Building on the past
Rory Young’s townhouse is a masterclass in sensitive restoration and a place of pilgrimage for anyone interested in the preservation of historic buildings
Rory Young’s handsome Cirencester townhouse is a beautiful example of meticulous period restoration using traditional design techniques
In his diary of 1994, architectural historian and sharp social observer James Lees-Milne recorded lunch at the home of Rory Young, whom he described as ‘a radiant young craftsman, full of enthusiasm, learning, experience of old buildings’. Summing up Rory’s home, he said: ‘nice artisan house… which he has jollied up and made extremely attractive’.
The son of a Cotswold farmer, Rory discovered hands- on building when repairing dry stone walls. After art school, he set o in a Fiat van for a painting tour of England. It became an architectural tour, and the inspiration for a life devoted to the practice and history of traditional building techniques. Rory managed to find work reconstructing a 17th- century gazebo, and set about teaching himself stonemasonry, mortared walling, paving and plastering. He became an expert in lime, which he calls ‘the lifeblood of all traditional buildings’ – a material that can be used as render, mortar, plaster or paint, and has the advantage over cement of being protective, nourishing even, to the stone it coats, and also permeable, allowing a building to ‘breathe’. Forty years ago, it was largely forgotten and certainly underused. Rory has been one of its most e ective champions, such that today its properties and advantages are widely recognised.
The Cirencester townhouse that Rory used every penny he owned to buy at a knock-down price in 1980, and then had to spend seven years saving up to
On this street of pretty terraced houses near the square, it is like the governess at the ball – quiet, plain, simply dressed
restore, and four years to finish, has become a place of pilgrimage for anyone interested in historic buildings, their construction and preservation. In his courtyard garden, there is a lime pit for demonstrations, and every so often he gives illustrated talks on aspects of his work, rearranging his drawing room to seat an audience of as many as 29. Which sounds ambitious, until he tells you that he had a party before Christmas for 94.
This is not a big house, nor does it have any particular architectural distinction. Three-storey, flat-fronted, its door opening directly onto the pavement, the front half dates from about 1820 and the rear from 1850. On this street of pretty terraced houses near the market square, it is like the governess at the ball – quiet, plain, simply dressed. Rory was living next door in a property owned by his parents when the house came up for sale and, blighted by a disastrous trio of sitting tenant, damp and subsidence, failed to sell. But Rory liked it, and not just because it was cheap. ‘It had a poignant atmosphere,’ he says. ‘I wanted to coax it back to life.’
Like the vernacular builders of the past that he so admires, he had very little money, but plenty of time and know-how. His restoration was thorough, sensitive and impressively economical. Every scrap of the original fabric, whether stone, brick, or timber, was saved and reused. Even the crumblings of old lime mortar were crushed, sieved, and refreshed
Everything in these comfortable, layered, lived- in rooms has a highly personal meaning for Rory
with new lime putty. As the work progressed, Rory added his own embellishments: a fireplace in the kitchen inlaid with lozenges of polished red slate, a faux panelled door carved in limestone in the side passage from the street to the backyard, blocking a redundant entrance, and a completely new room constructed over this passage using reclaimed stone.
Friends and partners contributed. Artist Jane Rickards frescoed the interior of the room above the passageway, and Ursula Falconer added gilded stars to its ceiling; Judith Verity turned the wooden handles for the kitchen cupboards; James Witchell made the brilliant- cut glass for some of the windows; Ian Constantinides, who later formed St Blaise Builders, helped him to rebuild the outside shed, once a wash house, to make a workshop.
A mark of this craftsmanship is how well the house has matured. Rory’s additions, whether the smooth expanse of flagstones and carved chimney piece in the entrance hall, the salvaged door with original bottle glass that acts as a partition between the kitchen and the stairs, or the stone sink rescued from the farmhouse where Rory spent his childhood when he was tipped o that it was being thrown out, and which now rests on a pair of scrolled brackets, have all settled into place.
Paint colours inspired by historic interiors and the palettes of painters, including Degas and Giotto, make a rich background for pictures and furnishings, including a few fine antiques inherited from his parents, and paintings by his mother, who was an artist. Everything in these comfortable, layered, lived-in rooms has a highly personal meaning for Rory. Lunch is served on beautiful turned wooden plates made by his ex-partner Judith Verity, while co ee comes in cups by potter and friend David Garland. The rag rug in front of the drawing room fireplace was made by his mother, who also bought the armoire at the other
There are books in almost every room, filling the bookshelves, or stacked up on tables
end of the room, which had belonged to the artist Frank Cadogan Cowper. A small marble sarcophagus on the landing was left to Rory by James Lees-Milne. Many of these connections are explained in notes, written by Rory and pinned behind a door, or inside a drawer, or on the back of a picture.
Words as well as images are important in this house. The kitchen panelling is covered with a mosaic of postcards – written by friends and sent to this address – while the table is piled with papers, and there are books in almost every room, lined up on bookshelves, or stacked on tables. An old school slate hanging in the kitchen is engraved with the names and dates of birth of Rory’s seven godchildren.
On the stairs, stone plaques engraved by Rory, who is regularly commissioned to design and carve headstones, pronounce ‘May the blessing of light be on you, light without and light within’ and, beside the door of his workshop, ‘Entertain strangers and encounter angels unawares’. In the rebate of the scullery window are the famous words by Arts and Crafts designer William Morris, ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful’.