NYC Exhibition Highlights Downton Abbey Sets, Costumes and More

Just came across this story from Houzz about a new exhibition in New York City that opens today, the 18th, and runs through January 31st at 218 W. 57th. Having visited Highclere Castle--where the Downton Abbey series was filmed--the exhibition fills in some of the show-oriented details that aren't evident when visiting the historic house. Click on the photo below for the complete story.

Downton Abbey: The Exhibition
When: Nov. 18 through Jan. 31, 2018
Where: 218 W. 57th St., New York City
Cost: Starts at $30

Downton Abbey Comes to the Big Apple

VISITS: Highlights of Highclere Castle

Back in May, I provided a brief overview of this year’s UK trip, which centered around London and areas close by. One of our stops was at Highclere Castle, the home of Lord and Lady Carnarvon, and the house made famous by the Downton Abbey TV Series. Thankfully, the great success of the show has increased the number of visitors over the years to such an extent that many needed repairs have been made. Ongoing restoration continues, and many educational and tourist programs have been added as well.

A little rain shower did not diminish my daughter's enthusiasm for the tour.

While perhaps not my first choice, I succumbed to the desires of my wife and daughter to go see the house, which I had first read about in Mark Girouard’s book, The Victorian Country House. Designed by architect Charles Barry, and featuring a park designed by Capability Brown. The 5,000-acre estate is in Hampshire, about 5 miles south of Newbury, Berkshire. Reportedly the original site of the home was recorded in the Domesday Book, and the first house was built on the foundations of the medieval palace of the Bishops of Winchester, who owned this estate from the 8th century. Highclere has been home to the Earls of Carnarvon and their forebears since 1679.

The Curse of Current Events

Even I am subject to letting my feeling be known when it comes to politics and current events in the news. As are many, I am deeply troubled by the course things have taken since the election of Mr. Trump to our land’s highest office—and I have made mention of it at least once in my TLG Tweets. But I think…only once.

Which is precisely the reason I maintain multiple accounts; most of my gripes and tirades are on my personal account, which is where I focus on other interests like book publishing, advertising, marketing and urban development in the town where I live. Political and personal tweets, as they are, seem to fit in much better there; I don’t feel right subjecting my TLG audience and followers to my political views, even though I expect that, for the most part, their views may be largely sympathetic to my own.

And You Thought the Academy Awards Were WHITE...

Years ago, when I first dreamed of building a house of my own, I often dropped into newsstands and book stores to pick up copies of magazines like Country Life, British Home & Garden, Period Home, BBC Homes & Antiques and many others, seeking inspiration. I knew I would never have the means to build what I really wanted, but I hoped that by reading, training my eye and getting a “feel” for what was appropriate, I could come fairly close to envisioning my dream.

Over the years, I have amassed quite a library of books on English architecture and traditional home design. I also managed to horde a lot of those old magazines, which are still well-preserved in my basement.

Tudor Tear-Down on Hold as McMansion Lust Continues

Although a great many of the "McMansions" that have sprung up across the landscape are to be rightly reviled for their gross and overblown designs, the problem is doubly painful when a fine old home is demolished to make way for these monstrocities. The problem has recently come to light again in Wilmette, IL - where an attractive prarie-style home with connections to Frank Lloyd Wright may fall to a wrecking ball.

In the article about that house, writer Lee Bey notes the story of another local house - a 1901 stucco and stone Tudor-revival home on Essex Road designed by Irish architect William Wallace Blair, who also lived in the house after it was completed. The home (see photo) was purchased by Heritage Luxury Builders, which last year sought permission to demolish the home and build a brand new one on the lot.

Some local residents weighed in on the proposal, and village officials held off on issuing any permits until this March. Meanwhile, the builder has been working with the village on an alternative that could save the existing home by building a large addition that would include an attached three-car garage, three powder rooms, a home theater, and six bedroom suites. The asking price on the newly-renovated home is expected to be in the range of $3,800,000.

While the compromise on this proposal is to be applauded, it is sad to think that so many "luxury" home builders (and their customers) are so quick to tear down a fine old house like this in the mistaken assumption that they can do better. All too often, we end up with a boring mish-mash of styles where sheer size has been substituted for style as a measure of taste and accomplishment.

The Fate of Country Houses: England's Lost Downtons

Millions of people watch Downton Abbey on Television, or visit the stately homes that have managed to avoid demolition, through some combination of good luck, intelligent management or adoption by a group such as The National Trust. Unfortunately, many thousands of houses did not survive. Many were lost to urban development, fire, or simple neglect; years ago, people were less included to worry about conservation, and it turned out that a great homes which had been passed down through centuries could be lost within a generation.

 PHOTO CREDIT:  FROMOLDBOOKS.ORG

Many of these homes became simply unaffordable as the owners' incomes fell, or due to inheritance tax demands. In the case of Beaudesert (pictured above) the "Dancing 5th Marquess of Anglesey" simply gambled his fortune away, leaving his estate to ruin and eventual sale after his death in Monte Carlo in 1904. While some of the neglectful practices and development schemes common to the 20th century are no longer accepted, many great houses are still at risk.

 BEAUDESERT TODAY - PHOTO CREDIT: MATHEW GROWCOOT

The Mail's Catherine Ostler presented a fine article on this subject, featuring a number of grand houses that have been lost to the ages. As the article states:

"Death, debt, urban sprawl: there are many reasons why England has lost so many of its Downton Abbeys. A third of Britain’s historic estates, with their elegant country houses, deer parks, farms and churches with family crypts, have been demolished, diminished or turned into flats — 1,000 since World War II. The lucky ones got taken over by the National Trust. The unlucky ones had the contents ripped out and sold off and were then flattened by developers."

The article highlights Historian John Martin Robinson’s new book, Felling The Ancient Oaks,  How England Lost Its Great Country Estates (Aurum, £30), which examines the fate of 21 of these extinct estates, illustrated by poignant photographs of a lost world.

You can read the article HERE.

Buy the Book HERE.

New Album Sets Shakespeare's Sonnets to Music

Musician Robert Hollingworth, best known for his directorial work with the brilliant ensemble I Fagiolini, has decided to set some of the most famous love poems ever written to contemporary music. Howevere, there is a twist: All the works will be performed on instruments popular at the time of Elizabeth I and her successor, King James.

Singers on the album will include folk star Eliza Carthy, and they are all backed by musicians playing replica instruments such as lutes, a type of 16-string cello called a lirone and a massive stringed instrument called a theorbo. Among the musicians involved in the project is drummer Geoff Dugmore, who dropped his rock and roll roots (having played with Rod Stewart and Tina Turner) to play renaissance drums on an album which has taken six months to record.

The arrangements on the album, which were developed by Hollingworth, have not changed any of Shakespeare's words but have repeated some lines and moved others. The sonnets include 154 poems, and were first published in 1609, just a few years before Shakespeare's death.

The album, called The Sonnets, set to be released on April 23 -- Shakespeare's birthday. Mr Hollingworth says he thinks the venture would have a certain "curiosity value" but expect it to be liked by everyone from pop music fans to poetry-lovers.

Lavenham: Where the 15th Century Only Seems Like Yesterday

There's a brief but enjoyable profile in the Sept. 19 Daily Mail about the picturesque town of Lavenham, which is set to be seen on the next Harry Potter film, The Deathly Hallows, scheduled for November release.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mail Online.

"Lavenham is regularly described as Britain's 'finest medieval town', though that doesn't really do it justice. The word ' medieval' triggers images of crenellated walls and towers, dungeons and long-drops - policed by custodians during the day, abandoned at night.

Lavenham is different. It has no castle, no swaggering architectural statement in stone at all - except the church of St Peter and St Paul, a flint-faced beauty with a 141ft tower, built between 1485 and 1525."

Featured in the film will be the Guildhall, which will be cast as the home of Harry Potter's parents. Owned by the National Trust, it's silver lime-washed oak timbers offer a mellow take on traditional Tudor half-timbering.

Now - The Steadfast Available Online

We've been planning this for a while, and now it's happening...each week, we'll be uploading a brand new chapter of The Steadfast online for you to enjoy.

Based in London in 1895, the novel follows the adventures of British architect G. Morris Moneypenny - a talented designer and a true renaissance man - as he is thrust into a new and unpredictable world of deadly anarchists, arms development and political intrigue.

Morris designs houses any fan of TLG would love...sprawling Olde English piles, inspired by the work of his elders like Richard Norman Shaw and Philip Webb, as well as contemporaries like Lutyens. In his plans, his practice and his adventures, he draws upon his creativity, his appreciation of history, and his deeply-embedded sense of propriety to win the day. The new chapters will be available HERE. Have a go...and tell your friends.

Our Favorite Halloween Costume So Far...

A friend just sent this to me, along with a number of similar "dog-costume" photos - as part of a collection titled "Why Dogs Bite People." They were all pretty hilarious, but this particular example really made me laugh out loud, because it was unique and so brilliantly done.

PHOTO CREDIT: I have no clue.

If I had a dog, I'd be tempted to have him run around the house looking like this all the time...

Original "Shakespeare in Love" Theater set to be Reborn in North of England

A British theater company has announced plans to rebuild an Elizabethan playhouse using the set from hit film "Shakespeare in Love," which won seven Oscars, including best picture. The oak-timbered stage set, which was modeled on London's 16th-century Rose Theatre, was donated to the British Shakespeare Company by Judi Dench, who won an Academy Award for playing Queen Elizabeth I in the 1998 romantic comedy. The full-size replica theater was given to Dench by the filmmakers and is currently dismantled in storage.


British Shakespeare Company artistic director Robert Williamson said the actress had recently decided to donate it to the troupe for a permanent base in northern England. He added that he imagined the venue would serve as "a living history center," offering not only live performances but also a display of costumes from the film, which starred Joseph Fiennes as the playwright and Gwyneth Paltrow as his lover.

PHOTO CREDIT: The New York Times

The original Rose Theater was built in 1587 on the south bank of the Thames, featuring a popular repertoire of works including plays by William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. The British Shakespeare Company, which has been performing open-air productions of Shakespeare around the UK, is studying proposed theater locations in the northern English cities of Sheffield, Manchester and York. A charitable trust has also been created to manage the project.

Taylor Swift an Elizabethan Lady at Madison Square Garden

Okay, so I am not a big Taylor Swift fan -- she's a nice kid, but that kind of pop music's just not my thing. That said, TLG couldn't help but notice the nice outfits she's wearing during her 52-date Fearless tour — which launched in April and wraps in October. Rolling Stone has a full review and some nice photos, including this one of Taylor decked out in some sharp Elizabethan finery.

PHOTO CREDIT: Rolling Stone Online.

As Rolling Stone reports - "for the third act, which kicks off with “Love Story,” dancers dressed in Elizabethan costumes glide across the stage while Swift, wearing a red-and-gold cloak, sings the modern-day Romeo-and-Juliet tale." Seems appropriate. The full story is HERE.