WHEN The Old War Office opens this winter, guests will find themselves sleeping in one of the landmarks of Edwardian Whitehall. Opened as Britain’s centre of military operations in 1907, its architecture is an opulent if slightly chaotic composition of columns, arches, rusticated masonry and corner turrets, bursting with splendid self-assurance: the equivalent of a military fanfare or grand review of the Fleet.
Here was an Imperial fanfare. Here were marble staircases, oak panelling and internal walls that required as much as 50 acres of plaster to cover them. On the music-hall stage, the cross-dressing singer Vesta Tilley sang Jolly Good Luck to the Girl who Loves a Soldier. The army was popular; so, with what the Daily Mail called the ‘usually unresponsive man on the street’, was the War Office.
Some thought that the architect, William Young, had been appointed as the result of a government fix, as his name was not on the list of likely candidates that had been requested from the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was, however, an appropriate choice, knowing the requirements of turn-of-the-century administrative buildings from the Glasgow City Chambers. The War Office took his cue from the adjacent Banqueting House and the cornices of the two buildings align. But Inigo Jones’s courtly Classicism was too restrained for the burgeoning Age of Empire, which called for domes and allegorical sculpture, bombast and Baroque.
Denne historien er fra September 07, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 07, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery