Terraces have upped their game
Nostalgic ‘decoupage’ is inspiring bold new collections, says Claudia Baillie
Terrace houses evoke an era when children played in the street, neighbours chatted over the fence and smoke puffed from rows of chimney pots.
Today, developers have been putting a modern twist to the traditional two-up two- down, restoring entire streets of terraces, rebranding them townhouses and attaching £1million-plus price tags.
In some respects this reflects the very first such ‘row’ houses, as they were also called, built by the Huguenot entrepreneur Nicholas Barbon following the Great Fire of London. These appeared in London’s Grosvenor Square from 1727 onwards and in Bath’s Queen Square two years later.
But it’s also the case that the style was used for workers’ housing during the Victorian Industrial revolution and survived until the Fifties and Sixties, when many were cleared in favour of highrises. We have almost come full circle.
In Warwick, a row of 18th- century ex- council offices are being transformed into Northgate, a terrace of townhouses, with three to seven bedrooms, from £1,150,000.
‘It is hoped that the project will reinstate a sense of community on the street, which was lost while the properties were offices,’ says charlie Smith, of selling agents Lrea ( londonrea.com).
according to Savills estate agents, terrace houses in the South-east and the east of england have increased their value, with the hotspots of cambridge, Oxford and Virginia Water attracting an average price of more than £800,000.
research analyst Frances clacy says: ‘The traditional Victorian terrace home remains a popular choice for first-time buyers and those looking for a first family home. The average terrace house is still relatively good value in most locations.’ So what is their appeal? ‘They are generally in more preferable spots; city centres and established residential areas,’ says Martin Walshe at cheffins, which is selling Barley Mews, a row of eight homes, from £465,000 for a two-bedroom house rising to £675,000 for a four- bed, in Great Shelford, near cambridge. ‘ New-build terrace homes attract first-time buyers who don’t want a flat, but also don’t want the maintenance of a larger, detached property.’
Max Lee and fiance Laura rodriguez, a structural engineer, have just bought their first home — a two-bedroom terrace house for £275,000 in Barnes Village, a collection of 155 terrace and semi-detached properties in cheadle, Greater Manchester.
Terraces not only connect communities, but create safe children’s play areas.
‘ Many of the newer schemes will encourage community spirit, and whereas it’s unlikely to see children playing on streets lined with Victorian and edwardian terrace homes, this is more common on new developments,’ adds Mr Walshe. The traditional terrace is characteristic of London, and several of the capital’s boroughs saw average values rise to more than £1million in the past year. Housebuilder Octagon has just completed nine four and five-bedroom townhouses in Fulham. Bishops row is a more luxurious example of the two- storey terrace — homes come with a roof terrace, balcony, gym, cinema room and covered courtyard with walk- on glass ceiling (from £4,995,000). Glitz aside, one of the attractions to living there is being part of a community.
Terraces today come in a variety of architectural styles. New england townhouses with clapboard facades will be a major feature of Berkeley Homes’ new Green Park Village in reading, surrounding a lake ( greenparkvillage.co.uk).
‘community life is key to this scheme,’ says a spokesman. ‘Once complete it will feature a village square, lakeside trails plus a primary school.’
THE art of decoupage has been around for centuries. Taking its name from the French verb ‘découper’, meaning to cut, it’s thought to originate from Eastern Siberia where Nomadic tribes used cut felts to decorate tombs.
Today, designers are popularising the technique again and you can even decorate your home with decoupage-inspired wallpaper.
The practice migrated to China and by the 12th century vivid cut-out paper was being used to embellish lanterns, windows and boxes. By the late 17th century, oriental lacquer work furniture from the Far East became fashionable in Europe, and Venetian cabinet- makers began to employ the technique using cut-out and pasted motifs covered in varnish to produce fakes.
Boasting many notable enthusiasts and practitioners including Marie Antoinette, Madame de Pompadour, Lord Byron and Beau Brummell, decoupage was also used by artists Pablo Picasso and, perhaps most famously of all, Henri Matisse.
By the late Forties, Matisse turned almost exclusively to cut paper as his primary medium, with his most famous decoupage work being Blue Nude II.
Another celebrated ‘decouper’ was Mary Delany (1700-1788), an artist and bluestocking who lived in England. A confidante of King George III and Queen Charlotte, and a much loved member of their court, she was also renowned for her ‘ papermosaicks’, which she began making at the age of 71. These exquisite and botanically accurate reproductions of plants and flowers were made by cutting fine tissue paper, which she hand-coloured herself.
She produced an incredible 985 works before her eyesight failed at the age of 88. Some of them can still be seen in the British Museum. Like Mary Delany, many gentlewomen became adept with scissors and the skill of cutting and lacquering was known in England as Japanning.
Later, during the Victorian era, colouring and intricate cutting was replaced by a more flamboyant collage- style, which coincided with the introduction of Valentine cards and decorative and embossed papers.
One of the most wellknown contemporary decoupage artists is John Derian, who along with his small team creates handmade platters, paperweights, coasters and bowls from his studio in New York. Derian first mastered the art in 1989.
‘I had been drawn to paper ephemera since the early Eighties after finding some antique prints. I was surprised how vivid the colours were for something so old,’ he says.
‘A fellow artisan came into the shop where I was working and said, “I don’t have time to do anything with these plates but people are gluing images underneath”, so I took them to my studio and that’s where it began.’
He has teamed up with iconic British interiors brand, Designers Guild, to produce an exclusive range of fabrics, wallpapers and accessories. Called Picture Book, it draws on Derian’s extensive archive of vintage decoupage prints, and features botanical illustrations and shells, as well as a range of floral motifs. ‘It’s exciting to see some of my favourite images used in bold new ways,’ he says. Fabric starts at £65 per metre and wallpaper at £65 per roll, designersguild.com. Jill Barnes-Dacey is another artist who has been making both paper and glass decoupage for 25 years. A former art dealer, she was taught how to decoupage on to glass by Danish artist Dorthe Dencker, and is now a master of the technique. ‘I use antique books, vintage auction catalogues, anatomy books, botanical drawings — an archive of imagery to make pieces that are one-off,’ she says. ‘My work is collaged on both sides. I love it because the sky’s the limit.’ Work starts at £400. She also takes commissions and runs masterclasses — the next UK-based one is in April ( jillbarnesdacey.com). Less expensive examples of glass decoupage can be found at Pentreath & Hall which stocks a range of home accessories by John Derian and Bridie Hall, from £45. Hall’s butterfly tray is pictured left, £65. For larger, contemporary furniture, try Etsy. Among the items listed are pieces by South-East London based upcycler Zoe Pocock of Muck N Brass, who uses modern wallpapers and varnish to transform unwanted vintage items. ‘Decoupage can change old brown furniture into a real statement piece,’ she says. Zoe also runs upcycling workshops,