After arson at mansion, rave king raises it from the ashes
FOur and a half years ago, Parnham House in Dorset was reduced by fire to a smouldering shell — a catastrophe followed by the arrest of its owner, Austrian banker Michael treichl, for suspected arson, and his subsequent death by drowning in Lake Geneva.
But what promises to be one of Britain’s most daring and innovative architectural resurrections is now in hand thanks to the man dubbed ‘the new Leonardo of design’.
thomas Heatherwick is the creator of the stunning cauldron at the 2012 London Olympics, as well as an array of buildings and bridges around the world. He has, I can disclose, been invited to ‘reinvent a new future’ for Parnham by James Perkins, former rave scene host-turned-restorer of historic houses, who acquired the smoke-blackened husk and its surrounding 131 acres last year for £2.5 million.
‘I’ve known thomas for 12 years,’ Perkins, 51, tells me. ‘He’s innovative in his way and I am in mine. You are going to have this really traditional, old-school-looking house, with a 16-century facade. But the idea is that the inside’s not as it appears on the outside. It’s going to have all sorts of technology behind it.
‘the house and the restoration are “Batman- inspired”,’ he adds, explaining that he also finds inspiration in the Arthurian legend — and in Indiana Jones.
Perkins and his wife sophie taylor previously owned Aynhoe Park in Oxfordshire, which was hired by Noel Gallagher for his 50th and, last christmas, by cara Delevingne and family for a lavish party.
Parnham will stimulate all generations, with Perkins explaining that he is talking to someone who’s ‘going to build some incredibly different tree houses’ and to somebody else ‘about building a telescope’ to take advantage of what he describes as Dorset’s ‘fantastic lack of light pollution’. ‘People wondered what happened at Parnham in recent years, with the previous owner, who was very private,’ he reflects. ‘ We’re going to be the
opposite.’