Red House...the main rooms

 Part 2 of the awesome tour through Red House.....The architect Philip Webb designed much of the furniture for Red House -- above is the hutch in the dining room painted in "Dragon's Blood" red.  (In yesterday's post you can see the floor plan of the house. )

Dining room fireplace with miter arch characteristic of much of the interior and exterior brickwork.  I love its 3-dimensionality.

The custom designed dining table with legs that carry out the house's castle turret theme.

As I am away from my library I can't look up the wallpaper pattern but I think it is sunflower?  Does anyone know?

View into dining room from hallway stairs.  I think the wallpaper in the hall is "Apple".

At some point a subsequent owner painted front and side panel paintings over in brown.  Too bad but I love the color of the rest of the piece....turquoise? verdigris?

Down the hall with Webb-designed lighting is a small sitting room with a fireplace that says "Our content is our best having".....obscure??

On the way up the stairs one passes another really simple sweet storage nook.

At the top of the stairs is the main living room with another large custom furniture piece by Webb.  Look at the minstrel gallery with the ladder on the left.  Morris's daughters Jenny and May must have loved this!  You can see the wall paintings by Burne-Jones on either side.

The living room fireplace....motto:  "Ars Longa, Vita Brevis":  Art is long, Life is short.

Below the Burne-Jones murals (unfortunately behind glass) is wainscoting that covers up paintings done by Morris.  Apparently much of the room was covered by his murals before later occupants painted the walls white---heathens!

This is a detail from a bedroom with "Dragon's blood" wooden beams and Marigold (?) wallpaper.  All the wallpaper was added subsequently as Morris did not use any in the house originally.

Tomorrow, the final Red House post....ceilings (incredible) and staircase (a masterpiece).  Ciao!

Red House Hallways....Welcome

Given that I have always wanted to see much more detail about Red House than I've been able to find in books or on-line, I am going to post lots of pictures of the interior.  Hopefully you won't find them all too boring!  Here are a set focusing on the incredible hallways of this house....Above is the front hallway with the fabulously painted door (detail below and also here) and bench.

This door makes me want to rush home and pick up a paintbrush....

To the right of the door is this easily constructed "boot closet".  The detail below shows the castle turret motif that is central to the stairwell (next post).  This would be so easy to do!

Standing facing the front door one would have this side hallway on your right.  The glass doors are inscribed with the signatures of William Morris's visitors to Red House.  What a great idea!

The back door is also painted.....

And to the right of this door are beautiful hand-painted stained glass windows which I believe were done by Edward Burne-Jones.

Wheel of Fortune modeled by Jane Morris....

another window modeled by Lizzie Siddal....

The third hallway is the kitchen wing....
 And here is another beautiful window painted with Morris's motto, Si je puis, or If I can.

 A plan of house I found on the web.....

The Bench at the Bottom of the Garden, Wimbledon

From Tony Pinkney, Morris Scholar:  "In her 1886 essay 'A Day in Surrey with William Morris' Emma Lazarus is very conscious of being an American in England. She writes: "to American eyes no bit of rural England can be devoid of interest and charm; the most ordinary objects seem under a spell to bewitch us back into the dream-world of a previous existence".

How true this is!!  How do you, the Brits, do it?!  Over a century later, I was pondering this exact question and decided that trees must have something important to do with it.  Americans don't really pay any attention to their trees.   I think the British realize they are the "foundation" upon which the entire landscape builds.

Pilgrimage to Red House

Oh hallowed ground!

From the National Trust website:  "The only house commissioned, created and lived in by William Morris, founder of the Arts & Crafts movement, Red House is a building of extraordinary architectural and social significance. When it was completed in 1860, it was described by Edward Burne-Jones as 'the beautifullest place on earth'. Only recently acquired by the Trust, the house is not fully furnished, but the original features and furniture by Morris and Philip Webb, stained glass and paintings by Burne-Jones, the bold architecture and a garden designed to 'clothe the house', add up to a fascinating and rewarding place to visit."

a counter-clockwise walk around house......

 northside

 the kitchen garden

The British are such masters of the beautiful garden.  Here the most basic raised beds are bordered by simple sticks---nothing fancy but quite easy and beautiful (although I'm left with the nagging thought that if I lined my garden beds with sticks it would just look like I hadn't done my fall clean-up yet.....need that magic British touch!)

Also in the garden, attached to the back of the house, is the site of the old greenhouse that was torn down and replaced by bomb shelters (above) during WW2.  These themselves are now quite rare and being preserved for posterity by the National Trust.

This bench alcove is through the archway you see two pics above.  Again, it is such a simple design you could easily and inexpensively do something similar anywhere you had an alcove.  A plank bench rests on bricks and the tile back and sides are bordered by a piece of molding that was probably added last.  Morris made the tile and they are quite faded, apparently because he used improper glazing.

Tomorrow the interior....even more fabulous!

p.s. another Banksy?

My last Bristol post....is this another Banksy?!?  I don't know but it sure looks like one!  Internet access has become challenging (in a tiny town in Apennines) but last weekend I visited William Morris's Red House and the studio of David Mabb.  I''ll try to get some pics up over next few days.  Ciao bellas!

Cranes & Trains in Bristol's Historic Dockyards

Load not to exceed 3 tons

These cranes seem to date to the fifties

love the rosettes on this big strong masculine crane...

The promenade along Bristol's famous floating harbor, 80 acres of tidal river that was impounded by locks and dams in 1809, preventing ships from falling over at low tide and transforming Bristol into one of the major seaport of Great Britain.  

I wonder what this tank is lined with?  glass?