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Published: April 9th 2011
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Mark took a day off work on Monday, 4th April 2011. We took the overground train to Eltham from Charing Cross and walked to the destination.
Having arrived at the historic palace managed by English Heritage at the lunch time, we went out to the Picnic Area overlooking the moated garden and residential houses of southeast of London.
After having our lunch, we started looking round the showrooms. The room guide asked us not to walk on the carpet in the Entrance Hall or touch the furniture and ornaments in the showrooms. We both remembered the features of the Entrance Hall, e.g. concrete glass domed roof, the marquetry panel with illustrations of Roman Solider, Swedish Viking, and Palaces of Florence and Venice, and the circular rug, and cream coloured modern sofas and armchairs.
Next, we looked round the Drawing Room, which was designed by Peter Malacrida, who was the specialist in designing Florence renaissance style furniture and architecture. The most outstanding feature was the plaster ceiling beams, which decoration was inspired by Hungarian folk art.
We then moved to the Dining Room. This would be one of the most modernist and stylish dining rooms of the stately
homes in London, which was designed in the 1930s. Stephen and Virginia Courauld’s family, relatives, and friends sat at the table and had sumptuous meals and vintage wines. Apparently, the menus were written in French. We looked at the fireplace with ribbed aluminium panels and original electric fire, the heating systems provided by coils embedded in the central panel, which were thought to be far more advanced at that time. The Dining Room possessed striking doors with animals and birds drawn from Life at London Zoo and applied as ivory-coloured raised decoration.
Afterwards, we walked through the Great Hall Corridor and popped in two of the showrooms, i.e. Ginie Coutauld’s panelled Boudoir and Library, both of which were designed by Malacrida. Both business rooms showed effective and flexible use of the space and built-in furniture, e.g. alcoves and recesses to keep classical topographical books, a telephone in a concealed position, display ornaments and painting in an orderly manner.
There were a series of the Chinese illustrations panels displayed besides the entrance of the Great Hall.
We set foot on the Great Hall, which was originally part of the 15th century great medieval palace, and was incorporated into
the 1930s house. This is where Eltham Palace is the special place to me. The Great Hall possesses the third biggest hammerbeam roof, stained glasses of Edward IV’s badges, and has been preserved as a royal dining hall for the court.
After strolling through the Great Hall, we walked up the West Stairs with large circular portholes. A sizeable oil painting of The King of Poland Being Received by the Doges of Venice was displayed on the Principal Landing.
We popped in to the Minstrels’ Gallery overlooking the Great Hall, where music recitals were held from time to time. There were quite a few scorch marks caused by an incendiary bomb which fell during the Battle of Britain in September 1940.
From 1945 to 1992, Eltham was home to a number of different units concerned with army education. There have been a couple of showrooms added recently. We saw the bedrooms which the military officers used in the past around Minstrels’ Gallery.
The highlights of the showrooms on the upper floor were Stephen Courtauld’s Suite, Virginia Courtauld’s Suite, and their bathrooms. As well as the circular potholes which give the image of sea trip, on
the Staircase, Seely designed the Suite for Stephen, consisting of an aspenlined bedroom, a walk-in wardrobe, and a-blue and green-tiled bathroom. He liked gardening. There was a block-printed wallpaper depicting Kew Gardens.
Virginia’s Suite was even more flamboyant and lavish than Stephen’s and it was designed by Peter Malacrida. All of the artistic furniture, e.g. a double bed, a pair of bedroom cabinets, armchairs, chest of drawers, and recesses were fitted in the curved walls. The bathroom was also designed by Malacrida and looked very exotic and opulent with gold plated taps and a lion’s-mask spout, golden mosaic niche containing a statue of the goddess Psyche.
While living in a luxurious house, Stephen & Virginia Courtauld kept exotic pets, e.g. lemur and they were shown on the home video displayed in the Venetian Suite. We saw Mah-Jongg’s Quarters, where the famous lemur, Jongy, was kept for 15 years.
Venetian Suite presented an opulent example of the 1930s room, e.g. a screen of three arches on the window wall, arabesque designs painted on to mirrors, a late 17th century Italian tabernache, and entrance and cupboard doors embellished with false book spines, all of which were added by Malacrida.
As well as flamboyant and opulent furniture and ornaments, we noted a number of functional and modern fittings and central heating systems in the showrooms and we believed they were far more advanced items than ones at other households in Britain in the 1930s.
Afterwards, we decided to explore the garden. Stephen and Ginie (Virginia) conceived ambitious plans for their new gardens at Eltham, and it has reflected the mixture of the rare example of the 1930s garden with the remains of the medieval palace. We walked on the lawn on the back of the Great Hall, crossed over the South Timber Bridge, rambled through the parkland, and walked along the moat and rock garden. Cream and white daffodils, pink and blue hyacinths, pink and white cherry blossoms, magnolias, pansies, and scarlet camellias were out in the flowerbeds and lawn and they decorated colourful on the lush parkland at Eltham. Several gardeners were maintaining the flowerbeds and mowing the lawn. We noted some interesting garden ornaments, e.g. reliefs representing Stephen and Ginie’s interests: Gardening, yachting, mountaineering, and games (including badminton and quoits).
We truly enjoyed the 2nd visit to Eltham on 4th April 2011.
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