The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
A galleon of a Regency home in Hastings
It was a three-year battle to restore a Regency town house that dominates the Hastings skyline, but the result is a triumphant mix of period detail and modern design. By Bethan Ryder. Photographs by Alexander James
‘My friend described it as a galleon in full sail, approaching Hastings High street,’ says the interior designer shaun clarkson of his latest project, a five-storey regency house that he has spent almost three years transforming into an extravagant holiday rental.
Sitting proudly on a hill overlooking the rapidly gentrifying Old town, the House is the central town house in a terrace of three. its triple bay of windows offers guests unencumbered sea views and allows passers-by a glimpse of the flamboyant decadence inside: there are constellations of 1940s Murano glass chandeliers, glamorous vintage mirrors, roll-top baths, and a distinctive palette of marine blues and greens with dashes of crimson.
The Grade II-listed house was virtually derelict when clarkson bought it at
auction in 2014. He has masterminded a sensitive £300,000 refurbishment, diligently reinstating period details where possible.
The social status of t he proper ty’s orig inal occupants is reflected in the carefully renovated architraves, skirtings, window finials and doors – at their most elaborate on the generously proportioned first floor (now a sitting room and screening room) and in the secondfloor master bedroom suite. Fireplaces were st ripped back a nd retur ned to their former grandeur, and the bathrooms have handsome brass taps by Barber Wilsons & Co (suppliers to the Royal fa mily), which cost a princely £500 each.
The lower-ground floor now accommodates a dining room, a kitchen and
The bathrooms have brass taps by the suppliers to the Royal family, which cost £ 500 each
a scullery, and wooden panelling has been installed throughout–one of many simpler touches in keeping with this ‘below-stairs’ domain.
Beyond this, Clark son has con temporised, jolting the interior into the present with bursts of bright colour such as an antique dining table sprayed oriental red, emerald velvet sofas and sherbet-yellow silk lampshades.
The Hastings property is the third ‘home-tel’ that London-based Clarkson
Bursts of bright colour jolt the interior into the present day
and his husband, Paul Brewster, have launched, and the interiors are wilder still in the other two properties, which are both in Norfolk. In 2002 they opened Cliff Barnes, a fabulously kitsch, Dallas- themed bolthole.
‘I have a playful side to my work, and because it was a bar nina field, we decided to make this Dallas connection,’ explains Clarkson, who began his career designing clubs and bars, ‘but it stopped at the rock-clad fire places, cowhide rugs and slate floors.’
In 2009, the couple unveiled the unashamedly extrovert Car ring ton House in the Norfolk village of Snettisham, its rooms a riotous clash of Holly wood Regency, chinoiserie and David Hicks. ‘That was utterly tonguein-cheek and pure indulgence – a house with shoulder pads,’ says Clarkson. ‘It was pattern-on-pattern to the point of migraine. Great for a weekend but it’s unlikely you would actually want to live there permanently.’
In contrast, The House in Hastings is decorated in a calmer palette inspired by the seascape at the front of the house and the sheer cliff that abuts the back. Nowhere is this more apparent than when wallowing in the roll-top bathtub in the vast master bathroom. There’s something very soothing about being immersed in a room painted a dark sage green, while gazing out at mosscovered rock sprouting trailing ivy.
The nautical theme intensifies as you ascend the many levels, with the top floor positively shipshape, its bedrooms lit by ships’ lanterns and decorated with old paintings and embroideries depicting harbour scenes.
‘The attic is a bit of a fantasy world,’ Clarkson says. ‘It’s like an old ship with wonky floors and tongue-and-groove. You feel tucked away from the world.’
The project may have run over time and budget, but Clark son is clearly smitten with the result: ‘I’ve always thought of the other houses as businesses, but I could happily move in here. It has been a labour of love.’
‘The attic is like an old ship with wonky floors. You feel tucked away from the world’