Fireplace in Blackwell, 'arts and crafts' house, overlooking Lake Windermere, near Bowness, Cumbria, England UK
Blackwell is one of Britain’s finest houses from the turn of the last century and survives in a truly remarkable state of preservation retaining almost all of its original decorative features, including the rare and fragile hessian wall-hangings in the Dining Room. One of the real joys of Blackwell lies in its wealth of detail, from the leaf-shaped door handles and curious window catches to spectacular plasterwork, stained glass and carved wooden panelling. Blackwell remains an internationally important icon of Arts and Crafts architecture. Blackwell’s period rooms have been carefully furnished with the blend of Arts and Crafts furniture and early country-made pieces advocated by its architect, Baillie Scott. The Arts & Crafts Movement, a reaction against the increasing dominance of mechanisation brought about by the Industrial Revolution, was championed by John Ruskin and William Morris, the ‘fathers’ of the movement, who sought to re-establish the importance and worth of designer-craftsmen. Britain’s consumers were urged to achieve beauty, simplicity and practicality in the home. The rooms contain furniture and objects by many of the leading Arts & Crafts designers and studios – furniture by Morris & Co., C F A Voysey and Ernest Gimson, metalwork by W A S Benson and ceramics by Pilkingtons, Maw & Co. and Ruskin Pottery. Blackwell is a large house, but with its half-landings and split-level spaces its architect created somewhere with the atmosphere of an intimate family home. Nature’s flowing lines, which inspired Art Noveau, can be seen throughout the house, from the design of the stained glass plants and flowers to the rhythmic scrolling foliage in the carved wooden panelling in the Hall. Visitors are encouraged to sit and soak up the atmosphere in Blackwell’s fireplace inglenooks, which boast fine examples of tiles by Arts & Crafts designer William de Morgan, and are free to enjoy the house as it was originally intended, without roped-off areas.
Size: 3645px × 2527px
Photo credit: © John Morrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: architect, architecture, arts, baillie, blackwell, crafts, cumbria, design, dining, district, england, fire, fireplace, hall, house, hugh, lake, mackay, national, panelling, park, room, scott, style, uk, windermere, wood
