The New House was designed by George Saumarez Smith of Adam Architecture and is Palladian in style. Built from natural stone and lime render, it is simple and elegant. The three central bays of the entrance front create an enclosed loggia, which leads into the dining room. Perhaps better described as a hall, this room occupies the centre of the house and opens onto the garden behind. Three full height arches echo those of the entrance loggia, creating a central space which is light, airy and calm. 

The house was recently commended in the Georgian Group’s 2010 Architectural Awards for the best ‘New Building in the Classical Tradition’.

Design 

The designs were inspired by the long, curling architectural leaf forms which are often seen in baroque and rococo plasterwork. Particular variations were almost like signatures, associated with modellers like the Artari or La Franchini families. They can be astonishingly inventive, elegant forms that help to create energy and movement in a design. Geoffrey was interested in using these historic forms but developing them into a new language. In each of the panels the leaves move differently; he wanted them to be harmonious, but not repeat, to have balance, but not symmetry. Birds and flowers were introduced; a little owl and a peregrine inhabit two of the panels. On another, two finches squabble, a blackbird looks on curiously, and a starling shouts from the sidelines. Leaves and flowers include Liriodendron Chinensis and the oversized leaves of the oak, Quercus Dentata Carl Ferris Miller, both favourites of the owners.

Process 

The panels are made from hand modelled plaster, or stucco. A combination of lime, gypsum, a fine aggregate and a binder, it is mixed to a putty consistency and modelled into shape with small metal tools as it sets. Traditionally modelled in situ onto an existing wall or ceiling, it can also be modelled onto plaster base panels, which make a strong but lightweight (and portable) background on which to work. 

To start, four base panels with a border moulding each measuring 7’6” high by 4’ wide were set up in our workshop in Devon. The designs were drawn onto the panels, the surface of the plaster scratched to form a key, and armatures attached. Enough stucco was mixed for a couple of hours work at a time. Each section was built up, firstly with a core, and then with a fine finishing coat. Three sculptors worked on the panels from May to October, clocking up several hundred hours each of modelling. Once finished, the panels were transported to the house, the framing was cut away, and they were fixed in place. In the blink of an eye, the giants that had dominated our workshop settled into place and became part of the architecture of the room. Despite the energy of the modelling style, they have a calm presence; the soft white stucco almost ethereal in the light from the full height windows at either end of the room. 

A work in stucco is absolutely unique - these are not casts, and there’s no mould. The panels were made by hand especially for this house, and this family. It was a wonderful commission; one that we are very proud of and had great pleasure in creating.

This is what people have had to say about the work:

“The house is designed with a deliberately Italian character, including its interiors which are simple but bold in their decoration. Geoffrey Preston’s stucco panels are in the ground floor dining hall, essentially the heart of the house. The architecture of the room is greatly complemented by these four panels modelled in high relief, drawing on the best traditions of Italian and English decorative plasterwork.

What would otherwise have been a rather austere space has been given tremendous character and vitality through Geoffrey’s remarkable work. I am firmly of the belief that the standard of design and craftsmanship in these panels is outstanding and they deserve to be regarded as fine works of art in their own right.”

GEORGE SAUMAREZ SMITH MA(Hons) DipArch RIBA, DIRECTOR, ADAM ARCHITECTURE

“Working with Geoffrey and his team was fun and exciting.  They are masters of their craft and the panels they produced exceeded even our high expectations.” 

THE OWNERS OF THE NEW HOUSE

“...The decoration is deliberately spare, allowing the architecture to speak unhindered, but the single decorative flourish, in the form of large stucco panels by Geoffrey Preston, is brilliantly conceived and realised”.

THE JUDGES’ CITATION, GEORGIAN GROUP 2010 ARCHITECTURAL AWARDS

For more photographs please visit the The New House portfolio page.

Thornhill Park was built in the 1720’s and was the home of Sir James Thornhill, Britain’s great baroque painter. The current owner, Tommy Kyle, had always wanted a house with spectacular plasterwork, and he commissioned Geoffrey to design and make new stucco armorials for the staircase hall. Mr Kyle wanted the new plasterwork to be in keeping with the period when the house was built, and he particularly liked the stucco armorials at Mawley Hall. These elements formed the starting point for the designs, which were also strongly influenced by Artari’s incredible work at Moor Park in Hertfordshire (both Mawley and Moor Park date from c.1730).

Design

The initial brief included six armorial panels on the first floor. The spandrels to the dome on the second floor and the eagle holding the chandelier were added soon after. Once designs were settled on, full size drawings were made for each of the first floor panels and hung in place so that we could get a feeling for the appropriate scale. A three dimensional sketch model was made for the ceiling spandrels.

Process

The work was hand modelled in situ by a team of six sculptors. Work started on the second floor. The wall surfaces were prepared and the design was transferred onto the plaster substrate. A new lime plaster moulding was run on the underside of the spandrels. Armatures were put in place for the modelling; stainless steel screws for smaller elements (spears and poles, for example), and larger forms roughly sculpted out of wire and metal lath for the bulkier areas of the design. The substrate was scored to provide a key and then the stucco was applied and modelled into shape, firstly using a coarse ‘core’ mix and then a fine finishing coat to complete the work. Once the spandrels and the eagle were completed, we moved down to the first floor.

The work took nine months, and won the 2008 Plaisterer’s Trophy for the best new plasterwork in Britain.

For more photographs please visit the Thornhill Portfolio page.