View
224
Download
0
Category
Tags:
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
Our skills and expertise including example of projects
Citation preview
Introduction
The English country house is such a familiar element of the structure of our rural landscapes that it is easy to overlook
how much personal attention, planning and estate management, repairs, renovation, garden and interior design has had
to be considered to make this the enduring legacy of many centuries.
In the past, as much as now, the country house was only one aspect of the pattern of life of its owners, an antidote to the
house in town. In our home City of Bath the rampant development and social imperatives of the 18th century created a
wealth of fine town houses, many now enjoying Grade I or Grade II star listed status.
Those embarking on the acquisition of a fine country or town house may need professional advice on many aspects of its
care and reuse. In twenty years of work in Architecture, conservation projects and estate management, planning, garden
design and Horticulture, Nash Partnership has become experienced in the needs of such buildings, and the issues
facing their owners. Our staff include many Architects with specialist qualifications and experience in conservation,
former conservation officers or English Heritage staff, a construction surveyor, planners, interior designers and a garden
designer/horticulturist.
We are able to assist with; -
• The evaluation of all historic property
• Theassessmentofcondition,advisingand specifying necessary repairs appropriate to the building’s circumstances
• Proposalsforalterations,extensionsorconversionto suit the aspirations of owners
• Theinterfacewithacomplexplanningprocessasfar as it affects listed buildings, conservation areas and all planning issues
• Fixtures,fittingsandfashion;restoringandupdating houses for contemporary needs, services and patterns of living
• Thedesignofnew,andtherestorationofexisting, gardens, garden features and management of rural estates, parks, woods, paddocks, facilities for rural pursuits and water features
• Theinstallationoflowcarbonandrenewable technologies.
• Therenewalanddecorationofinteriors.
• Seekingandinstructingcraftspeoplewiththe appropriate skills likely to be required in historic buildings from medieval to modern.
• Thedesignofnewdwellingsintownandcountryand the development of strategies necessary to best procure planning permissions.
Working with historic buildings and their landscapes involves
assembling teams and skills, the careful evaluation of the
strengths and weaknesses of any design context and the ability
to manage costs across a wide spectrum of work, paying
particular attention to detail.
Not all large town and country houses are in single occupier
private hands. But whether a building has been converted to
multiple use or operates as a tourist attraction in charitable
hands, an institution or private sector function, issues of repair,
viable continued use and context all need careful handling.
The following examples will illustrate the range of experience
our work has given us since the establishment of the practice
in 1988.
King’s Circus, Bath
Bath’s finest residential address, The Circus
was built over many years and crucial to the
early success of the project was the decision
by William Pitt, the 18th Century British Prime
Minister, to acquire three plots, for himself, his
sister and his aunt. Behind wholly symmetrical
façades these houses vary enormously in size
from two to five bays of width.
One of Pitt’s plots afforded only a single reception
room on the ground floor since his aunt felt no
need to dine at home! We were engaged to restore
the entire property and advised the addition of
this octagonal dining room. This proposal was
resisted by the local planning authority but won
at appeal on design grounds.
Belcombe Court
Belcombe is one of a handful of delightful villas by John
Woodtheelder.SetinWiltshireithasariverfrontageinthe
heart of a small country estate of woodland, streams and
pasture.
We were engaged over a period of years to assist in the
restoration and expansion of its 18th and 19th century
gardens and aspects of repair and re-use within the Grade I
listed house. We converted Belcombe’s magnificent dovecot
to a guest facility, restored a variety of 18th century garden
structures and features, renovated the estate’s extensive
waterworks, installing new woodland ponds, repairing
culverts and installing controls. We designed new garden
buildings and restored old ones, created an oak framed
pool house complex, a floating riverside boat house and a
SummerHousesetwithinanewflowergarden.Weforged
new routes to join disparate areas of the gardens together
with gateways, seats and facilities by working closely with
Belcombe’s owners and garden staff at all times.
Claverton Manor
The manor is an exceptionally fine classical country house
oftheearly19thcentury,designedbySirJeffreyWyattville.
Setonalargeplateau,thehousehascommandedanestate
of over a thousand acres, including the village of Claverton,
rural farms and its own coachhouse, stables, outbuildings
andextensivewoodland.For40yearsClavertonhasbeen
home to the American Museum in Britain, for whom we have
worked continuously since 1996 on a series of projects to
restore areas of historic buildings, create new basement
exhibitions and put their existing buildings to optimum
uses. We have advised on re-servicing and extending the
Grade I listed manor to create a new Orangery Restaurant.
With historic assets of this quality, all work has to be based
on a sound Conservation Management Plan justified through
a long term development plan process, which justifies any
change against the value of optimum management of such
assets.
Church Hayes; North Wiltshire
Here, we were engaged to transform a rather indifferent Cotswold
house into a much larger property. All work was specified to the
very best of the Cotswold building traditions. The work included
a range of outbuildings and works to gardens and grounds.
Great Pulteney Street, Bath
GreatPulteneyStreetisBath’sfineststreetflankedbyterraces
all of Grade I listed status, many reaching 6 storeys in height.
We were engaged to return two of these magnificent properties
to individual use after over a century’s use as a hotel.
The principal challenge here was to develop a layout that served
a modern family within a structure created when servants
were common and the rooms were designed accordingly. The
removal of the services and partitions associated with the use
as a hotel required extensive repair and renewal to the original
wall finishes and decorations.
Kelston
SirJohnHarringtonwasaprominentCourtierintheCourtofQueenElizabethI.
His great house at Kelston in Bath was once famous for the scale of its gravity
fed water gardens. Although the house was demolished in the 18th century
when Kelston Park was built nearby, many of its outbuildings and garden features
remain and much can be understood from what still lies beneath the ground.
The tithe barn, enormous dovecot, bowling green and other structures surround
Kelston’s pretty medieval church. We secured planning permission for its owner
to restore his buildings and combine them in one single large dwelling with guest
suites and workrooms therefore securing the future legacy of Harrington’s great
house, after many decades of redundancy.
Rode Manor
Alarge18thcenturycountryhouseatRodeinSomersetwasdemolishedinthe
1950’s,leavingit’sstablesandoutbuildingsattheheartof20acresofornamental
gardensandanimpressivearboretum.ForseveraldecadesRodewasknown
as a popular family visitor attraction, Rode Bird Gardens. When this closed,
we judged the quality of the arboretum merited retention under appropriate
management and built a case with the local planning authority to covert the
stables to a number of dwellings and build two extremely large and fine villas in
the grounds, each commanding several acres of land. By showing the quality of
landscape that could be achieved and the consequences of doing nothing, our
planning arguments were ultimately supported at local planning authority level.
Titan Barrow; Bathford, Bath
This early villa, characterised by an intimate scale and delicate
ornamental detailing on its main façade, had been operating
for several decades as a nursing home. Our work began for
the building’s charitable owners assisting them in its disposal
as part of a long term plan to consolidate their activities within
purpose designed premises. We had been consulted by several
prospective owners but we have been re-engaged by its ultimate
purchaser keen to restore the building as a private house and
put its range of outbuildings to appropriate uses again.
Warleigh Manor; Wiltshire
Warleigh Manor is a battlemented castle from the early 19th
century of a mock gothic style. This large building enjoys an
impressive setting within pastureland alongside the River Avon
and issetagainstabackgroundofextensivewoodland. For
many decades it had been used as a school for disruptive
teenagers. We worked over a period of years to bring new life
to its main building, coach house, stables and garden buildings
to create a small number of particularly fine dwellings restored
within their original intimate garden landscape, which was lost
when the whole property passed into institutional use around
50yearsago.
New Country House
This new country house was designed for family use on one of the southern escarpments of the Cotswolds, commanding extensive views and set within a large swathe of pastureland. Our design particularly set out to show how a large range of facilities and rooms could nevertheless be arranged conveniently for everyday family use. This cruciform plan is one we have employed many times enabling a variety of major and minor functions to be accommodated at each level with adjoining spaces closed down and opened up according to need.
Lebanon
We were engaged by a member of the Royal House ofQatar todesign thisextremely largevillawithguestsuites and sporting facilities on an attractive wooded hillside overlooking the Mediterranean north of Beirut, in Lebanon. It’s owner had specifically chosen an English Architect, of the English country house tradition and its sensitivity to landscape setting. Lebanon enjoys an extraordinary richness in its building stones and a very high level of craftsmanship can be brought to work of this kind.
Gardens
These are illustrations of gardens we have conserved, designed or contributed to in town and country to suit the needs and aspirations of each individual owner. Our garden designer and horticulturist will drawing out the optimum relationship any garden or site can achieve with its
landscape and building contrast.
Recommended