Hanging With Alec Cobbe, Hatchlands Park

Alec Cobbe in the room now used as a Library
at Hatchlands Park, his home in Surrey, England.
Photo by Simon Brown for Architectural Digest.

Pick up just about any design/shelter magazine and it is clear that the art of picture hanging is just that -- an art, not to mention a talent that is often under appreciated.  But a great master in the arrangement of pictures is Alec Cobbe, a painter-designer-musician who lives at Hatchlands Park, a National Trust property in Surrey, England.

Hatchlands Park.
Photo by Simon Brown for Architectural Digest.

Cobbe sees both the paintings and the furniture as integral to the whole interior decoration scheme.  He has been a pioneer in the revival of awareness of how paintings have been hung in the past.  He contends that in any collection there are stars, and levels of quality down from that.  It is important to put the best pictures in prominent locations and then group the others to benefit.  "Quality, size and subject matter are all important," Cobbe was quoted to say in an interview for the March 1996 issue of Architectural Digest.  "It's no use having an ideal hang in mind, then lamenting that the collection doesn't fit the glove.  It's a question of manufacturing a glove that fits."


The Salon at Hatchlands Park as it appears
in the March 1996 issue of Architectural Digest.
Note the medallion heads of the pins holding the picture wires.

Alec Cobbe also said, "In a room of architectural merit, you can't ignore the volume, the dimensions.  Rehanging pictures can change your entire perception of a space.  Until 1900 it was considered normal to hang densely -- three, even four tiers deep -- something architects must have had in mind when they designed tall rooms.  The twentieth-century reaction to Victorian clutter has encouraged us to hang pictures in isolation.  They may gain clarity and be seen in better light that way, but they do lose their original architectural role."


Originally the dining room but now called the Salon.
The chimneypiece was carved 1758-60 from
 a design by Robert Adam.
A.E. Henson photo from Country Life magazine, 01/10/1953.

The red walls of the Salon came to be when Cobbe learned that the red silk in one of the galleries of the Wallace Collection was being replaced and he could have it if he took it away immediately.  Red is the traditional background for old-master paintings.  The ceiling of the Salon had already painted and gilded, but Cobbe introduced dark blue paint into the frieze to give it the visual weight that was needed.  It was not a historical judgment, but rather an aesthetic one.

The bay window of the room now called the Salon.
A.E.Henson photo from Country Life magazine, 01/10/1953.

Although the original owner, Admiral Edward Boscowen had hired Robert Adam for the interiors, some elements were never realized and others were changed in the nineteenth century.  So Cobbe did not treat the interiors as a late eighteenth-century Adam restoration.  Originally the dining room, the red Salon features a 1758-60 Adam chimneypiece.


The Dining Room at Hatchlands Park as it appears
 in the March 1996 issue of Architectural Digest.

In the Dining Room, Cobbe designed arabesque panels which he painted with the help of his assistants.  Cobbe explained, "The sources of the scheme include Girard's work for the prince regent at Carlton House."


The Drawing Room of Hatchlands Park as it appears
in the March 1996 issue of Architectural Digest.

Cobbe chose light gray and gold for the walls of the Drawing Room to give it a slightly French feel.  The details of the paneling are very fine and the Erard pianoforte made for Marie Antoinette is there, adjacent to the fireplace.  Note that the larger paintings are hung from chains suspended from brass rods.  Art lighting here and in the Salon is from wall-mounted, goose-neck picture lights with shades of a shell motif.

The walls of the Library are green, Cobbe says, because "that's a good color for a room where one would want to sit, read, and drink coffee," he says.  "And I never do one flat color, but endless washes of thin color until the depth is right."


The Library, originally the drawing room,
as published in Country Life magazine, 01/10/1953.

Part of Cobbe's collection of paintings, watercolors, and drawings that he had done himself over the years is displayed in the Hall.


Art by Alec Cobbe is displayed in the Hall
of Hatchlands Park.
Photographed by Simon Brown for Architectural Digest.

I met Alec Cobbe when our Attingham class visited the house.  After Hatchlands Park had been presented as a gift, largely unfurnished, to Britain's National Trust, a deal was made with Cobbe, known from projects he had worked on for the National Trust, to become a tenant and refurbish the interiors for his studio, design offices, and residence.  The grand rooms of the main floor are open to the public on a limited basis and house his collection of about forty historic keyboard instruments in a domestic museum setting.  Cobbe played many of the instruments for my class, including pianos that had belonged to Mahler, Bach, and Chopin, music that was composed on the very keyboards in some instances.


The Music Room at Hatchlands Park
photographed by Simon Brown for Architectural Digest.

Concerts are sometimes given in the Music Room by Cobbe and other musicians.  The domed space was a1902 addition designed by architect Reginald Blomfield who also designed the organ case. 

As a footnote, Devoted Readers will appreciate that David Mees, former assistant to Alec Cobbe, has a most interesting blog, Mad About Interiors.

Gervase Jackson-Stops' Folly, The Menagerie

As incredible as it was to have the scholarly visits to all the historic sites, an even more valuable experience of my time as an Attingham student was getting to know so many talented historians, curators, and conservators.  Easily at the top of this list is Gervase Jackson-Stops, my architecture tutor.

Gervase Jackson-Stops.

Grandson of the founder of the eponymous up-scale British real estate firm, Gervase was educated at two of Britain's top schools, Harrow (secondary school) and Christ Church, Oxford (a college of the University of Oxford).  He was trained at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1969-71 and was a Research Assistant at the National Trust from 1972-75.  As Architectural Advisor to the National Trust for over 20 years, he was responsible for instituting many policies for the first time.  Canons Ashby, an Elizabethan manor house built from the stone of the Augustinian priory that occupied the Northamptonshire site, was saved using Government funds, a first in Britain.

Head of the National Gallery of Art, J Carter Brown, gives HRH Princess Diana
a tour of The Treasure Houses of Britain exhibit.

Gervase was the curator of many exhibitions, most notably "The Treasure Houses of Britain", held at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC in 1985-6;  a product of six years of preparation, it was an enormous success that contributed to the growing trend of admiration for the stately British country houses, their collections, and their decoration.  (U.S. sales of flowered chintz skyrocketed).  In 1987, Queen Elizabeth II named him Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contributions to the heritage of Great Britain.

Horton House as it was remodeled by Thomas Wright.
The cupolas were removed in a 19th century remodeling.
Image from hortonpark.org.

When Gervase bought the dilapidated folly in Horton Park in 1973, it was being used for agricultural storage.  Horton House, the ancestral home of the Earls of Halfax, built in the 17th century on the site of a medieval village, had been demolished in 1936.  The park, some of the auxiliary buildings, and some alterations to the main house were designed by astronomer Thomas Wright.  Today, thirteen listed buildings remain, including the folly known as the Menagerie.

Horton House as it appeared in a view by J. Storer, July 1812.
Image from hortonpark.org.

The Menagerie, built in the late 1750s, was an eye catcher for the main house.  It was the architectural feature of a private zoo beyond where the animals were kept in cages in an enclosure of approximately two acres surrounded by a circular moat, which may or may not have contained water.  An account by Horace Walpole who visited in 1763 listed storks, racoons, a young tiger, a bear, 'uncommon martins', 'wart hogs with navels on their backs', and 'many basons [sic] of gold fish'.

This drawing of the Menagerie was used as the letterhead of Gervase Jackson-Stops' stationary.

Although the folly was purchased for only GBP 500, the roofs of the end pavilions and the lead dome on the projecting bay had been stripped off and the windows were boarded up (though none of the original sash remained).  The Menagerie's main room, the Saloon, was filled to the cornice with hay.

The Saloon.
The chimneypiece is painted to resemble porphyry.
Photo by Bruno de Hamel for Architectural Digest.

Another view of the Saloon, from the opposite direction.
The urns are copied from the limewood models Rex Whistler made for Samuel Cortauld.
Photo from Country Life magazine, October 12, 1995.

The bay of the Saloon opposite the fireplace.
Photo from Country Life magazine, October 12, 1995.

Originally, the Saloon was used as a banqueting hall with the food prepared in the brick-vaulted kitchen below.  Although the exceptional plasterwork, attributed to Thomas Roberts of Oxford, had been badly damaged and large portions were missing, there were 1945 photographs to provide documentation.  Christopher Hobbs and Leonard Stead and Son of Bradford restored the decoration, improvising where there was no other evidence.   In keeping with Wright's status as a distinguished astronomer, the ceiling had been given a cosmos motif with Father Time in the center and the Four Winds at each corner.  According to the Walpole account, there was a plaster urn, representing the animals of the four parts of the world, painted to resemble bronze in each of the four niches;  these have also been recreated.  Analysis of the paint in protected areas enabled the restoration of the original color scheme.

The rear of the Menagerie showing the additions behind the screen wall.
Photo by Bruno de Hamel for Architectural Digest.

With the help of his mother, an architect, Gervase added a room behind each of the screen walls that had given a visual connection of the two flanking pavilions to the central block.  The arched openings on the stone facade, originally gates to the zoo, were given windows.  The additions on the brick side were designed to appear as glassed-in loggias, adding a dining room and a bedroom.

The added Dining Room.
Photo by Bruno de Hamel for Architectural Digest.

The added Bedroom.
Photo by Bruno de Hamel for Architectural Digest.

Originally, the end pavilions were probably used to store garden equipment and food for the animals.

The Guest Cottage.
Photo from a private collection.

The gardens around the Menagerie began to be further developed in 1992 to a design by Ian Kirby, Gervase's partner.  Two thatched roof Gothick arbors were built in the garden;  one was later converted into a chapel and the other, a guest cottage.

A detail of the shell Grotto.
Photo from a private collection.

A shell grotto was created in the cellar of the Menagerie, substantially completed by 1995.

Sadly, Gervase died in 1995 at the age of 48.  After several years of being leased, Timothy Mowl, the historic landscape author and professor, another of my tutors at Attingham, bought the property and made additional improvements to the folly.  He also added a walled kitchen garden designed by Jinny Blom.  (Post-script:  thanks to information from BISH - BRITISH & IRISH STATELY HOMES who referenced COUNTRY LIFE magazine, Timothy Mowl was not an owner of The Menagerie).

The last known owner, however, was the film-maker Alex Myers.  Around this time last year, the Menagerie with 4.3 acres was offered for sale, soliciting offers in the region of GBP 1,600,000.  As the property no longer appears among the current listings, it is assumed to have been sold.

More information about Horton Park and the surviving features can be seen at the website of The Horton Park Conservation Group.

All the Architectural Digest photos come from the book CHATEAUX AND VILLAS, THE WORLDS OF ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST edited by Paige Rense, published by The Knapp Press, 1982.

Note: As a service to my readers and in addition to a selection of new books at a substantial discount of the published price, The Devoted Classicist Library offers a number of interesting used and out-of-print books for as little as under $1.00 plus shipping and handling, including the title featured in this post.

Addendum February 28, 2012
The Devoted Classicist is grateful to devoted reader Toby Worthington for bringing to light two additional photos of the Saloon from Gervase's time from an article by John Cornforth.  These have been incorporated into a revised version of this post.

Addendum March 1, 2012
The Devoted Classicist is also grateful to devoted reader Mrs. Beverly Hills for letting us know that the grotto is pictured in Hazelle Jackson's book SHELL HOUSES AND GROTTOES, available through The Devoted Classicist Library.