September, 1916 
11 
N G 
L 
I 
S H 
I N 
T 
E 
R 
I O R 
D 
E 
C O 
RAT 
I 
O 
N 
S h 0 w i n 
g 
the 
■ Wor 
k of F r ; 
ink 
B 
ran 
g wyn, 
Bailie Scott, Jessie Bayes and A. Randall Wells 
GEORG BROCHNER 
I T is probably admitted by most people 
that in making a home beautiful Eng¬ 
land has done and is doing more and better 
work than any other country. Nor can this 
be a matter of surprise to anyone familiar 
with the traditions of Great Britain, where 
from time immemorial the home has been 
loved and revered, and where a cultured 
state and susceptible eye have called for the 
aid of true and able artists in perfecting and 
beautifying the home and its interior. True, 
there have been periods in which this coop¬ 
eration, which in many cases brought about 
the happiest results, has been less manifest, 
when banal commonplace became rather 
the rule than the exception. But this now 
is a thing of the past. 
After Morris 
The renaissance, 
inaugurated by Wil¬ 
liam Morris and his 
fellow workers, in¬ 
cluding some of the 
most distinguished 
artists of his day, 
has since been per¬ 
petuated by art and 
beauty loving men 
and women, not all 
following the same 
path, but bringing 
their own artistic in¬ 
dividuality, their 
own peculiar gifts to 
bear upon the task 
set them. All those 
to whom I am refer¬ 
ring appear to be 
moved by a chastened 
love of the beautiful 
which leaves no mar¬ 
gin, no scope for 
indifferent common¬ 
places ; and as an 
outcome of this 
movement, England, 
during the last dec¬ 
ade or two, has been 
and is being enriched 
constantly w i t h a 
number of truly art¬ 
istic homes where 
due consideration 
has always been extended to sound con¬ 
struction and practical requirements. 
In the design of furniture the most notable 
present day English artists show a prefer¬ 
ence for straight and simple lines, which 
as far as some are concerned, almost borders 
upon a Spartan severity. Even Frank 
Brangwyn, that tower of strength in the 
British art world, who in his work with 
the brush and other mediums often revels 
in a strikingly manly fulness and luxurious¬ 
ness imbued with imagination and saturated 
with a grand coloring, becomes almost 
severe in some of his furniture designs. But 
this severity, if one may so call it, is tem¬ 
pered by that admirable sense of proportion, 
by that rare harmony, which always dis¬ 
tinguishes his work of this description. 
There is all that is needed, but superfluities 
have been absolutely banned. 
In spite of his many public commissions 
in the region of decorative art, he finds time 
to undertake work of a less ambitious nature 
in the shape of home decoration and furni¬ 
ture design. Among the illustrations are 
a bedroom with particulars of the chimney 
piece and a writing desk, with stool and 
other furniture. They are pregnant exam¬ 
ples of Brangwyn’s conception of home 
decoration, restful and exclusive in the good 
sense of that somewhat snobbish word. 
Brangwyn’s Straight Lines 
Although this room is a typical Brang¬ 
wyn, it is not by any means out of line with 
that style into which modern English home 
decoration by degrees has evolved, and 
which is making its influence felt far out¬ 
side Great Britain, amongst other countries, 
certainly also in the United States today. 
Of other English artists of repute within 
the domain of home decoration and furni¬ 
ture design may be mentioned Mr. Bailie 
Scott, the well known architect, and Mrs. 
Ernest W. Gimson. These two, likewise, 
adhere almost entirely to a straight lined 
simplicity in form; whereas the latter is 
rather indulgent as to material and inlaid 
decoration, the former often does not in¬ 
dulge but becomes even distinctly Spartan, 
albeit his work is possessed of great merit. 
Sapphire Lodge 
As a contrast to some of Mr. Bailie Scott’s 
efforts in home decoration, I could hardly 
hit upon a better example than Mrs. George 
Noble’s famous home 
at Sapphire Lodge, 
in the old St. Vin¬ 
cent Square, West¬ 
minster, which I 
have more than once 
heard called the most 
beautiful house in 
London. Amongst 
those artists w h o 
have assisted Mrs. 
George Noble in re¬ 
alizing her visions is 
at least one whose 
work is fervently 
sought after in the 
United States, Miss 
Jessie Bayes, whose 
exquisitely illumi¬ 
nated renderings of 
famous poems, to 
mention one feature 
of her work, fre¬ 
quently find their 
way into homes 
across the Atlantic. 
In Sapphire Lodge 
beauty holds undis¬ 
puted sway, although 
here, too, comfort 
and convenience 
have in no manner 
been neglected. Mrs. 
George Noble’s 
house furnishes an 
interesting peep into 
one world within the 
world people call 
London, a world where beauty and refined 
taste reign supreme, and which has many 
devotees, both men and women. There is 
beauty in the very name of the house, 
Sapphire Lodge, whose green shutters and 
magnificently blue door single it out amongst 
some rather ordinary neighbors. It is not 
a new house by any means, dating probably 
from the end of the 18th Century, but the 
interior has been completely transformed. 
No doubt the owner has herself inspired the 
scheme, but she has had an able helper in 
The walls of the dressing room at Sapphire Lodge are painted white and decorated with 
floriated designs placed in exact position over furniture and mantel. The feeling is Per¬ 
sian to an extent. The dressing table repeats the same motif 
