![Clouds House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Clouds_House.JPG)
Clouds House, also known simply as Clouds, is a Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
at
East Knoyle in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England. Designed by
Arts and Crafts
A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
architect
Philip Webb for
Percy Wyndham and his wife Madeline, it was first completed in 1886, but an 1889 fire necessitated its rebuilding, finished in 1891.
Clouds was Webb's grandest design. It became a centre of social activity for the intellectual group known as
The Souls,
[Kirk (2005), pp. 141–142.] and was frequented by artists such as
Edward Burne-Jones and politicians like
Arthur Balfour.
[
Since 1983 the house has been a treatment centre for ]drug dependence
Substance dependence, also known as drug dependence, is a biopsychological situation whereby an individual's functionality is dependent on the necessitated re-consumption of a psychoactive substance because of an adaptive state that has develope ...
and alcohol dependence
Alcohol dependence is a previous (DSM-IV and ICD-10) psychiatric diagnosis in which an individual is physically or psychologically dependent upon alcohol (also chemically known as ethanol).
In 2013, it was reclassified as alcohol use disorde ...
, under the name Clouds House. In 2007 the Clouds House treatment centre merged with two other organisations to form the charity Action on Addiction, which is headquartered at East Knoyle.
Construction
Wyndham bought the [Worsley (2002), p. 85.] Clouds estate in 1876,[Kirk (2005), p. 132.] for c. £100,000. It was so-called because its lands included the former manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
of Clouds, in Milton, Wiltshire, which was owned by John Clouds at some time before 1551.
Wyndham commissioned Webb to replace a smaller house on the site, at the head of a valley sloping down to the south-east, with uncultivated land lying to the north.[Lethaby (1979), pp. 99–101.] It was Webb's grandest country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
design, intended to facilitate the Wyndhams' continual round of house parties,[ creating "a palace of week-ending for our politicians" in the words of Webb's friend William Lethaby.][ Two south-facing drawing rooms were connected by double doors, allowing them to be joined into one large space.][Kirk (2005), p. 136.] The south elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
, which had three gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s,[ also featured a large balcony with a canvas ]awning
An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tightly over a lig ...
,[ built over a loggia. It overlooked a ]terrace
Terrace may refer to:
Landforms and construction
* Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river
* Terrace, a street suffix
* Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...
for outside dancing.[
The centre of the house was occupied by a two-storey living hall,][ divided into three bays by two arches supported on piers, with each bay lit by a ]roof lantern
A roof lantern is a daylighting architectural element. Architectural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight structure.
A lantern roof wil ...
. It contained a freestanding inglenook with a large, hooded fireplace. A gallery around the top of the hall was glazed to prevent eavesdropping on conversations below.[Kirk (2005), p. 139.]
An extensive service
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a pu ...
wing on lower ground to the east of the main house was attached to its north-east corner.[ The former service buildings remaining are Grade II listed, some having been demolished.
The Wyndhams moved into the house in September 1885, although some of the house's detailing was not finished until 1886.
]
1889 fire
A fire in January 1889, started by a lighted candle left at night in a linen cupboard, destroyed the house except for the external walls. The service wing also survived. A full insurance payout enabled Wyndham to rebuild the house exactly as before, except for the addition of fireproof floors and improved plumbing. After living in the service wing since the fire, the Wyndhams moved back into the rebuilt house in August 1891.
Furnishings and art
Carpets and wallpapers were supplied by Morris & Co
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (1861–1875) was a furnishings and decorative arts manufacturer and retailer founded by the artist and designer William Morris with friends from the Pre-Raphaelites. With its successor Morris & Co. (1875–194 ...
. The main carpet for the drawing room, known as the ''Clouds'' carpet (designed by William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
, 1885), is in the Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
, Cambridge. The carpet for the central hall was a version of the ''Holland Park'' carpet, which Morris had created for Aleco Ionides of 1 Holland Park, London, another Webb building project.[Dakers (1993), pp. 91–92.]
''Greenery'' was the Morris & Co tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...
which Wyndham eventually commissioned to hang in the hall, after considering two others.[ ''Greenery'' ( J. H. Dearle, 1892) is in the ]Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
. The unsuccessful candidates were the design for ''The Forest''[ (Morris and Dearle, with animal figures by Webb), which was subsequently woven in 1887 for Ionides and hung at 1 Holland Park, and ''The Orchard'',][ also known as ''The Seasons'' (Morris and Dearle, 1890), which was woven and sent to Clouds but rejected.][
]Cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
s by Burne-Jones were also acquired for display at Clouds. ''Poesis'' and ''Musica'' were originally produced as portière designs for the Royal School of Art Needlework
The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is a hand embroidery school in the United Kingdom, founded in 1872 and based at Hampton Court Palace since 1987.
History
The RSN began as the School of Art Needlework in 1872, founded by Lady Victoria Welby ...
. ''The Ascension'' was a design for the Burne-Jones mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s in St. Paul's Within the Walls
St. Paul's Within the Walls ( it, San Paolo dentro le Mura), also known as the American Church in Rome, is a church of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe on Via Nazionale (Rome), Via Nazionale in Castro Pretorio, Rome. It was the firs ...
, Rome; repainted by the artist, it hung in Clouds over the main staircase until destroyed in the 1889 fire.[MacCarthy (2011), p. 325.]
Later history
On Percy Wyndham's death in 1911, the Clouds estate was inherited by his son George Wyndham, who sold off a quarter of it.[ He installed electricity in the house, and commissioned architect Detmar Blow to convert existing rooms into a library and a chapel. In 1913 when George Wyndham died the estate passed to his son Percy Lyulph ("Perf") Wyndham. In 1914 Percy was killed in ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and it passed to Guy Richard (Dick) Wyndham, the second son of George Wyndham's brother Guy. From 1924 he let the house out, and in 1936 sold the whole estate for £39,000, to a developer who immediately split it up, re-selling the house attached to only , for £3,300.[
In 1938,][ alterations removed some original features including gables and the fireplace, and some of the hall space was converted into passageways. The house's main entrance, on the north side, was replaced with one on the west.][
The house was sold again in 1944, to the Church of England Incorporated Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays.][ In 1965 it became a school.][
]
Treatment centre
In 1983 the house became a treatment centre for drug dependence and alcohol dependence,[Kirk (2005), p. 300.] founded under the name Clouds House by Peter and Margaret Ann McCann. The McCanns ran the centre until 1988 when they left to found the Castle Craig Hospital rehabilitation clinic in Scotland. In May 2007 the Clouds House centre merged with Action on Addiction and the Chemical Dependency Centre, forming a new charity under the Action on Addiction name. The charity's head office is next to Clouds in East Knoyle. It offers an abstinence-based twelve-step program
Twelve-step programs are international mutual aid programs supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Developed in the 1930s, the first twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), aided its members ...
, provided over a six-week residential stay.
Births
* Lady Cynthia Asquith
Lady Cynthia Mary Evelyn Asquith (née Charteris; 27 September 1887 – 31 March 1960) was an English writer and socialite, known for her ghost stories and diaries.Richard Dalby, ''The Virago Book of Ghost Stories''.Virago, London, , 1987 (p. 23 ...
Notes
References
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External links
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{{coord, 51, 4, 44, N, 2, 10, 38, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Country houses in Wiltshire
Arts and Crafts architecture in England
Grade II* listed buildings in Wiltshire
Grade II* listed houses
Houses completed in 1891
Philip Webb buildings
Houses decorated by Morris & Co.
Drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers