Viscountess Rothermere at Ferne Park

The entrance (north) front of Ferne Park,
the home of Viscountess Rothermere.
Built 2000 to 2002 to designs by Quinlan Terry.
Image via QFT.

After the sale of Daylesford (see previous posts on the quintessential Cotswolds country house here, here, here, and here) to Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, was Viscount Rothermere left without a proper country seat?  Not for long.  Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere (born 1967, son of Vere and Pat "Bubbles" Harmsworth, see earlier post here), built an exemplary new country house, 2000 to 2002, on the 200 acres known as Ferne Park.


An aerial view of Ferne Park.
Image via QFT.

The present house is the third that had stood on the site with a view to the Dorset Hills.  The second house had been demolished in 1965.  The Harmsworths had been looking for a property with views and old out-buildings that could be developed;  Ferne Park filled those requirements.  The local planning authority had three restrictions that were gladly respected:  the house must be built of local stone, be classical in design, and be no larger than the previous house that had occupied the site.  As of this writing, Viscount Rothermere spends most of his time at his chateau in the Durdogne where he is visited by his wife and children who otherwise live at Ferne Park.


The approach to Ferne Park is on an angle
rather than axial, characteristic of
many Palladian buildings.
Image via QFT.

Claudia Caroline Clemence Harmsworth, the Viscountess Rothermere, was familiar with the work of classicist English architect Quinlan Terry who with his son Francis are principals in the firm Quinlan Francis Terry LLF in Dedham, England; subsequently, the firm was engaged to create a new classical mansion on the property.


The entrance elevation of Ferne Park
drawn by Martyn Winney.
Image from RADICAL CLASSICISM: THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY

One of the inspirational models for the new house was Came House, built in 1754, in Winterborne Came, Dorset.  Lady Rothermere thought it an imbalance, however, to have the three smaller upper windows between the engaged columns.  So the upstairs windows at Ferne Park are all the same size. (There is no traditional hard-and-fast rule on this, it must be noted.  There are other examples of similar houses of the eighteenth-century that also had all the upstairs windows the same size).


Came House, Dorset, influenced the
design for Ferne Park.
Image via Wikipedia.

The house has views to both Dorset and Wiltshire, both having rich resources of building stone.  Four different stones were used on the exterior of the house with the slight variations adding to the visual interest.


The entrance elevation of Ferne Park.
Photo via QFT.

The principle stone used for the facades was Chilmark stone, a Jurassic oolitic limestone.  In the 13th century, it was used for Salisbury Cathedral; in the 16th century, for Langford Castle; and in the 17th century for Wilton House.


The entrance elevation of Ferne Park
showing the subtle variation of stones.
Photo from RADICAL CLASSICISM:
THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY

Portland stone, another local Jurassic oolitic limestone, was used for the rusticated basement story, the columns, the entablature, and the chimneys.  Andrew Tanser carved the Rothermere coat of arms for the pediment, a feature seen in almost all the houses Palladio illustrated in Quattro Libri (The Four Books of Architecture).

The capitals of the engaged columns
are over 6 feet tall and in the composite style.
Photo via RADICAL CLASSICISM
THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY



Quinlan Terry's drawing of the capital
and corner pediment of Palladio's
S.Giorgio Maggiore, Venice,  1564 to 1580,
a model for the capitals at Ferne Park.
Image via RADICAL CLASSICISM
THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY
 

A detail of the door surround of the main entrance.
Photo from RADICAL CLASSICISM:
THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY.
 



The Rothermere coat of arms, supporters, and crest
fill the  entrance front pediment of Ferne Park.
Photo from RADICAL CLASSICISM
THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY.
 

Upper Greensand sandstone, another local stone but of the post-Jurassic period, was also used.  This pale green-ish gray stone was used as ashlar in many of the important 18th century Dorset buildings.


The long cheek walls of the entrance stairs
was inspired by the Temple of Antionius and Faustina,
Rome, AD 141.  From Palladio, I QUATTRO LIBRI, 1570.
Image via RADICAL CLASSICISM:
THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY.
 

The fourth stone, not local, was York stone.  For durability, it was used for the entrance front staircase and the south terrace paving.


The Garden (South) Elevation of Ferne Park.
Photo from RADICAL CLASSICISM:
THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY.

Quinlan Terry's drawing of the design
for the south terrace balustrade at Ferne Park.
Image from RADICAL CLASSICISM:
THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY.
 

The balusters of the (south) garden terrace utilize a design of alternating forms in order to meet building safety regulations that would prevent a child from falling through.  A Baroque rhythm, such as that used at Longhena's Ca' Pesaro in Venice, 1649 to 52, provides an appropriate solution to modern demands on classical architecture.


Jonathan and Claudia Harmsworth,
the Viscount and Viscountess Rothermere.
Photo by Francois Halard for Vanity Fair,
November 2006, via Indy Media.

Although the floor plans were well thought out in terms of proportion and natural light, they might not be suitable to the lifestyles of many American billionaires in terms of expected convenience.


A collage of images of Ferne Park by
Francois Halard for Vanity Fair ,
via Indy Media.

That said, the simplicity of plan does allow some grand Georgian rooms with handsome details.  Interior designer Veere Greeney was brought in early in the design process to help create a comfortable décor compatible with the architecture.


Another collage of images of Ferne Park by
Francois Halard for Vanity Fair,
via Indy Media.
 

In an article for Country Life magazine, May 5, 2010, David Watkins writes, "Oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and engravings of an exceptionally wide range of dates and styles, create the impression of a collection that has grown over many years.  All the [bathtubs] are old ones that have been refurbished, but there are no coloured marbles or gold taps in the bathrooms, which are plain and discreet."


The Entrance Hall of Ferne Park.
Photo via QFT.

When the house is filled with guests, the Entrance Hall also serves as a Sitting Room.  The doorway behind the folding screen leads to the service stairs and, beyond, the Kitchen.  On the opposite wall, there is a doorway to a vestibule with a coat closet and powder room, with a sitting room beyond.


The Staircase of Ferne Park.
Photo via QFT.

It is difficult to see in this photo of the stairs, but there are 'Venetian' or 'Palladian' windows, an arched head window flanked by a narrow flat head window, on both the first (main) and second floors at each end, as the house was originally built.


The Drawing Room at Ferne Park.
Photo via veeregrenney.com

The Drawing Room on the center of the south side has a shaped, ornamented plaster ceiling.  On either side is a Dining Room (which later became the Breakfast Room) and the Study.


Veere Grenney's fabric "Ferne Park."
Photo via Veere Grenney Associates

No views of the second floor have been published, but this photo of designer Veere Greeney's fabric "Ferne Park" might offer a glimpse.  It appears to be the corner of tailored bedhangings, the be-ribboned flat-pleated corner of the canopy in a Georgian room.  (T.D.C.'s note:  this detail was later discovered to be from the designer Veere Grenney's own bedroom).


The gardens of Ferne Park were designed
by Rupert Golby.
Paul Highnam photo via gardenmuseum.org.

The gardens, designed by Rupert Golby, are occasionally open to the public to benefit charities or non-profit organizations.  Such was the case on at least two occasions earlier this year.


The garden front of Ferne Park
viewed through a gate.
Photo via QFT.

Check the Events website of the Garden Museum for the schedule of Garden Open Days for private gardens that are open on behalf of the Garden Museum Development Appeal which supports the creation of the Garden Design Archive.  It is an excellent way to visit exceptional properties such as this.


Another garden gate view at Ferne Park.
Photo via Southern Spinal Injuries Trust.

There are several entrances to the estate and one still maintains a carriage entrance for the second house that stood at Ferne Park.


Original gateway from the second Ferne Park.
Photo via Images of England.

Architect Quinlan Terry used the original design as a model for a larger, modern entrance that was an interpretation of the historic precedent.


Quinlan Terry's entrance gateway to Ferne Park
based on the design for the previous house.
Photo via Indy Media.

The outbuildings from the time of the second house were made more picturesque in some instances and renovated to suit modern needs of the family.


An outbuilding at Ferne Park that has
been renovated and adapted to modern use.
Photo via MOULDING.

In 2006, an application was made to extend the main house.  Adding a Library on the west and a Dining Room on the east main floor level, plus a Billiard Room and additional service areas on the basement level, the extensions maintained the symmetry and original design concept of the house.


The extended garden front at Ferne Park.
Photo from private collection.

False windows of the north face in the added rooms conceal a fireplace and chimney.  Venetian/Palladian windows look out to the garden.


The extended east end of Ferne Park
showing the Library addition.
Photo via MOULDING.

The main house won The Georgian Group award for the Best Modern Classical House in 2003.  In 2008, The Georgian Group cited the added Pavilion, also designed by Quinlan and Francis Terry, with the award for Best New Building In The Classical Tradition.


The Pavilion at Ferne Park.
A loggia spans this side of the new building.
Photo via The Georgian Group.

William Kent's Praeneste at Rousham in Oxfordshire was given as the inspiration for the new Pavilion.  A seated statue of the influential philosopher Immanuel Kant is placed in the ornamental pool.


The Pavilion at Ferne Park.
Photo via MOULDING.

There has been much speculation in the British Press that the Viscount's French residency status is a scheme to avoid paying British taxes.  As there are several other countries that would have a much more favorable tax structure than France, that theory is inconclusive.  In any case, the new construction at Ferne Park is a great monument to new classicism in residential design and what can be accomplished with talent, taste, and a lot of money wisely spent in the concentrated effort.

Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza at Villa Favorita

Villa Favorita, Lake Lugano, Switzerland
Photo by Derry Moore for
Architectural Digest

Continuing the series with topics that have a connection to the quintessential Cotswolds house, Daylesford, here is Villa Favorita, the Lugano, Switzerland, residence of Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, a one-time owner of Daylesford.  (The Renzo Mongiardino décor for the baron at Daylesford may be seen here). 


A view of Villa Favorita from Lake Lugano.
Photo from Wikimedia.

In 1985,the baron married his fifth wife, Carmen Cervera, a former "Miss Spain" who had been married to Lex Barker of "Tarzan" films, at Daylesford.  At the time of the photography by Derry Moore that appeared in the July, 1988, issue of Architectural Digest the villa was a residence for both, and one of several.  But it was around this time that Daylesford was sold to Carole and Anthony Bamford (see here) as the Cotswolds did not appeal to the Baroness.


Baron and Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza
in a detail from a photo by Derry Moore
published 1988 in AD.

Bonnard's "Portrait de Misia Godebska," 1908, and Toulouse-Lautrec's "Gaston Bonnefoy," 1891, are among the works of art in the pine paneled English Room, one of a series of reception rooms installed by the baron's father.


Another view of the English Room
at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

"Mademoiselle Duthe" by Fragonard, circa, 1771, hung between the windows of the English Room while a 1730 Meissan monkey by Kirchner joined Ming and Kangxi piece decorating the marble chimneypiece.


The French Room at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

"La Toillette" by Boucher, 1742.
Now at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
Image via Wikimedia.

"La Toilette" by Boucher, 1742, hung in the French Room near a Riesener commode with a Clodion figure group.  An eighteenth-century bureau plat may be seen in the mid-point of the image from the 1988 article.


The Bar at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

A small medieval style room used as a bar is located adjacent to the English Room.  Decorated with 19th century paintings in the form of heraldic wall hangings below a painted frieze of open colonnades with stylized urns of flowers, simple chairs and a 16th-century Italian octagonal table contrast with the curves of the walnut tall-case clock from Amsterdam, circa 1720.


The baron's Study at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

When he was in residence at the villa, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza spent most of his time in his Study looking over the constant stream of in-coming transparencies and catalogues from art galleries and dealers showing works for sale.  The portrait is of the baron's grandfather August Thyssen; although not a collector, he commissioned a number of sculptures from his friend Auguste Rodin.  Tapestry covered chairs flank a 16th-century French walnut table used as a desk.  An eighteenth-century Pompeian style frieze provides a colorful perimeter above the dark paneling.


The Gothic Room at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

Linen-fold oak paneling and carved limestone trim decorate the Gothic Room.  "The Annunciation" by Jan de Beer, 16th-century, was paired with Andrea Riccio's terra-cotta "Madonna and Child," circa 1520.  The painting is now at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.


Details of the Master Bedroom at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

In the Master Bedroom, Manet's "L'Amazone de Face," 1882, and Degas' "Chez la Modiste," 1883 were displayed.  Both "Horsewoman, Full Face" and "At the Milliner's" are now at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.


The baron's Dressing Room at Villa Favorita.
Photo by Derry Moore for AD.

Striped silk wall hangings in the baron's Dressing Room provided a backdrop for Pissarro's "Rue Saint-Honore, Effet de Pluie: Apres-Midi," 1897, and a Louix XVI bureau a Gradin.


The Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza
poses by her bathtub at Villa Favorita.
Photo from Hola magazine.

The swimming pool at Villa Favorita.
Photo from Hola magazine.

In the article by Peter Lauritzen, the baron is quoted, "My father [Henrich] acquired the seventeenth-century Villa Favorita from Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia in 1932, and brought [his collection of] the old-master paintings there.  He had first shown them publicly in Munich only two years before."


Baron Hans Heinrich's father, Heinrich,
in the Gallery at Villa Favorita, 1947.
Photo from ThyssenKrupp AG.

Until his father's death in 1947, the collection was seldom seen by the general public although his father had added a large gallery to Villa Favorita to display the art.  The baron added to the collection, at one time second only to that of the Queen of England.


Baron and Baroness Thyssen-Bornemisza
pose on the terrace of Villa Favorita
with Picasso's 1923 "Harlequin with a Mirror"
now at the Museo Thyssen-Borenmisza, Madrid.
Photo from PhotoDigest.be

Starting in 1960, select paintings from the collection were loaned out or travelled in special exhibitions of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.  In addition, the villa's gallery was open to the public on weekends seven months of the year, and more often when special exhibitions were held at Villa Favorita. 


A composite showing the extent of the addition
proposed by British architect Robert Stirling.
Image via Ticino Tessin, The Swiss Castles blog.

When the design for expansion by British architect Robert Stirling of the firm Stirling & Wilford failed to meet acceptance from local officials, offers from outside the country were considered to provide a home for the stars of the collection so that they could be viewed by larger numbers.  Despite persuasive talks with the Getty Museum in California, and a personal visit by Prince Charles on behalf of British museums, the government of Spain won with the offer of the Villahermosa Palace, to be refurbished to the specifications of the Baroness, opposite the Prado in Madrid.  That is now the location of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, filled mostly with art taken from Villa Favorita, opening in 1992.



A distant view from the lake showing the context.
Image via Ticino Tessin, The Swiss Castles blog.

Another view from the lake showing the
extent of  the shorefront property of Villa Favorita.
Image via Ticino Tessin., The Swiss Castles blog.

The remaining collection at Villa Favorita was reorganized and the gallery was again opened to the public for some years before closing.  Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza died in 2002.  Carmen "Tita" Cervera, as the dowager baroness is now usually referred in the press, opened the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Malaga in 2011.  Her museum contains art from her collection on a long term free loan, with many of the paintings previously displayed at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum during the previous 12 years. That same year of the museum opening in Malaga, she decided to sell "The Lock" by John Constable from her private collection to raise funds; in 2012 it sold for an artist record GBP 22.4 million.  In 2013, Carmen Cervera came into the international spotlight again when it was discovered that she was using a complex offshore structure as a tax haven; her spokesman said it was only used to move art from country to country.



Carmen Cervera, the dowager baroness,
at Villa Favorita.
Photo from Hola magazine.

Carmen Cervera still holds a Swiss passport according to press reports.  As Switzerland does not tax art, it is believed that the villa still holds a significant collection, the primary source of her wealth.

 

This series of posts of The Devoted Classicist with a connection to Daylesford continues with the next essay.



The Travellers: Ditchley Carpet

The Saloon at Ditchley Park
in a watercolor by Alexandre Serebriakoff.
Image via The Ditchley Foundation.

In this day of throw-away culture, The Devoted Classicist appreciates each sighting of a treasured furnishing that has been reused in another setting, sometimes even with a new owner.  The non-sequential series of posts that records these appearances is titled The Travellers.


Ditchley Park.
Image via The Ditchley Foundation.

Author Martin Wood writes in NANCY LANCASTER, COUNTRY HOUSE STYLE that the Saloon, mostly used for tea when there was a house party, had a large Portuguese needlework rug made especially for the room.  Countess Munster (the former Peggy Ward before her 1929 marriage and later a partner when Nancy bought the decorating business started by Sibyl Colefax that they reformed as Sibyl Colefax Limited) had discovered a prison in northern Portugal that was capable of taking on such work and that is thought to be the source of this 19 x 13 feet 10 inches carpet. 

The relocation of the magnificent Venetian folding screen from the Hall of Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, to the Drawing Room of Heron Bay, Barbados, was shown in the post here.  But the carpet from the Saloon of Ditchley travelled to another home of Ronald Tree as well.  After Nancy divorced Tree to marry Colonel Lancaster, she moved to his home, Kelmarsh, which the Trees had leased before buying Ditchley (and sold many of the furnishings to Lancaster).


A detail of a Sebriakoff watercolor of the
Library at Ditchley looking into the Saloon.
Image from Martin Wood's book
NANCY LANCASTER, COUNTRY HOUSE STYLE

Ronald Tree retained Ditchley for a short while after his marriage to his second wife Marietta until moving back to New York City, once home to each.  Although The Ditchley Foundation says it was Marietta Tree who commissioned Alexandre Serebriakoff to provide the lovely watercolor views of Ditchley, author Martin Wood writes that it was Ronald Tree who arranged for the series after he and Nancy divorced; it appears that a set was done for each Ronald and Nancy.  (The watercolor of the Library, shown in part above, signed and dated A. Serebriakoff Dytchley [sic] 1948 later sold at Sotheby's for $32,500).


Penelope Tree in her living room, N.Y.C. 1962
Photograph by Diane Arbus.
Image via private collection.

Ronald and Marietta Tree bought the 1907 Leland-Wesson (sisters Eufrasia Leland and Emma Wesson) double-width, Georgian style house at 123 (and 125) East 79th Street, New York City. (The original architects of the house were Foster, Gade & Graham; it is now the Brazilian Mission to the United Nations).  It was one of several properties in the immediate area that Vincent Astor had bought up in the 1920s and 1930s to prevent development for apartment buildings that would block the light for the south-facing garden of his own grand double-width townhouse on East 80th Street.  Friends of the Trees called the townhouse Little Ditchley because of the art and furnishings that had come from the Oxfordshire estate.  One of those items was the rug from the Saloon, visible in the Diane Arbus photo of the Tree's 13 year old daughter taken for a feature in Town & Country magazine.  (The photographer died in 1971 but a silver gelatin reprint authorized by the estate sold in a 2008 auction at Christie's for $15,000).  The rug apparently followed Marietta Tree's move to One Sutton Place South where she lived until her death, and sold at the Christie's 1992 sale of items from her estate, lot 133.


The rug in the loft of Niall Smith.
Photo by Jeffrey Hirsch for NYSD.

A 2008 feature on the Manhattan loft apartment of antiques dealer Niall Smith in New York Social Diary with photos by Jeffrey Hirsch and interview by Lesley Hauge and Sian Ballen revealed that the Ditchley rug had found an appreciated home yet again. 


Another view of the carpet from Ditchley.
Photo by Jeffrey Hirsch for NYSD.

The text of the NYSD article stated "Niall found the needlepoint rug at Doyle.  It had belonged to Nancy Lancaster who made it from the design of the front hall ceiling at Ditchley."  (Actually it was the rug in the Hall that had some of the same elements as the Hall ceiling but the Doyle lot may have been a resale from the 1992 auction).


The carpet from Ditchley in the loft of Niall Smith.
Photo by Jeffrey Hirsch for NYSD.

A caption of the NYSD article also revealed "a Biedermeier Recamier sits atop Niall's prized Nancy Lancaster needlepoint rug for which he paid 'four times the estimate'."  The Devoted Classicist finds it satisfying that well-made, well-designed neoclassical furnishings from the twentieth-century are still appreciated by discerning collectors today.

For more posts in The Travellers series, scroll down in the right hand margin of the regular web version of The Devoted Classicist to the heading LABELS and click on The Travellers.

Heron Bay, Barbados

The Entrance front of the Barbados beachfront
 villa known as Heron Bay.
Photo from ARCHITECTURE DESIGN IN BARBADOS

The Devoted Classicist's favorite house in all the Caribbean is the Palladian villa called Heron Bay in Barbados.  Designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, a British architect best known for landscape design, for Marietta and Ronald Tree, it was built by local labor and believed to have been completed in 1947 (although some sources say 1949).  Ronnie Tree had a great deal of design input, apparently, and technical assistance may have been provided by British architect Paul Phipps, a former pupil of Sir Edwin Lutyens (and uncle by marriage to the former Mrs. Tree).  Inspiration for the design of the house was provided by Andrea Palladio's 16th century Villa Barbaro, also known as Villa di Maser.

Andrea Palladio's design for Villa Barbaro.
Image from THE FOUR BOOKS OF ARCHITECTURE

Heron Bay has a two-story central block with arcaded wings to each side ending in pavilions.  But instead of the wings being straight like at Villa Barbaro, the arcades are curved to end in pavilions clearly inspired by the Palladian model.

View of Heron Bay from the water
showing one of the end pavilions.
Image via Flickr, Kellsboro.

The beachside of the central block has a two-story portico facing a garden created by the curving arcades.

The seafront portico and one of the flanking
curving arcades of Heron Bay.
Photo from Country Life magazine, 1959.

The portico at Heron Bay
photographed by Slim Aarons from
A PLACE IN THE SUN.

Twin staircases lead down from the upstairs Drawing Room to the portico's paving that holds a large stone table, often used for dining.

Views, top, showing the portico set for dining.
Bottom, the ground floor Morning Room and the
upstairs Drawing Room.
From VOGUE July 1968 via NYSD.

The coral stone walls were left exposed in the Great Room and other principal rooms of the house, a reminder of the sometime harsh seaside conditions despite the tropical temperature. 

A recent view of the Drawing Room
showing the screen from Ditchley at the end.
Rendering by Will Topley.

The wonderful painted screen at one end of the Drawing Room was brought from Ditchley, the country house that Ronald Tree had shared with his former wife, Nancy, known to most readers as Nancy Lancaster.  (More about that in a future post). 


A view of the Hall at Ditchley Park
showing the backside of the screen now at Heron Bay.
Photo from NANCY LANCASTER, ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE STYLE
by Martin Wood.
 

Ronnie had bought the painted canvas screen measuring 14 x 20 feet in Venice; the perspective of a Palladian interior might have originally been a theatrical backdrop.

The Great Hall at Ditchley
showing a glimpse of the screen on the right.
Watercolor by Alexandre Serebriakoff, commissioned
after the divorce of Ronald and Nancy Tree from
JANSEN by James Archer Abbott.

Other decorative elements in the room include a pair of blackamoors and a set of oval framed floral paintings that appear to have been once part of an architectural assemblage such as overdoor panels.

The other end of the Heron Bay Drawing Room in 1987.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest.

 

The cover of Architectural Digest
featuring Heron Bay, photographed by Derry Moore.

The Morning Room on the ground floor, shown during the Tree's ownership, had similar but somewhat less formal furnishings to suit the scale of the room. 


The Morning Room of Heron Bay, 1987.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architecural Digest.

After selling Ditchley and moving to New York to a townhouse on East 79th Street, the Trees had a friendly separation with Ronnie spending more time in Barbados and Marietta in the United States.  (Yes, there is a lot more to that, but no need to get off track on this post).  Ronald Tree died in London in 1976 and Marietta died in her Sutton Place, New York City, apartment in 1991.


A garden pavilion at Heron Bay.
Photo from ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN IN BARBADOS.



The Pineapple Bridge at Heron Bay.
Photo by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest.

The garden pavilion and Pineapple Bridge are attributed to Geoffrey Jellicoe.  But the pool pavilion, which appears to be later, may have been designed by Ronnie Tree; it is somewhat reminiscent of his contributions to the original buildings of the nearby Sandy Lane resort (since replaced by the existing buildings).


The swimming pool at Heron Bay.
Photo from ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN IN BARBADOS.

This writer is uncertain about the timeline of subsequent ownership, but Carole and Anthony Bamford are the current owners.  Using the Heron Bay estate has a tropical get-away during the winter months, Lord and Lady Bamford's primary residence is the magnificent country house, Daylesford, located in the scenic Cotswolds.  (See the previous post here for the Bamfords at Daylesford which also links to other posts on that extraordinary house).  Daylesford had been redecorated for the Bamfords with the help of Colefax & Fowler's Wendy Nicholls, managing director of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler as the interior design part of the business is called, and she was also involved in the supplemental furnishings for the Bamfords at Heron Bay.


A bedroom at Heron Bay,
presumed to be the Master in one of the end pavilions.
Photo from ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN IN BARBADOS.

In addition to the Liz Smith article in New York Social Diary and the chapter in Keith Miller's book ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN IN BARBADOS, more information and photos may be seen in a post by P. Gaye Tapp on her blog Little Augury.


The beachfront side of Heron Bay, Barbados.
Photo from ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN IN BARBADOS

The next post of The Devoted Classicist will feature another aspect of the Tree connection to this series of essays.  Those Devoted Readers following by email can have access to the blog archive and the search feature by clicking on the regular (current) webpage here.