Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style [Hardcover]

Martin Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2005

Nancy Lancaster, who was born in 1897 into a wealthy Virginian family, became one of the greatest influences on interior decoration and garden design in Great Britain and America in the second half of the 20th century. She created what is known today as the 'English Country House Style' – a mixture of faded colors, chintzes and painted and antique furniture. In the garden, she worked in a formal yet romantic neo-Georgian style, which is still a strong spirit in British garden design. This book examines Nancy's contribution to the arts of interior decoration and garden design by chronicling her own homes and gardens –and her extraordinary life. Mirador, her family's Virginian country house, was to remain her key inspiration throughout her life. Nancy herself, her houses, her gardens and her friends are shown in an intriguing collection of photographs by distinguished photographers of the era, including Horst and Cecil Beaton.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Consider Martin Wood's Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style for anyone with an interest in decorating and social history. American born and serially well-married, Lancaster spent most of her adult life in England, doing u a succession of grand houses in a style that was at once traditional and boldly modern. In the 1940s she bought the venerable Colefax & Fowler design firm, turning a pastime into a profession--another bold, modern stroke for a woman of her time and class. -- Town & Country

About the Author

Martin Wood is a designer of textiles, interiors and gardens who also has a winning way with words.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln; 1st Frances Lincoln Ed edition (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711224293
• ISBN-13: 978-0711224292
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #353,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GORGEOUS VOLUME - WARM DESIGNS, October 9, 2005

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style (Hardcover)

Seldom has a volume contained such a plethora of beauty as does "Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style." Author Martin Wood, a textile and garden designer and interior decorator, has paid a tribute to Lancaster that is as handsome as the subject herself. With 208 pages and over 200 illustrations he charts the course which resulted in her creation of the style known as English country house as well as her purchase of the prestigious British design firm Colefax and Fowler.

Born into an influential Virginia family in a cottage on her grandfather's estate in 1897, Lancaster never forgot that estate, Mirador, nor her southern roots. Her first marriage was to Henry Field, grandson of Marshall Field. What should have been an idyllic pairing ended far too soon when he died of blood poisoning at the age of 22. His death affected Lancaster greatly, and she suffered from periods of depression throughout her life.

Her original dream was to transform Mirador, which she did magnificently by turning a narrow hallway into a breathtaking rotunda and transforming what had once been a first floor guest room into an expansive drawing room. She searched for old chintzes to use throughout, which gave the mansion a stately lived in look. As she was to say, "Understatement is extremely important and crossing too many t's and dotting too many i's make a room look overdone and tiresome." This was to be her stylistic credo throughout her life.

Lancaster's future, including the acquisition of Colefax and Fowler, would find her creating designs for her homes and gardens in England - Kelmarsh Hall, Ditchley Park and Haseley Court.

Martin Wood more than ably presents the life and style of this remarkably creative woman, while the archival photographs by such artists as Cecil Beaton and Horst P. Horst are sheer delight.

- Gail Cooke

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adrift in the Cozy, Comfortable, Tasteful English Tradition!, April 9, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style (Hardcover)

Martin Wood is an excellent biographer and chronicler of style and in this richly illustrated monograph on Nancy Lancaster he makes use of his own credentials as a garden designer and interior designer to praise the virtues of a lady few of us know.

Nancy Lancaster gained her reputation as a gardener and designer of gardens whose only clear rival has been Gertrude Jekyll. But Martin Wood increases her stature by naming her the creator of the English country house style. His writing style is fluid, humorous, tender and informative, giving all the biographical data about Lancaster's heritage, youth, and life in a manner that makes what seems to be a picture essay become a page-turner novel!

Lancaster devoted herself to recreating the English Country atmosphere, though she was a born and bred American. Her own various homes as well as those of people who engaged her expertise demonstrate how even the most modest dwelling can breed the charm of the English Country house. Her gardens are like dream sequences out of Arthur Rackham and her taste in balancing room space with the gracious furniture and window treatments and light is impeccable. The Book is filled with some very lush photography that takes the time to scrutinize her concepts as well as pleasure the eye over her accomplishments. This is far more than a design book. This is a book about a life and how it extended into creating a personal world of quiet dignity and beauty. Grady Harp, April 06

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style, January 30, 2006

By 

Richard E. Carlson (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nancy Lancaster: English Country House Style (Hardcover)

I liked the combination of biography and interior design strategies/methods as developed by Nancy Lancaster. I felt the book was well researched and logically developed. I like the English country house look of softend and aged elegance so was somewhat prejudiced in favor of the book even before I read it. I had not realized before I read this book that Nancy Lancaster was originally an American from Virgina. I liked the premise that what she was doing was simply relying on an English heritage as passed on during the colonial and Federal/Regency eras in Virginia and England. I would highly recommend this book to any one who likes interior design or southern American style.