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.



High Time in the Low Country

Drayton Hall.
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

Charleston, South Carolina, is a very picturesque and unique city.  Charles Town, named for King Charles II, was established as a community in 1670 by English settlers from Bermuda, on the west bank of the Ashley River.  Soon, it relocated further down to its present location, at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers which flow together into the Atlantic Ocean.  Although the site first made it suseptible to attacks from Spain, France, Native Americans, and pirates, the location enabled 18th century Charleston to become the hub of Atlantic trade for the southern colonies and the wealthiest city south of Philadelphia.

The Great Hall of Drayton Hall, built about 1740, one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture inspired by Andrea Palladio in the United States.  The property was a cattle ranch before becoming a rice plantation.  It is remarkably preserved with few changes.  For more information about visiting this unique property, see the website, www.draytonhall.org/
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

Middleton Place is considered America's oldest landscaped gardens, with camillias thought to be the first in this country.  Henry Middleton was known to have owned a 1737-8 translation of THE FOUR BOOKS OF ARCHITECTURE by Andrea Palladio.  Most of the original house was burned in 1865 by Union troops, but the gentleman's guest quarters wing remains;  it was renovated in 1869 and given distinctive Dutch gable ends.  Information about visiting this unique property can be seen at the website, www.middletonplace.org/
Photo:  Middleton Place.

Deer skins, used for a wide range of products from clothing to book bindings, were the basis of Charleston's early economy.  Tea, silk, rice and indigo were cash crops that bolstered the shipping industry, along with the slave trade.  The 1793 invention of the cotton gin made that crop South Carolina's major export.

The Miles Brewton House, still in private ownership, is another Palladio influenced house, 1765-69.  The accessory gothick building to the right is a carriage house with the facade added in the second quarter of the 19th century; there are additional dependencies beyond.
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

The Dining Room of the Miles Brewton House.  The chandelier was added by a subsequent owner later in the 18th century.  During a recent restoration, remnants of the original blue painted paper with gilt decoration that adorned the cove ceiling were found and reproduced.
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

The great wealth brought social and cultural opportunities.  In 1736, the first theatre building in the United States was built in Charleston.  The Charleston Library Society was established in 1748 and the College of Charleston was established in 1770.  In 1798, The Bank of South Carolina, the second oldest building in the nation that was constructed as a bank, was established in Charleston.  The wealth was also reflected in some exceptional examples of architecture.

The Joseph Manigault House, built 1803, is open to the public as a house museum.  Information about visiting his property can be viewed at their website, www.charlestonmuseum.org/joseph-manigault-house
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

The Nathaniel Russell House, 1808, is also a house museum open to the public.  For more information, see their website at www.historiccharleston.org/experience/nrh/
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

Market Hall, built in 1841 to a classic Roman design by Edward Brickell White, replaced a 1788 building that burned.  The Pinckney family donated the property to the city, but stipulated that it would revert to the family if used for any other purpose.  Located at 188 Meeting Street, the adjoining sheds are still commercially used today.
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

After the Civil War, the economy of Charleston languished for decades.  But this financial downturn meant the preservation of blocks of historic buildings and provided the basis for a booming tourist industry, still strong even in the current economic climate.

The Sword Gate House, built in 1808 and located at 32 Legare Street, is still a private residence.  But it is offered for sale for $23,000,000.
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

The fascinating story of the early period of culture will be presented in a talk by Thomas Savage in an event sponsored by Decorative Arts Trust.  "High Time in the Low Country:  Charleston in the Eighteenth Century" will be presented Saturday, November 12, 2011, at 2 pm at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.  Admission to the talk is free with museum admission.  For more information about Decorative Arts Trust, see the website here.

Thomas Savage is shown here with two of his favorite Thomas Frye mezzotints.
Photo:  Laszlo Bodo, Winterthur.

Mr. Savage's book THE CHARLESTON INTERIOR is available for purchase at a discount with the option of free shipping here.