Blackwell is a large house in the English

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, designed in the

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 ...

style by

Baillie Scott Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (23 October 1865 – 10 February 1945) was a British architect and artist. Through his long career, he designed in a variety of styles, including a style derived from the Tudor, an Arts and Crafts style reminisc ...

. It was built in 1898–1900, as a holiday home for Sir Edward Holt, a wealthy

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

brewer. It is near the town of

Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere is a town in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Windermere lake and the town of Windermere to the north east with which it forms the civil parish of Windermere and Bowness. The town was histor ...

with views looking over

Windermere Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...

and across to the

Coniston Fells Coniston may refer to: Australia *Coniston (Northern Territory), a cattle station **Coniston massacre, 1928 *Coniston, New South Wales ** Coniston railway station, New South Wales * Coniston, Tasmania, a town in the Derwent Valley United Kingdo ...

. Blackwell has survived with almost all its original decorative features intact, and is listed

Grade I 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 ...

as an outstanding example of British domestic architecture. The house is furnished with original furniture and objects from the period. The gardens were designed by Thomas Mawson in a series of terraces. Flowers and herbs border the terraces, which form sun traps on the south side of the house. The house has been open to visitors since 2001 and hosts regular exhibitions including work by living artists such as

Edmund de Waal Edmund Arthur Lowndes de Waal, (born 10 September 1964) is a contemporary English artist, master potter and author. He is known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels often created in response to collections and archives or th ...

in 2005. It won the Small Visitor Attraction Award in the Northwest of England for 2005. The house is managed by the Lakeland Arts Trust.

Description of house and contents

When the architect MH Baillie Scott built a holiday home overlooking Windermere for his client Sir Edward Holt he created Blackwell, a perfect example of the Arts and Crafts movement. Blackwell retains many of its original decorative features, including a rare Hessian wall-hanging in the dining room, leaf-shaped door handles, curious window catches, distinctive plasterwork, stained glass and carved wooden panelling by Simpsons of Kendal. The rooms contain furniture and objects by many of the leading Arts and Crafts designers and studios – metalwork by WAS Benson, ceramics by Pilkingtons, and

Ruskin Pottery The Ruskin Pottery was an English art pottery studio founded in 1898 by Edward R. Taylor, the first principal of both the Lincoln School of Art and the Birmingham School of Art, to be run by his son, William Howson Taylor, formerly a student t ...

and furniture by Morris & Co.,

Stanley Webb Davies Stanley Webb Davies (1894–1978) was one of Great Britain's premier makers of Arts and Crafts furniture from his workshop in Windermere in the Lake District. Stanley was born in Darwen, Lancashire, into a wealthy mill-owning family of Quakers. ...

, Ernest Gimson and Baillie Scott himself. Acquisitions of furniture by Baillie Scott are on display, including an oak and ebony inlaid barrel chair with slatted sides, sideboard and a set of dining chairs. Blackwell offers several rooms displaying historical exhibitions that explore different aspects of the Arts and Crafts movement. The original gardens were laid out by Arts and Crafts garden designer Thomas Mawson in a series of terraces to achieve views from the house over the lake towards the Coniston fells. Blackwell is bordered by flower beds set against a terrace of York stone paving, providing shelter for garden chairs and tables, surrounded by flowers and herbs. On the lower terrace there is a long sweep of lawn.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huyton_College

External links

Blackwell House Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell (Historic House) Arts and Crafts Architecture Gardens in Cumbria Gardens by Thomas Hayton Mawson Country houses in Cumbria Historic house museums in Cumbria Art museums and galleries in Cumbria Contemporary crafts museums Grade I listed houses in Cumbria Tourist attractions in Cumbria Windermere, Cumbria

Description of house and contents

See also

References

External links