
There are several fine plasterwork ceilings, the most spectacular in the Great Parlour on the first floor, and the Oak Room below it. There is 18th-century painted Chinese wallpaper of different tree, bird and flower designs in three bedrooms, in very good condition. At roof level there is a room believed to be that "with no ears", where the 1st viscount plotted with Parliamentary leaders in the years before the Civil War.[6] The gardens have long herbacious borders, at their best in summer.
Films and TVs[edit]
Parts of the films The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), Oxford Blues (1984), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), The Madness of King George (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Jane Eyre (2011) were shot in the castle. TV filming for parts of Elizabeth The Virgin Queen, Friends and Crocodiles, 1975 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, and the titles of Noel's House Party also took place there. The castle has been used as the location for several other films and TV programmes[7] including an adaptation of Jane Eyre and
Concerts[edit]
In August 1981, the electric folk band Fairport Convention held their annual reunion concert at Broughton Castle, rather than the usual Cropredy location.[8] The concert was recorded, and released on the album Moat on the Ledge (1982).
Fiction[edit]
Published in April 2009, The Music Room is a novel by William Fiennes. This fictionalized memoir of his childhood and his epileptic brother is set in (the never identified) Broughton Castle. It has been described as "a beautiful poem of a tribute to his family, his parents, the magical, moated castle that was his home"
Wikipedia
Sometimes you talk to other explorers who give you hints how to ge in somewhere. I thought I had it all figured out when we arrived here. Until I saw where we should go in. I clearly should have mentioned that I am almost 2 meters long and 120 kilograms.... Luckily it all worked out!
This castle dates back to the 13th century. It was built on a crossing of two very important trade routes and therefor interesting area for people to settle. It has been owned by various aristocrats during the centuries.
The beautiful plaster on the several ceilings was built in the end of the 17th century already. In one room called the 'Bacchus Room' the ceiling is decorated with angels and wine barrels.
Although the decorations inside are some you don't see very often, the rest of the castle is rather empty. They have been working on renovation, but guess this is at a standstill for several years already....
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Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse (Hammam-e Sultan Amir Ahmad), also known as the Qasemi Bathhouse, is a traditional Iranian public bathhouse in Kashan, Iran. It was constructed in the 16th century, during the Safavid era; however, the bathhouse was damaged in 1778 as a result of an earthquake and was renovated during the Qajar era. The bathhouse is named after Imamzadeh Sultan Amir Ahmad, whose mausoleum is nearby.
Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse, with an area of around 1000 square meters, consists of two main parts, Sarbineh (the dressing hall) and Garmkhaneh (the hot bathing hall). Sarbineh is a large octagonal hall, which has an octagonal pool in the middle separated by 8 pillars from the outer section. There are four pillars in Garmkhaneh, which make smaller bathing rooms all around as well as the entrance section to Khazineh (final bathing room) in the middle. The interior of the bathhouse is decorated with turquoise and gold tilework, plasterwork, brickwork as well as artistic paintings. The roof of the bathhouse is made of multiple domes that contain convex glasses to provide sufficient lighting to the bathhouse while concealing it from the outside.
Sudbury Hall, was the country home of the Lords Vernon, containing 17th-century craftsmanship, featuring plasterwork, wood carvings and classical story-based murals.
The Museum of Childhood within the Hall is a delight for all ages with something for everyone. Watch your children discovering something new, or relive nostalgic memories by exploring the childhoods of times gone by.
The Parish Church of All Saints,which is adjacent to the house, was restored for the 6th Lord Vernon by George Devey.
It was used by the BBC to film "Pride & Prejudice".
Croome Court is a mid 18th century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by an extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Pershore in south Worcestershire. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry, and was Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the internal rooms of the mansion were designed by Robert Adam.
The mansion house is owned by Croome Heritage Trust, and is leased to the National Trust who operate it, along with the surrounding parkland, as a tourist attraction. The National Trust own the surrounding parkland, which is also open to the public.
Location[edit]
Croome Court is located near to Croome D'Abitot, in Worcestershire,[1] near Pirton, Worcestershire.[2] The wider estate was established on lands that were once part of the royal forest of Horewell.[3] Traces of these older landscapes, such as unimproved commons and ancient woodlands, can be found across the former Croome Estate.[4]
House[edit]
Croome Court South Portico
History[edit]
The foundations and core of Croome Court, including the central chimney stack structure, date back to the early 1640s.[5] Substantial changes to this early house were made by Gilbert Coventry, 4th Earl of Coventry.[6]
In 1751, George Coventry, the 6th Earl, inherited the estate, along with the existing Jacobean house. He commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown, with the assistance of Sanderson Miller, to redesign the house and estate.[7][1] It was Brown's "first flight into the realms of architecture" and a "rare example of his architectural work",[8] and it is an important and seminal work.[9] It was built between 1751 and 1752, and it and Hagley Hall are considered to be the finest examples of Neo-Palladian architecture in Worcestershire. Notable Neo-Palladian features incorporated into Croome Court include the plain exterior and the corner towers with pyramidal roofs (a feature first used by Inigo Jones in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire).[1] Robert Adam worked on the interior of the building from 1760 onwards.[10]
The house has been visited by George III,[2][11] as well as Queen Victoria[7] during summers when she was a child, and George V (then Duke of York).[11]
A jam factory was built by the 9th Earl of Coventry, near to Pershore railway station, in about 1880, to provide a market for Vale of Evesham fruit growers in times of surplus. Although the Croome connection with jam making had ceased, during the First World War, the building was leased by the Croome Estate Trust to the Huddersfield Fruit Preserving Company as a pulping station.[12]
The First World War deeply affected Croome, with many local casualties, although the house was not requisitioned for the war effort. This is possibly because it was the home of the Lord Lieutenant of the County, who needed a residence for his many official engagements.[13]
During the Second World War Croome Court was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works and leased for a year to the Dutch Government as a possible refuge for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands; to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. However, evidence shows that they stayed two weeks at the most, perhaps because of the noise and fear created by the proximity of Defford Aerodrome. They later emigrated to Canada.[14]
In 1948 the Croome Estate Trust sold the Court, along with 38 acres (15 ha) of land, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, and the mansion became St Joseph's Special School, which was run by nuns[15] from 1950[11] until 1979.[15]
The house was listed on 11 August 1952; it is currently Grade I listed.[10]
In 1979 the hall was taken over by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement), who used it as their UK headquarters and a training college[16] called Chaitanya College,[15] run by 25 members of the movement.[16] During their tenure they repainted the Dining Room.[17] In 1984 they had to leave the estate for financial reasons. They held a festival at the hall in 2011.[16]
From 1984 onwards various owners tried to use the property as a training centre; apartments; a restaurant and conference centre; and a hotel and golf course,[15] before once more becoming a private family home,[2][15] with outbuildings converted to private houses.[15]
The house was purchased by the Croome Heritage Trust, a registered charity,[18] in October 2007,[19] and it is now managed by the National Trust as a tourist attraction. It opened to the public in September 2009, at which point six of the rooms had restored, costing £400,000, including the Saloon. It was estimated that another £4 million[2][20] to £4.8 million would be needed to restore the entire building. Fundraising activities for the restoration included a 2011 raffle for a Morgan sports car organised by Lord and Lady Flight. After the restoration is complete, a 999-year lease on the building will be granted to the National Trust.[21] An oral history project to record recollections about Croome was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.[15] As of 2009, the service wing was empty and in need of substantial repair.[22]
Exterior[edit]
The mansion is faced with Bath stone,[7] limestone ashlar, and has both north and south facing fronts. It has a basement and two stories, with three stories in the end pavilions. A slate roof, with pyramid roofs over the corner towers, tops the building, along with three pair-linked chimneys along the axis of the house.[10]
Both fronts have 11 bays, split into three central sets of three each, and one additional bay each side. The north face has a pedimented centre, with two balustraded staircases leading to a Roman Doric doorcase. The south face has a projecting Ionic tetrastyle portico and Venetian windows. It has a broad staircase, with cast stone sphinxes on each side, leading to a south door topped with a cornice on consoles. The wings have modillion cornice and balustrade.[10]
A two-story L-shaped service wing is attached to the east side of the mansion. It is made of red brick and stone, with slate roofs.[10] It was designed by Capability Brown in 1751-2.[22] On the far side of the service wing, a wall connects it to a stable court.[10]
Interior[edit]
The interior of the house was designed partially by Capability Brown, with plasterwork by G. Vassalli, and partially by Robert Adam, with plasterwork by J. Rose Jr. It has a central spine corridor. A stone staircase, with iron balusters, is at the east end.[10]
The entrance hall is on the north side of the building, and has four fluted Doric columns, along with moulded doorcases. To the east of the entrance hall is the dining room, which has a plaster ceiling and cornice, while to the west is a billiard room, featuring fielded panelling, a plaster cornice, and a rococo fireplace. The three rooms were probably decorated around 1758-59 by Capability Brown.[10] The dining room was vibrantly repainted by the Hare Krishnas in the 1970s-80s.[17]
The central room on the south side is a saloon, probably by Brown and Vassalli. It has an elaborate ceiling, with three panels, deep coving, and a cornice, along with two Ionic fireplaces, and Palladian doorcases.[10] George III was entertained by George Coventry, the 6th Earl, in the house's Saloon.[2] A drawing room is to the west of the saloon, and features rococo plasterwork and a marble fireplace.[10]
To the east of the saloon is the Tapestry Room.[10] This was designed in 1763-71, based on a design by Robert Adam, and contained tapestries and furniture covers possibly designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot, and made by Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins.[23] Around 1902 the ninth Earl sold the tapestries and seating to a Parisian dealer. In 1949 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the ceiling, floor, mantlepiece, chair rails, doors and the door surrounds, which were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1958. In 1959 the Kress Foundation also helped the Metropolitan Museum acquire the chair and sofa frames, which they recovered using the original tapestry seats.[7][23] A copy of the ceiling was installed in place of the original.[10] As of 2016, the room is displayed as it would have looked after the tapestries had been sold, with a jug and ewer on display as the only original decoration of the room that remains in it. The adjacent library room is used to explain what happened to the tapestry room;[17] the former library was designed by Adam, and was dismantled except for the marble fireplace.[10]
At the west side of the building is a long gallery,[10] which was designed by Robert Adam and installed between 1761 and 1766. It is the best preserved of the original interior (little of the rest has survived in situ).[1] It has an octagonal panelled ceiling, and plaster reliefs of griffins. A half-hexagonal bay faces the garden. The room also contains a marble caryatid fireplace designed by J Wilton.[10] As of 2016, modern sculptures are displayed in empty niches along the Long Gallery
wikipedia
Rex Cinema, Berkhamsted. The gorgeous plasterwork, concealed lighting and spaciousness have all been restored - it had been sub-divided to form a bingo hall in the stalls and two mini-cinemas in the balcony. Opened in May 1938, the Rex was designed by David Evelyn Nye for the Shipman & King circuit. It seated 1,100 with more seats in the circle than the stalls due to the location of the café on the ground floor. The circle was twinned - badly - in 1976, and the stalls became a bingo hall. It was closed in 1988 and also listed grade 2 the same year. It was left in a vandalised and derelict state, with calls for its demolition. Almost miraculously, it was restored and reopened in 2004, with enormous success - the majority of performances are sold-out. The large foyer is separated as a restaurant, and the former car park used for flats, but the glorious auditorium renovated as a single screen is once more, now seating 350 in luxurious comfort. The day before these images were taken was a celebratory evening marking the 21st anniversary of the reopening.
An album of images of the cinema across the years can be seen here:-
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England - Rex (Studio) Cinema, High Street
December 2025
Levens Hall is a magnificent Elizabethan mansion that was built around 1350 by the Redman family as a pele (or peel) tower and was later expanded and rebuilt towards the end of the 16th Century. It is the family home of the Bagots, and contains a collection of Jacobean furniture, fine paintings, the earliest English patchwork and many other beautiful objects. (No photos from inside the house as photography is not allowed)
The world-famous award winning gardens were laid out in 1694. The topiary beech hedges and colourful seasonal beds create a stunning visual impact. The topiary garden has huge abstract shapes, pyramids and columns reminiscent of monstrous chess men.
These photographs remind me of my many days visiting stately homes during the summer months, hope you enjoy.
The Cabot Street Cinema Theatre
Beverly, Massachusetts
"The Cabot Street Cinema Theatre welcomed its first audience on December 8, 1920. Originally known as the Ware, the theatre was built for films and live stage entertainment by brothers N. Harris and D. Glover Ware, both vaudeville veterans. Variety, the show business weekly, praised the Ware at the time of its opening, as “the most impressive auditorium of its size east of New York.”
The Ware’s full stage was used throughout the 1920s for variety entertainment. By the mid-1930s the stage was all but silent, yet Beverly could still lay claim to the most elegant movie palace north of Boston.
Through the years, the theatre’s beautiful interior design was kept largely intact. A 43-foot dome with bronze chandelier still overarches the seats of the orchestra and balcony, and the ornate plasterwork of the proscenium is decorated with murals and gold-leaf. The interior design of circular or elliptical arches maximizes the acoustic and aesthetic effect.
By August 1976, the Cabot Cinema (its name changed in 1964) had fallen on hard times. That changed when the present owners brought new life and a new name (Cabot Street Cinema Theatre) to the aging dream-palace. A program of Films Worth Seeing More Than Once was launched, bringing high-quality films to Beverly and the North Shore, and audiences entering the Cabot were greeted by tuxedoed ushers and the melodies of a player piano.
The long-dormant stage was soon fully restored and the world-renowned stage magic extravaganza known as Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company, debuted on February 20, 1977.
Today, in the elegance of an historic 1920 theatre, you can enjoy a wonderful selection of fine domestic and foreign language films on the big screen."
This really does look better on black ... Just type "L" for Lightbox
If you view large, you can see part of the pink decorative plasterwork from the top of the facade - it's just above the end of the double yellow lines. Much too heavy for me to "rescue".
History:
www.flickr.com/photos/44435674@N00/24472190591/in/photoli...
Main rooms[edit]
The gatehouse is of 1406, and the block to its left, now the shop and cafe, has Gothic windows facing the moat. The main facade is medieval to the left, but in Elizabethan prodigy house style at the centre and right. The chapel is 14th-century Decorated Gothic, the other main rooms that are opened mainly Elizabethan. The great hall runs along the facade. Upstairs there is a long gallery overlooking the gardens at the rear.[4]
The best bedrooms have two very elaborate chimneypieces, in the Queen's Bedroom (used by Anne of Denmark) a stone one heavily decorated with ornament in a style "proclaiming the Renaissance but simultaneously revealing a still very imperfect comprehension of what it was all about". This was presumably the result of a local carver with access to an ornament pattern book such as those by Hans Vredeman de Vries; the two human heads still look distinctly medieval. The other chimneypiece, in the bedroom James I used, is at another stylistic extreme; a very polished and spacious stucco piece in a style comparable to that of the First School of Fontainebleau, and probably not made by English artists. The central medallion, with a mythological scene, is designed by Rosso Fiorentino, and also appears in the Palace of Fontainebleau. This is flanked by two large nude boys. The Italian artists of the Tudor court Henry VIII used at Nonsuch Palace have been suggested; the pieces were almost certainly made elsewhere and taken to Broughton.[5]
There are several fine plasterwork ceilings, the most spectacular in the Great Parlour on the first floor, and the Oak Room below it. There is 18th-century painted Chinese wallpaper of different tree, bird and flower designs in three bedrooms, in very good condition. At roof level there is a room believed to be that "with no ears", where the 1st viscount plotted with Parliamentary leaders in the years before the Civil War.[6] The gardens have long herbacious borders, at their best in summer.
Films and TVs[edit]
Parts of the films The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), Oxford Blues (1984), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), The Madness of King George (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Jane Eyre (2011) were shot in the castle. TV filming for parts of Elizabeth The Virgin Queen, Friends and Crocodiles, 1975 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, and the titles of Noel's House Party also took place there. The castle has been used as the location for several other films and TV programmes[7] including an adaptation of Jane Eyre and
Concerts[edit]
In August 1981, the electric folk band Fairport Convention held their annual reunion concert at Broughton Castle, rather than the usual Cropredy location.[8] The concert was recorded, and released on the album Moat on the Ledge (1982).
Fiction[edit]
Published in April 2009, The Music Room is a novel by William Fiennes. This fictionalized memoir of his childhood and his epileptic brother is set in (the never identified) Broughton Castle. It has been described as "a beautiful poem of a tribute to his family, his parents, the magical, moated castle that was his home"
Wikipedia
Rex Cinema, Berkhamsted. The gorgeous plasterwork, concealed lighting and spaciousness have all been restored - it had been sub-divided to form a bingo hall in the stalls and two mini-cinemas in the balcony. Opened in May 1938, the Rex was designed by David Evelyn Nye for the Shipman & King circuit. It seated 1,100 with more seats in the circle than the stalls due to the location of the café on the ground floor. The circle was twinned - badly - in 1976, and the stalls became a bingo hall. It was closed in 1988 and also listed grade 2 the same year. It was left in a vandalised and derelict state, with calls for its demolition. Almost miraculously, it was restored and reopened in 2004, with enormous success - the majority of performances are sold-out. The large foyer is separated as a restaurant, and the former car park used for flats, but the glorious auditorium renovated as a single screen is once more, now seating 350 in luxurious comfort. The day before these images were taken was a celebratory evening marking the 21st anniversary of the reopening.
An album of images of the cinema across the years can be seen here:-
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England - Rex (Studio) Cinema, High Street
December 2025
A visit to the National Trust property that is Penrhyn Castle
Penrhyn Castle is a country house in Llandygai, Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales, in the form of a Norman castle. It was originally a medieval fortified manor house, founded by Ednyfed Fychan. In 1438, Ioan ap Gruffudd was granted a licence to crenellate and he founded the stone castle and added a tower house. Samuel Wyatt reconstructed the property in the 1780s.
The present building was created between about 1822 and 1837 to designs by Thomas Hopper, who expanded and transformed the building beyond recognition. However a spiral staircase from the original property can still be seen, and a vaulted basement and other masonry were incorporated into the new structure. Hopper's client was George Hay Dawkins-Pennant, who had inherited the Penrhyn estate on the death of his second cousin, Richard Pennant, who had made his fortune from slavery in Jamaica and local slate quarries. The eldest of George's two daughters, Juliana, married Grenadier Guard, Edward Gordon Douglas, who, on inheriting the estate on George's death in 1845, adopted the hyphenated surname of Douglas-Pennant. The cost of the construction of this vast 'castle' is disputed, and very difficult to work out accurately, as much of the timber came from the family's own forestry, and much of the labour was acquired from within their own workforce at the slate quarry. It cost the Pennant family an estimated £150,000. This is the current equivalent to about £49,500,000.
Penrhyn is one of the most admired of the numerous mock castles built in the United Kingdom in the 19th century; Christopher Hussey called it, "the outstanding instance of Norman revival." The castle is a picturesque composition that stretches over 600 feet from a tall donjon containing family rooms, through the main block built around the earlier house, to the service wing and the stables.
It is built in a sombre style which allows it to possess something of the medieval fortress air despite the ground-level drawing room windows. Hopper designed all the principal interiors in a rich but restrained Norman style, with much fine plasterwork and wood and stone carving. The castle also has some specially designed Norman-style furniture, including a one-ton slate bed made for Queen Victoria when she visited in 1859.
Hugh Napier Douglas-Pennant, 4th Lord Penrhyn, died in 1949, and the castle and estate passed to his niece, Lady Janet Pelham, who, on inheritance, adopted the surname of Douglas-Pennant. In 1951, the castle and 40,000 acres (160 km²) of land were accepted by the treasury in lieu of death duties from Lady Janet. It now belongs to the National Trust and is open to the public. The site received 109,395 visitors in 2017.
Grade I Listed Building
History
The present house, built in the form of a vast Norman castle, was constructed to the design of Thomas Hopper for George Hay Dawkins-Pennant between 1820 and 1837. It has been very little altered since.
The original house on the site was a medieval manor house of C14 origin, for which a licence to crenellate was given at an unknown date between 1410 and 1431. This house survived until c1782 when it was remodelled in castellated Gothick style, replete with yellow mathematical tiles, by Samuel Wyatt for Richard Pennant. This house, the great hall of which is incorporated in the present drawing room, was remodelled in c1800, but the vast profits from the Penrhyn slate quarries enabled all the rest to be completely swept away by Hopper's vast neo-Norman fantasy, sited and built so that it could be seen not only from the quarries, but most parts of the surrounding estate, thereby emphasizing the local dominance of the Dawkins-Pennant family. The total cost is unknown but it cannot have been less than the £123,000 claimed by Catherine Sinclair in 1839.
Since 1951 the house has belonged to the National Trust, together with over 40,000 acres of the family estates around Ysbyty Ifan and the Ogwen valley.
Exterior
Country house built in the style of a vast Norman castle with other later medieval influences, so huge (its 70 roofs cover an area of over an acre (0.4ha)) that it almost defies meaningful description. The main components of the house, which is built on a north-south axis with the main elevations to east and west, are the 124ft (37.8m) high keep, based on Castle Hedingham (Essex) containing the family quarters on the south, the central range, protected by a 'barbican' terrace on the east, housing the state apartments, and the rectangular-shaped staff/service buildings and stables to the north. The whole is constructed of local rubblestone with internal brick lining, but all elevations are faced in tooled Anglesey limestone ashlar of the finest quality jointing; flat lead roofs concealed by castellated parapets. Close to, the extreme length of the building (it is about 200 yards (182.88m) long) and the fact that the ground slopes away on all sides mean that almost no complete elevation can be seen. That the most frequent views of the exterior are oblique also offered Hopper the opportunity to deploy his towers for picturesque effect, the relationship between the keep and the other towers and turrets frequently obscuring the distances between them. Another significant external feature of the castle is that it actually looks defensible making it secure at least from Pugin's famous slur of 1841 on contemporary "castles" - "Who would hammer against nailed portals, when he could kick his way through the greenhouse?" Certainly, this could never be achieved at Penrhyn and it looks every inch the impregnable fortress both architect and patron intended it to be.
East elevation: to the left is the loosely attached 4-storey keep on battered plinth with 4 tiers of deeply splayed Norman windows, 2 to each face, with chevron decoration and nook-shafts, topped by 4 square corner turrets. The dining room (distinguished by the intersecting tracery above the windows) and breakfast room to the right of the entrance gallery are protected by the long sweep of the machicolated 'barbican' terrace (carriage forecourt), curved in front of the 2 rooms and then running northwards before returning at right-angles to the west to include the gatehouse, which formed the original main entrance to the castle, and ending in a tall rectangular tower with machicolated parapet. To the right of the gatehouse are the recessed buildings of the kitchen court and to the right again the long, largely unbroken outer wall of the stable court, terminated by the square footmen's tower to the left and the rather more exuberant projecting circular dung tower with its spectacularly cantilevered bartizan on the right. From here the wall runs at right-angles to the west incorporating the impressive gatehouse to the stable court.
West elevation: beginning at the left is the hexagonal smithy tower, followed by the long run of the stable court, well provided with windows on this side as the stables lie directly behind. At the end of this the wall turns at right-angles to the west, incorporating the narrow circular-turreted gatehouse to the outer court and terminating in the machicolated circular ice tower. From here the wall runs again at a lower height enclosing the remainder of the outer court. It is, of course, the state apartments which make up the chief architectural display on the central part of this elevation, beginning with a strongly articulated but essentially rectangular tower to the left, while both the drawing room and the library have Norman windows leading directly onto the lawns, the latter terminating in a slender machicolated circular corner tower. To the right is the keep, considerably set back on this side.
Interior
Only those parts of the castle generally accessible to visitors are recorded in this description. Although not described here much of the furniture and many of the paintings (including family portraits) are also original to the house. Similarly, it should be noted that in the interests of brevity and clarity, not all significant architectural features are itemised in the following description.
Entrance gallery: one of the last parts of the castle to be built, this narrow cloister-like passage was added to the main block to heighten the sensation of entering the vast Grand Hall, which is made only partly visible by the deliberate offsetting of the intervening doorways; bronze lamp standards with wolf-heads on stone bases. Grand Hall: entering the columned aisle of this huge space, the visitor stands at a cross-roads between the 3 principal areas of the castle's plan; to the left the passage leads up to the family's private apartments on the 4 floors of the keep, to the right the door at the end leads to the extensive service quarters while ahead lies the sequence of state rooms used for entertaining guests and displayed to the public ever since the castle was built. The hall itself resembles in form, style and scale the transept of a great Norman cathedral, the great clustered columns extending upwards to a "triforium" formed on 2 sides of extraordinary compound arches; stained glass with signs of the zodiac and months of the year as in a book of hours by Thomas Willement (completed 1835). Library: has very much the atmosphere of a gentlemen’s London club with walls, columned arches and ceilings covered in the most lavish ornamentation; superb architectural bookcases and panelled walls are of oak but the arches are plaster grained to match; ornamental bosses and other devices to the rich plaster ceiling refer to the ancestry of the Dawkins and Pennant families, as do the stained glass lunettes above the windows, possibly by David Evans of Shrewsbury; 4 chimneypieces of polished Anglesey "marble", one with a frieze of fantastical carved mummers in the capitals. Drawing room (great hall of the late C18 house and its medieval predecessor): again in a neo-Norman style but the decoration is lighter and the columns more slender, the spirit of the room reflected in the 2000 delicate Maltese gilt crosses to the vaulted ceiling. Ebony room: so called on account of its furniture and "ebonised" chimneypiece and plasterwork, has at its entrance a spiral staircase from the medieval house. Grand Staircase hall: in many ways the greatest architectural achievement at Penrhyn, taking 10 years to complete, the carving in 2 contrasting stones of the highest quality; repeating abstract decorative motifs contrast with the infinitely inventive figurative carving in the newels and capitals; to the top the intricate plaster panels of the domed lantern are formed in exceptionally high relief and display both Norse and Celtic influences. Next to the grand stair is the secondary stair, itself a magnificent structure in grey sandstone with lantern, built immediately next to the grand stair so that family or guests should not meet staff on the same staircase. Reached from the columned aisle of the grand hall are the 2 remaining principal ground-floor rooms, the dining room and the breakfast room, among the last parts of the castle to be completed and clearly intended to be picture galleries as much as dining areas, the stencilled treatment of the walls in the dining room allowing both the provision of an appropriately elaborate "Norman" scheme and a large flat surface for the hanging of paintings; black marble fireplace carved by Richard Westmacott and extremely ornate ceiling with leaf bosses encircled by bands of figurative mouldings derived from the Romanesque church of Kilpeck, Herefordshire. Breakfast room has cambered beam ceiling with oak-grained finish.
Grand hall gallery: at the top of the grand staircase is vaulted and continues around the grand hall below to link with the passage to the keep, which at this level (as on the other floors) contains a suite of rooms comprising a sitting room, dressing room, bedroom and small ante-chamber, the room containing the famous slate bed also with a red Mona marble chimneypiece, one of the most spectacular in the castle. Returning to the grand hall gallery and continuing straight on rather than returning to the grand staircase the Lower India room is reached to the right: this contains an Anglesey limestone chimneypiece painted to match the ground colour of the room's Chinese wallpaper. Coming out of this room, the chapel corridor leads to the chapel gallery (used by the family) and the chapel proper below (used by staff), the latter with encaustic tiles probably reused from the old medieval chapel; stained and painted glass by David Evans (c1833).
The domestic quarters of the castle are reached along the passage from the breakfast room, which turns at right-angles to the right at the foot of the secondary staircase, the most important areas being the butler's pantry, steward's office, servants' hall, housekeeper's room, still room, housekeeper's store and housemaids' tower, while the kitchen (with its cast-iron range flanked by large and hygienic vertical slabs of Penrhyn slate) is housed on the lower ground floor. From this kitchen court, which also includes a coal store, oil vaults, brushing room, lamp room, pastry room, larder, scullery and laundry are reached the outer court with its soup kitchen, brewhouse and 2-storey ice tower and the much larger stables court which, along with the stables themselves containing their extensive slate-partitioned stalls and loose boxes, incorporates the coach house, covered ride, smithy tower, dung tower with gardeners' messroom above and footmen's tower.
Reasons for Listing
Included at Grade I as one of the most important large country houses in Wales; a superb example of the relatively short-lived Norman Revival of the early C19 and generally regarded as the masterpiece of its architect, Thomas Hopper.
First views of the castle.
Towards the Railway Museum
Main rooms[edit]
The gatehouse is of 1406, and the block to its left, now the shop and cafe, has Gothic windows facing the moat. The main facade is medieval to the left, but in Elizabethan prodigy house style at the centre and right. The chapel is 14th-century Decorated Gothic, the other main rooms that are opened mainly Elizabethan. The great hall runs along the facade. Upstairs there is a long gallery overlooking the gardens at the rear.[4]
The best bedrooms have two very elaborate chimneypieces, in the Queen's Bedroom (used by Anne of Denmark) a stone one heavily decorated with ornament in a style "proclaiming the Renaissance but simultaneously revealing a still very imperfect comprehension of what it was all about". This was presumably the result of a local carver with access to an ornament pattern book such as those by Hans Vredeman de Vries; the two human heads still look distinctly medieval. The other chimneypiece, in the bedroom James I used, is at another stylistic extreme; a very polished and spacious stucco piece in a style comparable to that of the First School of Fontainebleau, and probably not made by English artists. The central medallion, with a mythological scene, is designed by Rosso Fiorentino, and also appears in the Palace of Fontainebleau. This is flanked by two large nude boys. The Italian artists of the Tudor court Henry VIII used at Nonsuch Palace have been suggested; the pieces were almost certainly made elsewhere and taken to Broughton.[5]
There are several fine plasterwork ceilings, the most spectacular in the Great Parlour on the first floor, and the Oak Room below it. There is 18th-century painted Chinese wallpaper of different tree, bird and flower designs in three bedrooms, in very good condition. At roof level there is a room believed to be that "with no ears", where the 1st viscount plotted with Parliamentary leaders in the years before the Civil War.[6] The gardens have long herbacious borders, at their best in summer.
Films and TVs[edit]
Parts of the films The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), Oxford Blues (1984), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), The Madness of King George (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Jane Eyre (2011) were shot in the castle. TV filming for parts of Elizabeth The Virgin Queen, Friends and Crocodiles, 1975 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, and the titles of Noel's House Party also took place there. The castle has been used as the location for several other films and TV programmes[7] including an adaptation of Jane Eyre and
Concerts[edit]
In August 1981, the electric folk band Fairport Convention held their annual reunion concert at Broughton Castle, rather than the usual Cropredy location.[8] The concert was recorded, and released on the album Moat on the Ledge (1982).
Fiction[edit]
Published in April 2009, The Music Room is a novel by William Fiennes. This fictionalized memoir of his childhood and his epileptic brother is set in (the never identified) Broughton Castle. It has been described as "a beautiful poem of a tribute to his family, his parents, the magical, moated castle that was his home"
Wikipedia
Album Cover
The Edinburgh Festival Theatre (formerly Empire Palace Theatre) is a performing arts venue located on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, Scotland used primarily for performances of opera and ballet, large-scale musical events, and touring groups. After its most recent renovation in 1994, it seats 1,915. It is one of the major venues of the annual summer Edinburgh International Festival and is the Edinburgh venue for the Scottish Opera and the Scottish Ballet.
The present theatre’s location is Edinburgh’s longest continuous theatre site, for there has been a theatre in that location since 1830. From being Dunedin Hall, the Royal Amphitheatre, Alhambra Music Hall, the Queen’s Theatre, Pablo Fanque's Amphitheatre, and Newsome’s Circus, the site became the Empire Palace Theatre, the first of the famous Moss Empires’ chain, opening on 7 November 1892. Designed by the great British theatre architect, Frank Matcham, (who built the London Coliseum, among others) its décor was lavish, with elephants with Nubian riders, nymphs and cherubs in abundance on the plasterwork, and it seated 3000 people on four levels.
For the following twenty years all the top artists of the day played at the Empire Palace until, on 9 May 1911, there was a disastrous fire on stage. While all 3000 theatre goers escaped safely (there were eleven backstage deaths and the death of a lion), the theatre reopened three months later. However, given the long term competition from the growth of film as a popular medium, the theatre was re-equipped to present bigger and more spectacular shows. Reusing some of Matcham’s original design concepts, the theatre reopened on 1 October 1928 with the musical Show Boat.
Between 1928 and 1963 the Empire was a variety, musical and opera house, often including ice shows. Big names like Harry Lauder, Charles Laughton, Fats Waller, Joe Loss, and Laurel and Hardy appeared, while English comedians Max Wall, Morecambe and Wise and Harry Worth established themselves at the Empire.
In addition to the music hall and popular entertainers who appeared at the Empire, the theatre became a principal venue of the Edinburgh International Festival between 1947 and 1963. It was particularly associated with international ballet and, during the first Festival in 1947, Margot Fonteyn danced in The Sleeping Beauty, while in subsequent years, performances by the Old Vic theatre company, the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera were presented.
However, for nearly thirty years after 1963 the theatre became a bingo hall, only temporarily serving as a Festival venue. Finally, after its third major remodeling, the Empire Palace Theatre reopened in June 1994 with a glass-fronted structure for the new entrance (created by Law & Dunbar-Nasmith Architects), as the now-renamed Edinburgh Festival Theatre. In 1997, the distinguished theatre manager and artistic director Stephen Barry was appointed to shape the rejuvenated venue's future. With the restoration of the Empire Theatre’s former 1928 glory, plus a dramatic mix of art nouveau, beaux arts and neo-classicism, and including adequate acoustics, the new theatre serves all the artistic needs of the community.
The theatre is said to be haunted by a tall, dark stranger rumoured to be the famous illusionist Sigmund Neuberger, aka The Great Lafayette, who was one of those who burned to death in the fire at the Empire in 1911.
Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse (Hammam-e Sultan Amir Ahmad), also known as the Qasemi Bathhouse, is a traditional Iranian public bathhouse in Kashan, Iran. It was constructed in the 16th century, during the Safavid era; however, the bathhouse was damaged in 1778 as a result of an earthquake and was renovated during the Qajar era. The bathhouse is named after Imamzadeh Sultan Amir Ahmad, whose mausoleum is nearby.
Sultan Amir Ahmad Bathhouse, with an area of around 1000 square meters, consists of two main parts, Sarbineh (the dressing hall) and Garmkhaneh (the hot bathing hall). Sarbineh is a large octagonal hall, which has an octagonal pool in the middle separated by 8 pillars from the outer section. There are four pillars in Garmkhaneh, which make smaller bathing rooms all around as well as the entrance section to Khazineh (final bathing room) in the middle. The interior of the bathhouse is decorated with turquoise and gold tilework, plasterwork, brickwork as well as artistic paintings. The roof of the bathhouse is made of multiple domes that contain convex glasses to provide sufficient lighting to the bathhouse while concealing it from the outside.
Main rooms[edit]
The gatehouse is of 1406, and the block to its left, now the shop and cafe, has Gothic windows facing the moat. The main facade is medieval to the left, but in Elizabethan prodigy house style at the centre and right. The chapel is 14th-century Decorated Gothic, the other main rooms that are opened mainly Elizabethan. The great hall runs along the facade. Upstairs there is a long gallery overlooking the gardens at the rear.[4]
The best bedrooms have two very elaborate chimneypieces, in the Queen's Bedroom (used by Anne of Denmark) a stone one heavily decorated with ornament in a style "proclaiming the Renaissance but simultaneously revealing a still very imperfect comprehension of what it was all about". This was presumably the result of a local carver with access to an ornament pattern book such as those by Hans Vredeman de Vries; the two human heads still look distinctly medieval. The other chimneypiece, in the bedroom James I used, is at another stylistic extreme; a very polished and spacious stucco piece in a style comparable to that of the First School of Fontainebleau, and probably not made by English artists. The central medallion, with a mythological scene, is designed by Rosso Fiorentino, and also appears in the Palace of Fontainebleau. This is flanked by two large nude boys. The Italian artists of the Tudor court Henry VIII used at Nonsuch Palace have been suggested; the pieces were almost certainly made elsewhere and taken to Broughton.[5]
There are several fine plasterwork ceilings, the most spectacular in the Great Parlour on the first floor, and the Oak Room below it. There is 18th-century painted Chinese wallpaper of different tree, bird and flower designs in three bedrooms, in very good condition. At roof level there is a room believed to be that "with no ears", where the 1st viscount plotted with Parliamentary leaders in the years before the Civil War.[6] The gardens have long herbacious borders, at their best in summer.
Films and TVs[edit]
Parts of the films The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), Oxford Blues (1984), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), The Madness of King George (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Jane Eyre (2011) were shot in the castle. TV filming for parts of Elizabeth The Virgin Queen, Friends and Crocodiles, 1975 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, and the titles of Noel's House Party also took place there. The castle has been used as the location for several other films and TV programmes[7] including an adaptation of Jane Eyre and
Concerts[edit]
In August 1981, the electric folk band Fairport Convention held their annual reunion concert at Broughton Castle, rather than the usual Cropredy location.[8] The concert was recorded, and released on the album Moat on the Ledge (1982).
Fiction[edit]
Published in April 2009, The Music Room is a novel by William Fiennes. This fictionalized memoir of his childhood and his epileptic brother is set in (the never identified) Broughton Castle. It has been described as "a beautiful poem of a tribute to his family, his parents, the magical, moated castle that was his home"
Wikipedia
Crewe Hall, a Jacobean mansion in Cheshire, England, is a testament to architectural grandeur. Built in the 17th century, it showcases opulent interiors with intricate wood carvings, ornate chimneypieces, and elaborate plasterwork. The main hall, restored by E.M. Barry, features a blend of Jacobean and Victorian styles, adorned with alabaster and marble. Stained glass windows add a colorful narrative to the space. The Reception Hall greets visitors with a monumental marble fireplace, while the Hall of Pillars, originally an open courtyard, now boasts a barrel roof, encapsulating the wealth and opulence of its era.
Amity House, originally known as Esplanade House, dates from around 1830 and is a Georgian villa with Doric portico ; shallow bow-fronted tripartite windows, and apparently has good internal plasterwork. Originally the customs house, it is now Stornoway Port Authority's HQ.
This house was built as a pair with No. 12, possibly to the designs of Edward Lovett Pearce. The house was leased to William Stewart, 3rd Viscount Mountjoy. Recently restored, the interior retains a Portland stone stair with wrought-iron balustrade and timber wainscoting throughout, in addition to some notable Rococo plasterwork. Now in office use, the house forms an important part of what has been described as 'Dublin's Street of Palaces' and greatly contributes to the improving fortunes of this remarkable streetscape.
The Vestibule of Sydney Town Hall is a lavish combination of colour and ornament. The crisply detailed plasterwork borrows influences from Moorish and neo-Classical architecture, fashionable in the mid 19th century. A complex polychrome palette of over forty different colours and 22 carat gilt highlights embellish the hundreds of swags, scrolls, geometric ornament and fine plaster tracery which decorate the walls and ceiling.......Sydney Town Hall website
Vestibule, Sydney Town Hall, Sydney, Australia (Tuesday 16 July 2013 @ 12:53pm)
One more posting in Comments section
This house, known as Cordwainers, dates from circa 15th century and is located in the High Street. It is a timber frame and plastered building with grade II listed protection. In the past it was the One Bell Inn but is now a private house. Note the different shapes and sizes of the timber beams, the colour of the plasterwork and the blocked up doorway on the right. A magnificent property!
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CORDWINDERS, 89, HIGH STREET, LAVENHAM
Heritage Category: Listed Building
Grade: II
List Entry Number: 1180830
Date first listed: 23-Jan-1958
Statutory Address 1: CORDWINDERS, 89, HIGH STREET
National Grid Reference: TL9153149291
Details
LAVENHAM HIGH STREET 1. 5377 (east side) No 89 (Cordwinders) TL 9149 50/581 23.1.58 II GV 2. A C15 timber-framed and plastered building at one time the One Bell Inn. It stands at the corner of Market Lane and High Street, with the walls leaning outward conspicuously. Roof tiled. Renovated, with most of the timber-framing exposed. Two storeys. Three window range of double-hung sashes with single vertical glazing bars. The ground storey has 2 splayed bays with slate roofs and there is an original blocked window on the upper storey. A central doorway has pilasters and cornice. On the south end there are some restored windows and one double-hung sash with glazing bars (2-light).
Listing NGR: TL9153149291
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/118083...
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LAVENHAM
Village in England
Lavenham is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in Suffolk, England. It is noted for its 15th-century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walk. In the medieval period it was among the 20 wealthiest settlements in England.
Set in the lovely village of Lavenham, the Guildhall of Corpus Christi tells the story of one of the best-preserved and wealthiest towns in Tudor England.
When you step inside this fine timber-framed building, you'll feel the centuries melt away. You can discover the stories of the people who have used the Guildhall through its almost-500 years at the heart of its community, and learn about the men and women who have shaped the fortunes of this unique village.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavenham
www.travelaboutbritain.com/suffolk/lavenham.php
englandspuzzle.com/the-secret-of-the-lavenham-blue/
www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/place/146603-lavenham-...
www.seeingthepast.com/blog/lavenham
www.thetouristtrail.org/guides/suffolk-guides/lavenham/
www.visitsuffolk.com/destination/lavenham
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lavenham-guildhall/features/expl...
Croome Court is a mid 18th century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by an extensive landscaped parkland at Croome D'Abitot, near Pershore in south Worcestershire. The mansion and park were designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown for George Coventry, 6th Earl of Coventry, and was Brown's first landscape design and first major architectural project. Some of the internal rooms of the mansion were designed by Robert Adam.
The mansion house is owned by Croome Heritage Trust, and is leased to the National Trust who operate it, along with the surrounding parkland, as a tourist attraction. The National Trust own the surrounding parkland, which is also open to the public.
Location[edit]
Croome Court is located near to Croome D'Abitot, in Worcestershire,[1] near Pirton, Worcestershire.[2] The wider estate was established on lands that were once part of the royal forest of Horewell.[3] Traces of these older landscapes, such as unimproved commons and ancient woodlands, can be found across the former Croome Estate.[4]
House[edit]
Croome Court South Portico
History[edit]
The foundations and core of Croome Court, including the central chimney stack structure, date back to the early 1640s.[5] Substantial changes to this early house were made by Gilbert Coventry, 4th Earl of Coventry.[6]
In 1751, George Coventry, the 6th Earl, inherited the estate, along with the existing Jacobean house. He commissioned Lancelot "Capability" Brown, with the assistance of Sanderson Miller, to redesign the house and estate.[7][1] It was Brown's "first flight into the realms of architecture" and a "rare example of his architectural work",[8] and it is an important and seminal work.[9] It was built between 1751 and 1752, and it and Hagley Hall are considered to be the finest examples of Neo-Palladian architecture in Worcestershire. Notable Neo-Palladian features incorporated into Croome Court include the plain exterior and the corner towers with pyramidal roofs (a feature first used by Inigo Jones in the design of Wilton House in Wiltshire).[1] Robert Adam worked on the interior of the building from 1760 onwards.[10]
The house has been visited by George III,[2][11] as well as Queen Victoria[7] during summers when she was a child, and George V (then Duke of York).[11]
A jam factory was built by the 9th Earl of Coventry, near to Pershore railway station, in about 1880, to provide a market for Vale of Evesham fruit growers in times of surplus. Although the Croome connection with jam making had ceased, during the First World War, the building was leased by the Croome Estate Trust to the Huddersfield Fruit Preserving Company as a pulping station.[12]
The First World War deeply affected Croome, with many local casualties, although the house was not requisitioned for the war effort. This is possibly because it was the home of the Lord Lieutenant of the County, who needed a residence for his many official engagements.[13]
During the Second World War Croome Court was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works and leased for a year to the Dutch Government as a possible refuge for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands; to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. However, evidence shows that they stayed two weeks at the most, perhaps because of the noise and fear created by the proximity of Defford Aerodrome. They later emigrated to Canada.[14]
In 1948 the Croome Estate Trust sold the Court, along with 38 acres (15 ha) of land, to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, and the mansion became St Joseph's Special School, which was run by nuns[15] from 1950[11] until 1979.[15]
The house was listed on 11 August 1952; it is currently Grade I listed.[10]
In 1979 the hall was taken over by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna movement), who used it as their UK headquarters and a training college[16] called Chaitanya College,[15] run by 25 members of the movement.[16] During their tenure they repainted the Dining Room.[17] In 1984 they had to leave the estate for financial reasons. They held a festival at the hall in 2011.[16]
From 1984 onwards various owners tried to use the property as a training centre; apartments; a restaurant and conference centre; and a hotel and golf course,[15] before once more becoming a private family home,[2][15] with outbuildings converted to private houses.[15]
The house was purchased by the Croome Heritage Trust, a registered charity,[18] in October 2007,[19] and it is now managed by the National Trust as a tourist attraction. It opened to the public in September 2009, at which point six of the rooms had restored, costing £400,000, including the Saloon. It was estimated that another £4 million[2][20] to £4.8 million would be needed to restore the entire building. Fundraising activities for the restoration included a 2011 raffle for a Morgan sports car organised by Lord and Lady Flight. After the restoration is complete, a 999-year lease on the building will be granted to the National Trust.[21] An oral history project to record recollections about Croome was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.[15] As of 2009, the service wing was empty and in need of substantial repair.[22]
Exterior[edit]
The mansion is faced with Bath stone,[7] limestone ashlar, and has both north and south facing fronts. It has a basement and two stories, with three stories in the end pavilions. A slate roof, with pyramid roofs over the corner towers, tops the building, along with three pair-linked chimneys along the axis of the house.[10]
Both fronts have 11 bays, split into three central sets of three each, and one additional bay each side. The north face has a pedimented centre, with two balustraded staircases leading to a Roman Doric doorcase. The south face has a projecting Ionic tetrastyle portico and Venetian windows. It has a broad staircase, with cast stone sphinxes on each side, leading to a south door topped with a cornice on consoles. The wings have modillion cornice and balustrade.[10]
A two-story L-shaped service wing is attached to the east side of the mansion. It is made of red brick and stone, with slate roofs.[10] It was designed by Capability Brown in 1751-2.[22] On the far side of the service wing, a wall connects it to a stable court.[10]
Interior[edit]
The interior of the house was designed partially by Capability Brown, with plasterwork by G. Vassalli, and partially by Robert Adam, with plasterwork by J. Rose Jr. It has a central spine corridor. A stone staircase, with iron balusters, is at the east end.[10]
The entrance hall is on the north side of the building, and has four fluted Doric columns, along with moulded doorcases. To the east of the entrance hall is the dining room, which has a plaster ceiling and cornice, while to the west is a billiard room, featuring fielded panelling, a plaster cornice, and a rococo fireplace. The three rooms were probably decorated around 1758-59 by Capability Brown.[10] The dining room was vibrantly repainted by the Hare Krishnas in the 1970s-80s.[17]
The central room on the south side is a saloon, probably by Brown and Vassalli. It has an elaborate ceiling, with three panels, deep coving, and a cornice, along with two Ionic fireplaces, and Palladian doorcases.[10] George III was entertained by George Coventry, the 6th Earl, in the house's Saloon.[2] A drawing room is to the west of the saloon, and features rococo plasterwork and a marble fireplace.[10]
To the east of the saloon is the Tapestry Room.[10] This was designed in 1763-71, based on a design by Robert Adam, and contained tapestries and furniture covers possibly designed by Jacques Germain Soufflot, and made by Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins.[23] Around 1902 the ninth Earl sold the tapestries and seating to a Parisian dealer. In 1949 the Samuel H. Kress Foundation purchased the ceiling, floor, mantlepiece, chair rails, doors and the door surrounds, which were donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1958. In 1959 the Kress Foundation also helped the Metropolitan Museum acquire the chair and sofa frames, which they recovered using the original tapestry seats.[7][23] A copy of the ceiling was installed in place of the original.[10] As of 2016, the room is displayed as it would have looked after the tapestries had been sold, with a jug and ewer on display as the only original decoration of the room that remains in it. The adjacent library room is used to explain what happened to the tapestry room;[17] the former library was designed by Adam, and was dismantled except for the marble fireplace.[10]
At the west side of the building is a long gallery,[10] which was designed by Robert Adam and installed between 1761 and 1766. It is the best preserved of the original interior (little of the rest has survived in situ).[1] It has an octagonal panelled ceiling, and plaster reliefs of griffins. A half-hexagonal bay faces the garden. The room also contains a marble caryatid fireplace designed by J Wilton.[10] As of 2016, modern sculptures are displayed in empty niches along the Long Gallery
wikipedia
The Edinburgh Festival Theatre (formerly Empire Palace Theatre) is a performing arts venue located on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, Scotland used primarily for performances of opera and ballet, large-scale musical events, and touring groups. After its most recent renovation in 1994, it seats 1,915. It is one of the major venues of the annual summer Edinburgh International Festival and is the Edinburgh venue for the Scottish Opera and the Scottish Ballet.
The present theatre’s location is Edinburgh’s longest continuous theatre site, for there has been a theatre in that location since 1830. From being Dunedin Hall, the Royal Amphitheatre, Alhambra Music Hall, the Queen’s Theatre, Pablo Fanque's Amphitheatre, and Newsome’s Circus, the site became the Empire Palace Theatre, the first of the famous Moss Empires’ chain, opening on 7 November 1892. Designed by the great British theatre architect, Frank Matcham, (who built the London Coliseum, among others) its décor was lavish, with elephants with Nubian riders, nymphs and cherubs in abundance on the plasterwork, and it seated 3000 people on four levels.
For the following twenty years all the top artists of the day played at the Empire Palace until, on 9 May 1911, there was a disastrous fire on stage. While all 3000 theatre goers escaped safely (there were eleven backstage deaths and the death of a lion), the theatre reopened three months later. However, given the long term competition from the growth of film as a popular medium, the theatre was re-equipped to present bigger and more spectacular shows. Reusing some of Matcham’s original design concepts, the theatre reopened on 1 October 1928 with the musical Show Boat.
Between 1928 and 1963 the Empire was a variety, musical and opera house, often including ice shows. Big names like Harry Lauder, Charles Laughton, Fats Waller, Joe Loss, and Laurel and Hardy appeared, while English comedians Max Wall, Morecambe and Wise and Harry Worth established themselves at the Empire.
In addition to the music hall and popular entertainers who appeared at the Empire, the theatre became a principal venue of the Edinburgh International Festival between 1947 and 1963. It was particularly associated with international ballet and, during the first Festival in 1947, Margot Fonteyn danced in The Sleeping Beauty, while in subsequent years, performances by the Old Vic theatre company, the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera were presented.
However, for nearly thirty years after 1963 the theatre became a bingo hall, only temporarily serving as a Festival venue. Finally, after its third major remodeling, the Empire Palace Theatre reopened in June 1994 with a glass-fronted structure for the new entrance (created by Law & Dunbar-Nasmith Architects), as the now-renamed Edinburgh Festival Theatre. In 1997, the distinguished theatre manager and artistic director Stephen Barry was appointed to shape the rejuvenated venue's future. With the restoration of the Empire Theatre’s former 1928 glory, plus a dramatic mix of art nouveau, beaux arts and neo-classicism, and including adequate acoustics, the new theatre serves all the artistic needs of the community.
The theatre is said to be haunted by a tall, dark stranger rumoured to be the famous illusionist Sigmund Neuberger, aka The Great Lafayette, who was one of those who burned to death in the fire at the Empire in 1911. [Wikipedia]
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There were a series of circuses and performance halls on this site from the 1820s (Ducrow’s, etc) and a music hall from about 1860 (Alhambra, Queen’s etc). Frank Matcham built the very first Moss Empire (the Empire Palace) here in 1892 and also carried out its reinstatement after a destructive fire in 1910. The 1892 theatre had a circus-theatre interior of almost barbaric magnificence. In 1928 the Matcham house was demolished and a new theatre built by W & T R Milburn, who were amongst the most competent theatre designers of their time (see e.g. London Dominion, Liverpool Empire and Southampton Mayflower). The Edinburgh auditorium is arguably their best surviving work. The subsequent transformation of the Empire into the Edinburgh Festival Theatre by Law & Dunbar-Nasmith (Colin Ross) completed in 1994 was (until the Royal Opera House reopening) perhaps the most radical make-over of an old theatre undertaken in Britain in modern times. Edinburgh’s long drawn-out quest for an opera house, which spawned a number of abortive new-build projects over the years, had become a standing joke by the 1980s. Theatre Projects Consultants with Law & Dunbar-Nasmith identified the Empire as a prime candidate for conversion for this purpose as early as 1975, but it was to be nearly twenty years before their sensible idea was followed up. When it was eventually done, there was no penny-pinching. The undistinguished façe and front of house were demolished and, with the acquisition of additional space, rebuilt on spacious modern lines, with a curved, transparent façe, visible distantly as a glowing landmark in Nicolson Street. The back of house, too, was totally demolished and a new stage house built, together with dressing rooms and a generous staircase, described as a ‘vertical green room’. The stage itself is immense at 25m x 18m (82ft x 59ft), plus huge wing space on stage left and a rear scene dock which can be opened up for deep vistas. The retained Milburn auditorium has become the splendid filling in a modern sandwich. Like most of the Milburns’ designs, it owes more to contemporary North American models than to the Matcham school. Two balconies with slips meeting a deep-splayed ante-proscenium with pairs of boxes stepping down on either side. Rectangular enriched proscenium frame with a flaming urn at the centre. Ceiling divided into panels with a central dome. Three forestage lifts. Sighting throughout is excellent. The stalls (altered for bingo) have been re-raked to work with the now flattened stage which has thereby been raised at the front edge and thus improved sightlines from the unaltered circles. Necessary changes of this kind have been easily absorbed. The architects did not lose their nerve (as so often happens with so-called restorations) over matters of detail. The seats, for example, are either 1928 originals or careful reproductions. The decorations are not an exact recreation of the Milburn scheme, which was rather skimped, but a convincing essay in the manner of the period with sensitively applied patina glazes to avoid an over-bright appearance. [Theatres Trust ]
The Globe Theatre opened on 16th December 1935, and is the third Globe cinema building on the site.
The first was a pre-war cinema of approx. 500 seats which was demolished in 1925 and replaced by the second Globe Picture House with 1,200 seats which in turn closed on 20th April 1935, and was completely demolished to make way for the existing Globe Theatre building which opened an amazing 8 months later.
This was a variety theatre and had no film programming until 1937 when it was bought by Associated British Cinema(ABC) – however a projection suite was part of the original design. ABC continued to present live shows on regular occasions amidst the film fare.
Opera, Ballet and an annual pantomime featured strongly together with touring variety, musicals, and latterly pop concerts.
The Globe Theatre was re-named ABC in 1967. It was closed on 15th June 1974.
A very short-lived attempt was then made to restore it as a theatre before bingo took over from 1978 to c.1996.
It has remained unused since then.
The Globe Theatre was designed by Percy L. Browne & Son of Newcastle Upon Tyne for brothers Charles and Alfred Lewis and was constructed by local firm Arthur McLeod Ltd of Thornton on Tees. Fibrous plasterwork was by Messrs Webster Davidson & Co Ltd of Sunderland. The building cost a reported 75,000 pounds.
The imposing facade has four sets of double doors in the wide frontage with 10 large metal framed windows (by Messrs F Braby & Co of Glasgow) on 1st and 2nd floor levels – five on each floor, grouped 1-3-1.
In-between the groupings are two squat towers with ornamental iron grills running up both levels. There is a further window at the top of each tower and between the towers is a 3rd floor housing the projection suite which windowless expanse once contained the simple lettering GLOBE.
The frontage is almost symmetrical – the left side has an extra small bay containing two small windows. There are three circular plaques between the 3 central windows the central one of which depicted comedy and tragedy. The whole is enlivened with fluted plaster typical of the period. A square canopy ran over the street from tower to tower.
Two shop units are incorporated, one on either side – at some point shortly before 1996 these wese bricked in and the lower frontage tiled, the facade was also repainted at this point.
Apart from the removal of the lettering, the replacement of the canopy, the tiling and the addition of some railings on the roof the facade is unaltered and appears to be in good condition.
The doors give access to a small vestibule and four further pairs of doors – some with etched glass – lead into the main foyer and box office. This is actually, as at the Manchester Opera House, located in the circle void but is surprising large.
It is totally as built not having been spoiled by false ceilings. Good plasterwork of square ceiling recesses edged with fluted plaster but replacement of original lights by unattractive ‘Mecca’ fittings.
At one side is an office. Pleasing amount of natural light gives the area a rather more spacious feel than is actually warranted. Concrete stairs down in each outer corner lead to a small stalls foyer, doors give direct access to the lower circle and stairs up (above the stalls stair) lead to the rear circle foyer which is lit by the three central 2nd floor windows and is now converted into a bar.
The shop space is not incorporated into the theatre.
The auditorium is on two levels and seated, depending on the source 2,574, 2,429, 2,400 or 2,372. A huge stalls floor retains its original saucer rake and now has bingo tables instead of rows of seats. The circle is also vast with 19 rows of tip up chairs.
However the sightlines from both areas are outstandingly good as the circle is somewhat higher than average meaning that the entire proscenium is visible from the stalls back row.
The circle front is almost plain with a geometric cube design along the lower portion and is curved but not returned to the proscenium wall.
The expanse of wall is instead filled by an rectangular recess containing a fountain of light. Above this are two large bas relief panels depicting sight and sound – the right hand side one has been badly damaged by what looks like the insertion of a loudspeaker.
The proscenium is rectangular and has plaster strapwork together with concealed lighting still containing coloured bulbs at the upper levels, these were like the light fountains and the two deep rectangular ceiling recesses connected to a holophane lighting board which gently varied the colours when the house was lit.
The whole of the anti-proscenium is richly decorated with angular plasterwork and has the general feeling of say the Stockport Plaza (Grade II Listed). The ceiling over the front stalls is divided into sections and contains a large rectangular recess with concealed lighting.
A similar recess exists above the circle also with hidden lighting and containing the projection ports for film presentations. The plasterwork is again of an outstanding quality and is again, panel excepted, intact.
Indeed given that the building has been unused since 1996, it is in a very good state. Damp and with obvious signs of water penetration but no falls of or bulging plaster. The original colour scheme (painted by Messrs Fred A Foster (Nottingham) Ltd of Mapperley) had a deep jade carpet with lighter seating and shades of green, fawn and gold on the walls and ceiling.
It currently sports a subdued ‘Mecca Bingo’ colour scheme – not as garish as some of their halls but similar style of colours and lights.
The stage is large, raked though not steeply and has adequate, but not generous, wing space. The get-in doors have been bricked up but were awkwardly 3 metres above stage level as the stalls are so extensively sunk below ground level.
The only false ceiling in the place is above the stage making examination of the grid impossible. It is likely that the safety curtain and machinery are intact above this as it would make no sense to strip them when so little else has been altered.
An orchestra pit has been covered over and replaced by bingo paraphernalia but otherwise the stage is unaltered with no access to the bingo players as has happened at so many other halls.
Dimensions from the British Theatre Directory state the proscenium width to be 49'2" with a height of 37' to 40', depth of stage 39'2", height of grid 60' with 26 counterweight and 13 hemp lines.
Descriptions of the building have often mentioned the peirrot and pierrette theme which looking at contemporary reports seem to have consisted of four large decorative mirrors edged in a deep green glass depicting pierrot, pierrette, columbine and harlequin. These were designed by Stanley M. Scott and manufactured and fitted by Reed Millican & Co of Newcastle upon Tyne. There is now no trace of these – if they were situated in the auditorium, as is likely, they must have proved very distracting for films and could well therefore have been removed at an early stage.
This is an excellent example of its type which has been so very little altered as to be considered intact. The condition is good, a return to live use would not be prohibitive and with a good catchment population with no other large theatre nearer than a hour away (Sunderland Empire) should meet with success. It is unusual to see such a good example of a saucer raked floor.
— From Ian Grundy’s report which was instumental in getting a Grade II Listed building status for the Globe in 2001.
In March 2010, it was announced that the Globe Theatre would be renovated for live theatre use, work began in early-2011, for a planned 2012 re-opening. Delays to the renovation set in, eventually Lottery funding was given to complete the restoration, which is still continuing in 2018 when further structural problems were found and completion is now set for Spring 2020.
Contributed by Ian Grundy
Opulent plasterwork in the first class booking hall in a building designed by James Miller, 1905-07.
The Victoria was a steamship built in 1872, and scrapped in 1905.
There were three ships called Cameronia: the first from 1911 was torpedoed in 1917; the second operated from 1921 and sold in 1951; the name reappears in 1973, but the ship was sold four years later and renamed.
Cathedral Square is located in the historic heart of Waterford City in an area called the Viking Triangle which has been established as the tourist heart of the city.
The buildings in and around Cathedral Square, Waterford were abandoned or unoccupied for many years however they are now part of an exciting urban renewal project which will see them converted into modern living spaces and retail units.
The cathedral is a monumental neo-Classical building of national importance, built to designs prepared by John Roberts (1712 - 1796) - Roberts holds the distinction of having built both the Church of Ireland and Catholic Cathedrals in Waterford City. The cathedral incorporates fragments of an earlier church, 1210, to the interior (including the remains of a Norman clustered pillar), attesting to a long-standing ecclesiastical presence on the site, dating to as early as 1096.
The construction of the entrance (west) front attests to high quality local stone masonry, particularly to the carved detailing including the portico, which retains a crisp intricacy. The cathedral is particularly noteworthy for the quality of the interior, which has been well preserved, and which incorporates plasterwork of artistic importance, together with vaulted ceilings of technical interest.
Set in its own square on a slightly elevated site, the cathedral is an important anchor building at the east end of Waterford City, and forms an attractive landmark in the locality.
Levens Hall is a magnificent Elizabethan mansion that was built around 1350 by the Redman family as a pele (or peel) tower and was later expanded and rebuilt towards the end of the 16th Century. It is the family home of the Bagots, and contains a collection of Jacobean furniture, fine paintings, the earliest English patchwork and many other beautiful objects. (No photos from inside the house as photography is not allowed)
The world-famous award winning gardens were laid out in 1694. The topiary beech hedges and colourful seasonal beds create a stunning visual impact. The topiary garden has huge abstract shapes, pyramids and columns reminiscent of monstrous chess men.
These photographs remind me of my many days visiting stately homes during the summer months, hope you enjoy.
Levens Hall is a magnificent Elizabethan mansion that was built around 1350 by the Redman family as a pele (or peel) tower and was later expanded and rebuilt towards the end of the 16th Century. It is the family home of the Bagots, and contains a collection of Jacobean furniture, fine paintings, the earliest English patchwork and many other beautiful objects. (No photos from inside the house as photography is not allowed)
The world-famous award winning gardens were laid out in 1694. The topiary beech hedges and colourful seasonal beds create a stunning visual impact. The topiary garden has huge abstract shapes, pyramids and columns reminiscent of monstrous chess men.
These photographs remind me of my many days visiting stately homes during the summer months, hope you enjoy.
By JD Swanston (Kirkcaldy) and James Davidson (Coatbridge), 1905-6. A 4-storey Edwardian Baroque theatre with Art Nouveau details. Dumfries red sandstone ashlar. Projecting centre bay; paired 2-leaf teak panelled glazed doors with bevelled glass in swirling Art Nouveau frames and Art Nouveau brass door handles, in Ionic-columned timber surround; Art Nouveau stained glass in windows above.
Paired wooden kiosks with Ionic colonettes in foyer; terrazzo floor; decorative plasterwork painted and gilded, coffered ceiling. Polished marble staircase with marble handrails to sides and alabaster balusters to circle; brass handrail to centre.
Site previously occupied by Drumdryan Brewery, acquired in 1905. Built by Edinburgh Construction Company, which failed during construction. Thereafter WS Cruikshank, masons in Duff Street, who were the contractors, took over as developers. Memorial stone laid by Andrew Carnegie 18th August 1906. THE BUILDER states that the seating was 'built on the cantilever principle,' with 'not a single pillar.' Opened 8th December 1906 (with 'Cinderella'); from 1928 under the management of Howard and Wyndham. Noel Coward's Private Lives was premiered at the King's on 18th August 1930, with Coward himself, Gertrude Lawrence, Lawrence Olivier and Adrianne Allen.
Exceptional interior, largely surviving intact. Stained glass of very high calibre set in doors, screens etc (possibly by Stephen Adam of Glasgow), Art Nouveau in style.
The Edinburgh Festival Theatre (formerly Empire Palace Theatre) is a performing arts venue located on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, Scotland used primarily for performances of opera and ballet, large-scale musical events, and touring groups. After its most recent renovation in 1994, it seats 1,915. It is one of the major venues of the annual summer Edinburgh International Festival and is the Edinburgh venue for the Scottish Opera and the Scottish Ballet.
The present theatre’s location is Edinburgh’s longest continuous theatre site, for there has been a theatre in that location since 1830. From being Dunedin Hall, the Royal Amphitheatre, Alhambra Music Hall, the Queen’s Theatre, Pablo Fanque's Amphitheatre, and Newsome’s Circus, the site became the Empire Palace Theatre, the first of the famous Moss Empires’ chain, opening on 7 November 1892. Designed by the great British theatre architect, Frank Matcham, (who built the London Coliseum, among others) its décor was lavish, with elephants with Nubian riders, nymphs and cherubs in abundance on the plasterwork, and it seated 3000 people on four levels.
For the following twenty years all the top artists of the day played at the Empire Palace until, on 9 May 1911, there was a disastrous fire on stage. While all 3000 theatre goers escaped safely (there were eleven backstage deaths and the death of a lion), the theatre reopened three months later. However, given the long term competition from the growth of film as a popular medium, the theatre was re-equipped to present bigger and more spectacular shows. Reusing some of Matcham’s original design concepts, the theatre reopened on 1 October 1928 with the musical Show Boat.
Between 1928 and 1963 the Empire was a variety, musical and opera house, often including ice shows. Big names like Harry Lauder, Charles Laughton, Fats Waller, Joe Loss, and Laurel and Hardy appeared, while English comedians Max Wall, Morecambe and Wise and Harry Worth established themselves at the Empire.
In addition to the music hall and popular entertainers who appeared at the Empire, the theatre became a principal venue of the Edinburgh International Festival between 1947 and 1963. It was particularly associated with international ballet and, during the first Festival in 1947, Margot Fonteyn danced in The Sleeping Beauty, while in subsequent years, performances by the Old Vic theatre company, the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera were presented.
However, for nearly thirty years after 1963 the theatre became a bingo hall, only temporarily serving as a Festival venue. Finally, after its third major remodeling, the Empire Palace Theatre reopened in June 1994 with a glass-fronted structure for the new entrance (created by Law & Dunbar-Nasmith Architects), as the now-renamed Edinburgh Festival Theatre. In 1997, the distinguished theatre manager and artistic director Stephen Barry was appointed to shape the rejuvenated venue's future. With the restoration of the Empire Theatre’s former 1928 glory, plus a dramatic mix of art nouveau, beaux arts and neo-classicism, and including adequate acoustics, the new theatre serves all the artistic needs of the community.
The theatre is said to be haunted by a tall, dark stranger rumoured to be the famous illusionist Sigmund Neuberger, aka The Great Lafayette, who was one of those who burned to death in the fire at the Empire in 1911. [Wikipedia]
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There were a series of circuses and performance halls on this site from the 1820s (Ducrow’s, etc) and a music hall from about 1860 (Alhambra, Queen’s etc). Frank Matcham built the very first Moss Empire (the Empire Palace) here in 1892 and also carried out its reinstatement after a destructive fire in 1910. The 1892 theatre had a circus-theatre interior of almost barbaric magnificence. In 1928 the Matcham house was demolished and a new theatre built by W & T R Milburn, who were amongst the most competent theatre designers of their time (see e.g. London Dominion, Liverpool Empire and Southampton Mayflower). The Edinburgh auditorium is arguably their best surviving work. The subsequent transformation of the Empire into the Edinburgh Festival Theatre by Law & Dunbar-Nasmith (Colin Ross) completed in 1994 was (until the Royal Opera House reopening) perhaps the most radical make-over of an old theatre undertaken in Britain in modern times. Edinburgh’s long drawn-out quest for an opera house, which spawned a number of abortive new-build projects over the years, had become a standing joke by the 1980s. Theatre Projects Consultants with Law & Dunbar-Nasmith identified the Empire as a prime candidate for conversion for this purpose as early as 1975, but it was to be nearly twenty years before their sensible idea was followed up. When it was eventually done, there was no penny-pinching. The undistinguished façe and front of house were demolished and, with the acquisition of additional space, rebuilt on spacious modern lines, with a curved, transparent façe, visible distantly as a glowing landmark in Nicolson Street. The back of house, too, was totally demolished and a new stage house built, together with dressing rooms and a generous staircase, described as a ‘vertical green room’. The stage itself is immense at 25m x 18m (82ft x 59ft), plus huge wing space on stage left and a rear scene dock which can be opened up for deep vistas. The retained Milburn auditorium has become the splendid filling in a modern sandwich. Like most of the Milburns’ designs, it owes more to contemporary North American models than to the Matcham school. Two balconies with slips meeting a deep-splayed ante-proscenium with pairs of boxes stepping down on either side. Rectangular enriched proscenium frame with a flaming urn at the centre. Ceiling divided into panels with a central dome. Three forestage lifts. Sighting throughout is excellent. The stalls (altered for bingo) have been re-raked to work with the now flattened stage which has thereby been raised at the front edge and thus improved sightlines from the unaltered circles. Necessary changes of this kind have been easily absorbed. The architects did not lose their nerve (as so often happens with so-called restorations) over matters of detail. The seats, for example, are either 1928 originals or careful reproductions. The decorations are not an exact recreation of the Milburn scheme, which was rather skimped, but a convincing essay in the manner of the period with sensitively applied patina glazes to avoid an over-bright appearance. [Theatres Trust ]
Traditional carved plasterwork took many varied forms in swahili houses. Around doorways and entrances there were archway friezes - in larger archways these often incorporated rows of vertical niches too. On the east and west end walls of galleries there were panelled-end niches - often in an elaborate and highly-stylised nyota (star) or casa (turtle) design with a display niche at their centre.
Lamu is a small town on Lamu Island, in kenya, near the Somalia border.
Lamu town is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it was one of the original Swahili settlements along coastal East Africa.
The town's history is marked by a Portuguese invasion then the Omani domination, like in Zanzibar. The streets of Lamu are very narrow, so there are no cars, only donkeys to carry everything!
© Eric Lafforgue