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Extract from "More Rough Travel Notes with an Architectural Eye - 2012:
Red House Bexleyheath:
Art, architecture, and philosophy hand-in-hand. A depth of human sensitivity. Those hands again in hands-on feeling. And the mind’s eye.

The Arts & Crafts Movement which developed during the second half of the 19th C advocated renewed use of handicraft with simple design and decoration in reaction to industrial machinery and superficial aesthetics. So this was philosophy-based, not mere fashion-style.

The movement centred on William Morris whose Red House (1859) by architect Philip Webb is the best early example. Some of its origins lie in the writing of Ruskin, and its intention was to change both the appearance and way in which art and architecture were produced. It had widespread lasting influence, even including the later Garden City movement.

It was against excessive Victorian ornament and sentimentality, together with fake repetition, visually meaningless, which had been blatant at the time, that Morris and his disciples reacted. Gothic-Revival had been a romantic backward-looking movement; Arts & Crafts also admired medieval craftsmanship but interpreted its underlying values more for the time. Pre-Raphaelite paintings, the Kelmscott Press, fine textiles, lasting oak furniture, the English village, and country mansions like medieval farms, were characteristic.

Recently Red House has been obtained by the National Trust and opened to the public.

So come on! Straight to Charing Cross station, then ticket in hand looking for the platform when those echoing speakers announce “No trains out of Charing Cross due to a ‘vessel’ striking a bridge pier.” So, like every Londoner, lots of patience, and late again, before finally off to anticipated Bexleyheath to the east.

Disembarking, rain threatens, no buses, so a brisk walk according to the mental map. To Bexley’s Broadway, and, yes, Red House Lane as the rain settles in.

Webb’s House shows a picturesque grouping of roof forms and chimneys around the focal point of a well-head — all in matched warm-red brickwork and Rosemary tiles. There’s practically no ornament or stylistic detail. What there is may be a little Gothic, a little 17th C, and late 19th C. Non historical. Less fussy than Butterfield. With sheltering roof forms of related hips and gables, 2 storeys with height lowered in places, in a semi-enclosing L-shape, it’s closely related to setting. We see it looks belonging to its garden.

This is an early example of the idea of a garden as a series of exterior rooms, an integral part of the house. As we see, the “rooms” consisted of a herb garden, a vegetable garden, and areas of flowers such as jasmine and lavender, with hanging climbers on the sunny side of the house — especially wistaria with its pale-purple spring droops out for us. Also fruit trees — pears, apples, and cherries. But that word “rooms” may be too restrictive, because the results have that informal, naturally-fitting feel of the English approach of Capability Brown, Sissinghurst, and so on.

P :-)

Philip Webb architect for William Morris, completed 1860.
Trust/red-house

Tags:   PS peteshep copyright photo architecture Red House Arts & Crafts Bexleyheath London 2012 Morris Webb oriel Red House Lane

© All Rights Reserved

Copyright photo.

wikimapia

Extract from "More Rough Travel Notes with an Architectural Eye - 2012:
The Arts & Crafts Movement which developed during the second half of the 19th C advocated renewed use of handicraft with simple design and decoration in reaction to industrial machinery and superficial aesthetics. So this was philosophy-based, not mere fashion-style.

The movement centred on William Morris whose Red House (1859) by architect Philip Webb is the best early example. Some of its origins lie in the writing of Ruskin, and its intention was to change both the appearance and way in which art and architecture were produced. It had widespread lasting influence, even including the later Garden City movement.

It was against excessive Victorian ornament and sentimentality, together with fake repetition, visually meaningless, which had been blatant at the time, that Morris and his disciples reacted. Gothic-Revival had been a romantic backward-looking movement; Arts & Crafts also admired medieval craftsmanship but interpreted its underlying values more for the time. Pre-Raphaelite paintings, the Kelmscott Press, fine textiles, lasting oak furniture, the English village, and country mansions like medieval farms, were characteristic.

Recently Red House has been obtained by the National Trust and opened to the public.


So come on! Straight to Charing Cross station, then ticket in hand looking for the platform when those echoing speakers announce “No trains out of Charing Cross due to a ‘vessel’ striking a bridge pier.” So, like every Londoner, lots of patience, and late again, before finally off to anticipated Bexleyheath to the east.

Disembarking, rain threatens, no buses, so a brisk walk according to the mental map. To Bexley’s Broadway, and, yes, Red House Lane as the rain settles in.

Webb’s House shows a picturesque grouping of roof forms and chimneys around the focal point of a well-head — all in matched warm-red brickwork and Rosemary tiles. There’s practically no ornament or stylistic detail. What there is may be a little Gothic, a little 17th C, and late 19th C. Non historical. Less fussy than Butterfield. With sheltering roof forms of related hips and gables, 2 storeys with height lowered in places, in a semi-enclosing L-shape, it’s closely related to setting. We see it looks belonging to its garden.

This is an early example of the idea of a garden as a series of exterior rooms, an integral part of the house. As we see, the “rooms” consisted of a herb garden, a vegetable garden, and areas of flowers such as jasmine and lavender, with hanging climbers on the sunny side of the house — especially wistaria with its pale-purple spring droops out for us. Also fruit trees — pears, apples, and cherries. But that word “rooms” may be too restrictive, because the results have that informal, naturally-fitting feel of the English approach of Capability Brown, Sissinghurst, and so on.

Morris linked up social and aesthetic ideas.

P :-)

Philip Webb architect for William Morris, completed 1860.
Trust/red-house

Tags:   PS peteshep copyright photo architecture Red House Arts & Crafts Bexleyheath London 2012 Morris Webb Red House Lane

© All Rights Reserved

Copyright photo.


wikimapia

Extract from "More Rough Travel notes with an Architectural Eye - 2012:
The Arts & Crafts Movement which developed during the second half of the 19th C advocated renewed use of handicraft with simple design and decoration in reaction to industrial machinery and superficial aesthetics. So this was philosophy-based, not mere fashion-style.

The movement centred on William Morris whose Red House (1859) by architect Philip Webb is the best early example. Some of its origins lie in the writing of Ruskin, and its intention was to change both the appearance and way in which art and architecture were produced. It had widespread lasting influence, even including the later Garden City movement.

It was against excessive Victorian ornament and sentimentality, together with fake repetition, visually meaningless, which had been blatant at the time, that Morris and his disciples reacted. Gothic-Revival had been a romantic backward-looking movement; Arts & Crafts also admired medieval craftsmanship but interpreted its underlying values more for the time. Pre-Raphaelite paintings, the Kelmscott Press, fine textiles, lasting oak furniture, the English village, and country mansions like medieval farms, were characteristic.

Recently Red House has been obtained by the National Trust and opened to the public.

So a brisk walk according to the mental map. To Bexley’s Broadway, and, yes, Red House Lane as the rain settles in.

Webb’s House shows a picturesque grouping of roof forms and chimneys around the focal point of a well-head — all in matched warm-red brickwork and Rosemary tiles. There’s practically no ornament or stylistic detail. What there is may be a little Gothic, a little 17th C, and late 19th C. Non historical. Less fussy than Butterfield. With sheltering roof forms of related hips and gables, 2 storeys with height lowered in places, in a semi-enclosing L-shape, it’s closely related to setting. We see it looks belonging to its garden.

This is an early example of the idea of a garden as a series of exterior rooms, an integral part of the house. As we see, the “rooms” consisted of a herb garden, a vegetable garden, and areas of flowers such as jasmine and lavender, with hanging climbers on the sunny side of the house — especially wistaria with its pale-purple spring droops out for us. Also fruit trees — pears, apples, and cherrys. But that word “rooms” may be too restrictive, because the results have that informal, naturally-fitting feel of the English approach of Capability Brown, Sissinghurst, and so on.

Morris linked up social and aesthetic ideas.


P :-)

Philip Webb architect for William Morris, completed 1860.
Trust/red-house

Tags:   PS peteshep copyright photo architecture Red House Arts & Crafts Bexleyheath London 2012 Morris Webb

© All Rights Reserved

Copyright photo.


wikimapia

Extract from "More Rough Travel notes with an Architectural Eye -2012":
The Arts & Crafts Movement which developed during the second half of the 19th C advocated renewed use of handicraft with simple design and decoration in reaction to industrial machinery and superficial aesthetics. So this was philosophy-based, not mere fashion-style.

The movement centred on William Morris whose Red House (1859) by architect Philip Webb is the best early example. Some of its origins lie in the writing of Ruskin, and its intention was to change both the appearance and way in which art and architecture were produced. It had widespread lasting influence, even including the later Garden City movement.

It was against excessive Victorian ornament and sentimentality, together with fake repetition, visually meaningless, which had been blatant at the time, that Morris and his disciples reacted. Gothic-Revival had been a romantic backward-looking movement; Arts & Crafts also admired medieval craftsmanship but interpreted its underlying values more for the time. Pre-Raphaelite paintings, the Kelmscott Press, fine textiles, lasting oak furniture, the English village, and country mansions like medieval farms, were characteristic.

Recently Red House has been obtained by the National Trust and opened to the public.


So come on! off to anticipated Bexleyheath to the east.

Disembarking, rain threatens, no buses, so a brisk walk according to the mental map. To Bexley’s Broadway, and, yes, Red House Lane as the rain settles in.

Webb’s House shows a picturesque grouping of roof forms and chimneys around the focal point of a well-head — all in matched warm-red brickwork and Rosemary tiles. There’s practically no ornament or stylistic detail. What there is may be a little Gothic, a little 17th C, and late 19th C. Non historical. Less fussy than Butterfield. With sheltering roof forms of related hips and gables, 2 storeys with height lowered in places, in a semi-enclosing L-shape, it’s closely related to setting. We see it looks belonging to its garden.

This is an early example of the idea of a garden as a series of exterior rooms, an integral part of the house. As we see, the “rooms” consisted of a herb garden, a vegetable garden, and areas of flowers such as jasmine and lavender, with hanging climbers on the sunny side of the house — especially wistaria with its pale-purple spring droops out for us. Also fruit trees — pears, apples, and cherries. But that word “rooms” may be too restrictive, because the results have that informal, naturally-fitting feel of the English approach of Capability Brown, Sissinghurst, and so on.

Morris linked up social and aesthetic ideas.

P :-)

Philip Webb architect for William Morris, completed 1860.
Trust/red-house

Tags:   PS peteshep copyright photo architecture Red House Arts & Crafts Bexleyheath London 2012 Morris Webb

© All Rights Reserved

Copyright photo.


wikimapia

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Extract from "More Rough Travel Notes with an Architectural Eye -2012":
Morris linked up social and aesthetic ideas. He founded a firm for designing and making furniture, fabrics, wallpaper, stained-glass etc, and got his Pre-Raphaelite friends to join him. Artist and craftsman as one. Influenced by the Middle ages, but never imitating. He steeped himself in the atmosphere and aesthetic principles of those times, but created something new on similar values. Morris fabrics and wallpaper, for instance, have lived long after all applied arts of the generation have lost significance.

This is one of the most influential buildings in domestic design. As founder of the Arts & Crafts movement, Morris commissioned only this one house. Here we see the informal play of brickwork shapes, the conical well with oculus windows above, expressive chimneys, indication of the stair, rhythmic window panels; there are sliding sash windows with cambered heads beneath relieving arches; and that projecting brick form is the oriel — we’ll see the effect of its light-revealing intimacy from inside upstairs. Altogether generous yet welcoming and homely.

P :-)

Philip Webb architect for William Morris, completed 1860.
Trust/red-house

Tags:   PS peteshep copyright photo architecture Red House Arts & Crafts Bexleyheath London 2012 Morris Webb Red House Lane

© All Rights Reserved