The Steeple Times

Tag: eccentric

  • Eileen Gray (1878 – 1976, née Eileen Smith)

    Eileen Gray (1878 – 1976, née Eileen Smith)

    A pioneer of both the Art Deco style and the functionalist Modernist movement, bisexual Irish aristocrat Eileen Gray was best known for designing the Bibendum chair and the E.1027 table. This great tastemaker lived primarily in South Kensington, Paris and the South of France and another of her creations, once owned by Yves Saint Laurent, the ‘Fauteuil aux Dragons’ armchair, sold for £19 million at auction in 2009.

     

    Extremely private, Gray once remarked: “The art of the engineer is not enough… A house is not a machine to live in. It is the shell of man, his extension, his release, his spiritual emanation. Not only its visual harmony but its organisation as a whole, the whole work combined together, make it human in the most profound sense.”

     

    Designer and tastemaker Eileen Gray (1878 – 1976, née Eileen Smith) – A pioneer of both the Art Deco style and the functionalist Modernist movement, bisexual Irish aristocrat Eileen Gray was best known for designing the Bibendum chair and the E-1027 table.A stunning example of Eileen Gray’s work, an S-bend chair, is on display in Room 135, The Dr. Susan Weber Gallery at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

     

    Designer and tastemaker Eileen Gray (1878 – 1976, née Eileen Smith) – A pioneer of both the Art Deco style and the functionalist Modernist movement, bisexual Irish aristocrat Eileen Gray was best known for designing the Bibendum chair and the E-1027 table.Eileen Gray also designed the ‘E.1027’ house at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, overlooking the Bay of Monaco in Franc as a gift for her lover, Jean Badovici, the editor of ‘L’Architecture Vivante’. ‘E’ is for Eileen, ‘10’ for the tenth letter of the alphabet, ‘J’ for Jean, ‘2’ for ‘B’ for Badovici and ‘7’ for ‘G’ for Gray. The building was completed in 1929.

     

    Designer and tastemaker Eileen Gray (1878 – 1976, née Eileen Smith) – A pioneer of both the Art Deco style and the functionalist Modernist movement, bisexual Irish aristocrat Eileen Gray was best known for designing the Bibendum chair and the E-1027 table.The E-1027 table was designed for the eponymous house in 1927.

     

  • Marples Must Go

    Marples Must Go

    1964 Mini Cooper S hatchback designed to carry the golf clubs of the much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster Ernest Marples for sale

     

    Twice married and born in Levenshulme, Manchester, Ernest Marples – later Lord Marples – makes the very worst of modern politicians look like relative babes in arms. He can, however, be credited with commissioning a rare thing – the first ever Mini hatchback. Two were made in total and one, which was eventually transferred to the ownership of the politician in 1968, is to be auctioned in July.

     

    Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900)
    Pictured left: (Alfred) Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) with his secretary turned second wife, Ruth Dobson. They married in 1956 and he became The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC in 1974. Pictured right: Lord Marples in his ‘Marples Mini’ (date unknown).

     

    Marples, whose upbringing was within the Labour Party and whose love of eccentric orange-brown shoes and blue suits was well known, worked as a miner, postman, chef and accountant before a stint in the Royal Artillery between 1941 and 1944. He then joined the Conservative Party, was elected Member of Parliament for Wallasey in 1945 and took his first ministerial post in 1951. Promoted by Churchill, Macmillan and Douglas-Home, he rose to become Postmaster General and Minister of Transport and introduced the STD telephone code, the Premium Bond scheme, the first postcodes, the MOT test, roadside single yellow and double yellow lines and possibly, in his most unpopular move of all, traffic wardens.

     

    Aside from his public appointments, controversially, Marples became a director of various companies in the 1940s. Without considering any potential conflicts of interest, he involved himself in firms that built the first motorways and several power stations also and attracted much attention after protestors spray painted a motorway bridge near Luton that his firm, Marples Ridgway and Partners, constructed with the caption: “Marples Must Go!”

     

    Subsequently, Marples brought the government into disrepute through his part in a prostitution scandal and after this was covered up in 1963, he later “cut and run” to Monaco in 1975 to avoid “a substantial tax bill” after being discovered having parked most of his assets in Monaco and Liechtenstein. He spent his final years on his 45-acre vineyard estate in Fleurie, France and died in a Monte Carlo hospital in 1978.

     

    The ex-Ernest Marples 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 will be sold by H&H Classics at their Imperial War Museum Duxford sale in Cambridgeshire on the 26th July. It has an estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900) – a sum that would no doubt, if he were still alive, have money obsessed Marples smiling with glee.

     

    Of the almond green car, which supposedly the hatchback boot was fitted to on the orders of Marples on the basis he wanted to be easily able to fill it with cases of wine and golf clubs, Damian Jones of H&H Classics commented:

     

    “This is not just another Mini. It is history on four wheels. Its former owner, Transport Minister Ernest Marples changed the face of Britain with housing, bridges, motorways. He was a very ‘colourful character’ to say the least. It is fascinating that he chose to buy and use this relatively modest car when going golfing or going to France on holiday. If this car could speak what tales might it tell? It is truly one of a kind.”

     

    Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900)Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900) Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900)Marples Must Go – 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1071 originally owned by much-loathed Postmaster General, Minister of Transport and alleged tax fraudster The Rt. Hon. The Lord Marples, PC – Alfred Ernest Marples (1907 – 1978) to be auctioned by H&H Classics on 26th July 2017 – Estimate of £70,000 to £80,000 ($89,500 to $102,300, €79,100 to €90,400 or درهم328,800 to درهم375,900)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWymCebAl6g

  • The Pumpkin House

    The Pumpkin House

    Eccentric Hudson Heights, New York cliffside residence for sale for £3.33 million; at certain times of day it resembles a pumpkin

     

    16 Chittenden Avenue, Hudson Heights, New York certainly doesn’t sound like an inspirational place to live. Though mention of this address won’t set pulses racing and despite one previous owner joking: “It’s not the White House”, whoever buys it will actually get something quite breathtaking situated on the highest natural point in Manhattan.

     

    Offered for £3.33 million – a figure 202% higher than it sold for 17 years ago in 2000 – ‘The Pumpkin House’, as the residence is more famously known, is a freestanding cliffside structure that is described by selling agents Sotheby’s International Realty as having a “seemingly jack-o’-lantern face that glows across the Hudson [River] reflecting the light of the setting sun”.

     

    The Pumpkin House – 16 Chittenden Avenue, Hudson Heights, New York, NY 10033, United States of America – For sale for $4.25 million (£3.33 million, €3.79 million or درهم15.61 million) through Sotheby’s International Realty
    The Pumpkin House – 16 Chittenden Avenue, Hudson Heights, New York, NY 10033, United States of America
    The Pumpkin House – 16 Chittenden Avenue, Hudson Heights, New York, NY 10033, United States of America – For sale for $4.25 million (£3.33 million, €3.79 million or درهم15.61 million) through Sotheby’s International Realty
    The building in the 1930s

     

    It is spread over 4 floors, extends to 3,144 square foot and includes 2 reception rooms, a library, a home office, a “French country style” kitchen, 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. A basement flat provides 1 reception room, a kitchen, 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom and in addition to a 2-car garage, there is a small garden, a balcony and a vast, part covered 66-foot long roof terrace.

     

    Built on a steel foundation in 1925 by an engineer and “sort of a dreamer” named Cleveland Walcutt and referenced by The New York Times in 2008 as “a face in the crowd”, ‘The Pumpkin House’ was owned by an interior designer named William Spink from 2000 to 2011. During the renovations he orchestrated, a construction worker fell off the building and was seriously injured but what potential buyers will either love or loathe about this architectural miracle suspended over a 265-foot drop is that it truly is utterly eccentric.

     

    The Numbers – The Pumpkin House

     

    2000 – Sold for $1.10 million (the equivalent of $1.56 million, £1.22 million, €1.39 million or درهم5.73 million today).

     

    2005 – Listed for $3.45 million (the equivalent of $4.32 million, £3.38 million, €3.86 million or درهم15.87 million today). Failed to sell.

     

    2010 – Relisted for increased price of $3.90 million (the equivalent of $4.38 million, £3.43 million, €3.91 million or درهم16.09 million today).

     

    2011 – Sold for an undisclosed sum.

     

    August 2016 – For sale for $5.25 million (£4.11 million, €4.69 million or درهم19.28 million).

     

    June 2017 – For sale for $4.25 million (£3.33 million, €3.79 million or درهم15.61 million).

     

    The Pumpkin House – 16 Chittenden Avenue, Hudson Heights, New York, NY 10033, United States of America – For sale for $4.25 million (£3.33 million, €3.79 million or درهم15.61 million) through Sotheby’s International Realty The Pumpkin House – 16 Chittenden Avenue, Hudson Heights, New York, NY 10033, United States of America – For sale for $4.25 million (£3.33 million, €3.79 million or درهم15.61 million) through Sotheby’s International Realty

  • Geoffrey Bayldon (1924 – 2017)

    Geoffrey Bayldon (1924 – 2017)

    Wacky Leeds born actor Geoffrey Bayldon was best known for playing Catweazle in the 1970s series of the same name as the Crowman in Worzel Gummidge. Bayldon also played ‘Q’ in Casino Royale in 1967, was gay, turned down the role of Dr Who twice thinking the series “too long” and enjoyed collecting watercolour paintings, gardening and walking.

     

    Wacky, gay actor and Catweazle star Geoffrey Bayldon (1924 – 2017) – Leeds born actor Geoffrey Bayldon was best known for playing Catweazle in the 1970s series of same name. He turned down playing Dr Who twice Wacky, gay actor and Catweazle star Geoffrey Bayldon (1924 – 2017) – Leeds born actor Geoffrey Bayldon was best known for playing Catweazle in the 1970s series of same name. He turned down playing Dr Who twice Wacky, gay actor and Catweazle star Geoffrey Bayldon (1924 – 2017) – Leeds born actor Geoffrey Bayldon was best known for playing Catweazle in the 1970s series of same name. He turned down playing Dr Who twice

  • Spirit & Speed

    Spirit & Speed

    Chelsea studio house built for “spiritual artist” Arild Rosenkrantz and later home to the extremely eccentric lesbian heiress and powerboater ‘Joe’ Carstairs for sale for £8.95 million

     

    “Spiritual seeker” and artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) was born in Denmark, studied in Rome and married his Scottish cousin, Louise Mackenzie, in 1901. His commissions included ceiling panels at Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair and illustrating the Danish edition of Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Mystery Adventure and now a Chelsea home built for him is for sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million).

     

    Designed by the Maidenhead based architect Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) and Grade II listed since 1997, red brick built, 4-storey 5 Mulberry Walk is described as being of a “stripped Classical Mannerist style”. It features the artist’s initials on the rectangular profile downpipe and was his home from when it was finished until 1922.

     

    Spirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell Simpson
    Baron Arild Rosenkrantz and one of his works
    Spirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell Simpson
    Marion ‘Joe Carstairs’ once remarked: “I was never a little girl. I came out of the womb queer”; of her biographer Kate Summerscale added: “She was blithe, bold, courageous, unself-conscious, imperialist, impervious to social change”

     

    Subsequently sold to the eccentric and extremely masculine heiress Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) for £3,000 in the early 1920s (the equivalent of just £167,000, $215,000, €197,000 or درهم791,000 today), 5 Mulberry Walk became the party venue for the “fastest, artiest, gayest, not to mention the most alcoholic and drug-addicted set in London at the time”. Carstairs – a lesbian described as “usually dressed as a man, having tattooed arms, and loving machines, adventure and speed” – remained there well into the 1930s and even had a name plaque for a doll she was obsessed with, ‘Lord Tod Wadley’, placed on the building’s door.

     

    Extending to 3,163 square foot in total, 5 Mulberry Walk is currently divided into two apartments. The first, a ground floor studio with a 32-foot wide garden, has 1 bedroom whilst the second covers three floors and has 4 bedrooms. Each has a large artist’s studio space and in total there are 2 kitchens, 3 bathrooms and a roof terrace as well.

     

    5 Mulberry Walk, which is most definitely ready for modernisation and reconfiguration internally, is offered by Russell Simpson.

     

    Spirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell SimpsonSpirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell SimpsonSpirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell SimpsonSpirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell SimpsonSpirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell SimpsonSpirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell Simpson Spirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell Simpson Spirit & Speed – 5 Mulberry Walk, London, SW3 6DZ, United Kingdom – Built to designs of Clifton Robert Davy (1879 – 1929) for “spiritual seeker” artist Baron Arild Rosenkrantz (1870 – 1964) and later home to eccentric and extremely masculine heiress and powerboater Marion Barbara ‘Joe’ Carstairs (1900 – 1993) – For sale for £8.95 million ($11.5 million, €10.6 million or درهم42.4 million) through Russell Simpson

  • Video of the Week – Wedding Dogs

    Video of the Week – Wedding Dogs

    Sir Benjamin Slade films a promotional video for his wedding venue; it features a terrier driving his Bentley

     

    Maunsel House is a wedding venue in Somerset. It is owned by the somewhat eccentric Sir Benjamin Slade and to promote it he recently commissioned a promotional video to be made.

     

    Shared on YouTube, the video – the creation of amongst others Charles Mitford-Cust – features a Jack Russell as a driver and two Labradors as bride and groom.

     

    It will undoubtedly make you laugh and as an extra we also include an outtake of the driving dog allegedly crashing the Bentley into a tree.

     

     

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  • Five of the Best – Follies for sale

    Five of the Best – Follies for sale

    A selection of five of the best follies for sale in Britain and elsewhere

     

    A folly is unlikely to make an ideal home for a family, but for someone a little more quirky – a writer or artist perhaps – they can easily make an ideal home.

     

    Our selection of five of the best currently on offer follows:

     

    Church Brow Cottage, Kirkby Lonsdale, Lancashire – £280,000 ($367,000 or €328,000) through Davis & Bowring

    Five of the Best – Follies for sale A selection of five of the best follies for sale including ones in Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire and Connecticut, USAOriginally built by an eccentric vicar in the 1830s and spread over three floors, this Grade II* listed folly was restored by the now defunct Vivat Trust and opened as a holiday let by HRH The Prince of Wales in March 1993. It features in JMW Turner’s painting of what is known as ‘Ruskin’s View’ (sold for £217,250 in 2012) and includes one bedroom, a sitting room with a balcony, a kitchen and a bathroom. An informally landscaped leads down to the banks of the River Lune and access – on foot only – is via the adjoining graveyard.

     

    Treia, Macerata, Marche, Italy – £337,000 ($441,000 or €395,000) through Cella-Shirley Immobilliare

    Five of the Best – Follies for sale A selection of five of the best follies for sale including ones in Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire and Connecticut, USABuilt in medieval style in the 18th century, this “landmark building” outside the ancient walls of the town of Treia stands on a hill with about 2.5 acres of land including secular olive trees. A former farmhouse, the property needs complete renovation, currently consists of 8 rooms and a number of outbuildings and has been reduced in price from £440,000.

     

    The Summer House, Alderley, Gloucestershire – £990,000 ($1.3 million or €1.2 million) through Knight Frank

    Five of the Best – Follies for sale A selection of five of the best follies for sale including ones in Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire and Connecticut, USAGrade II listed and built circa 1770, The Summer House is a completely refurbished “perfect romantic weekend getaway” that is being sold fully furnished. Originally used as a small banqueting house by the great-great-grandson of Lord Chief Justice Matthew Hale, the 1,108 square foot Georgian property stands in 2.1 acres of gardens and woodland and features a sitting room, breakfast kitchen, two double bedrooms and a bathroom.

     

    The Tower, Sway, Hampshire – £2 million ($2.6 million or €2.3 million) through John D. Wood

    Five of the Best – Follies for sale A selection of five of the best follies for sale including ones in Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire and Connecticut, USABelieved to be the world’s tallest unreinforced concrete structure at 218-foot tall, Sway Tower – also known as Peterson’s Folly – was constructed between 1879 and 1886. The structure cost Andrew Peterson (1813 – 1906) some £30,000 (the equivalent of £3.4 million today) and came about after a medium told the Anglo-Indian barrister, socialist and spiritualist named that Sir Christopher Wren expected him to prove concrete could be used to create such an edifice. It now provides 4,707 square foot of accommodation over a total of 14 floors and includes 4 bedrooms, 3 en-suite bathrooms and a crucifix shaped ground floor with a drawing room, dining hall, sitting room, kitchen and conservatory. The top three floors of the Grade II* listed building are let to mobile telephone providers at an annual rate of some £34,000 and within the 0.7 acre plot, there’s also an indoor swimming pool, extensive garaging and a tennis court.

     

    Woodstock Castle, Connecticut, USA – £24.4 million ($32 million or €28.6 million) through Christie’s

    Five of the Best – Follies for sale A selection of five of the best follies for sale including ones in Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire and Connecticut, USADescribed as “just weird”, Woodstock Castle was built “for exotic women, exotic animals, both or neither” according to a 2008 feature by the Worcester Massachusetts Telegram. John Pizzi of Randall Realtors Christie’s International Real Estate takes a different view and describes the 18,177 square foot, 126-foot tall building as “majestic” and “a dream come true”. Used by its “colourful and impulsive” owner, importer-exporter Christopher W. Mark as a home for his family and his collection of emus, zebras and camels, this oddity comes with 9 bedrooms, an auditorium with a stage and 75 acres of land.

     

     

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  • The wicker car

    The wicker car

    Eccentric Fiat 850 Spiaggetta car with wicker interior to be auctioned (more…)

  • Prince John Zylinski

    Prince John Zylinski

    Prince John Zylinski (AKA ‘Prince Twinkle Toes’)A cross between Donald Trump and Liberace in terms of his liking for all things gold in interiors, Ealing based Prince John Zylinski is an eccentric property tycoon with a taste for duels and ballet dancing. (more…)

  • Donning The Enterprise

    Donning The Enterprise

    Former home of ‘Don who’s Donna at night’ for sale for £3 million – in spite of the fact it needs renovation (more…)