The creator’s 250th anniversary is the proper time to rejoice the Regency period’s elegant design cues, writes Florence Hallett
Worcestershire, England | United Kingdom Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty
“To sit down in idleness over a superb fireplace in a well-proportioned room is an expensive sensation,” Jane Austen as soon as wrote to her sister, completely encapsulating the mixture of refinement, consolation and ease that provides Georgian structure and interiors their timeless enchantment.
As followers of the novelist mark the 250th anniversary of her beginning this December, enthusiasm for every thing Austen exhibits no signal of slowing. One other much-anticipated adaptation of “Delight & Prejudice” involves Netflix within the new yr. Starring Jack Lowden as Mr Darcy and Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet, it’s certain to set a brand new era of bonnet ribbons fluttering.Pemberley, Mansfield Park, Donwell Abbey—cradled within the English countryside, the fictional backdrops to Austen’s masterful social satires are sparingly described, however as alluring as her heroines. “Stepping right into a Jane Austen-style house is to enter a world of understated magnificence and refined social theatre,” says Amy Boyington, architectural historian and creator of “Hidden Patrons: Girls and Architectural Patronage in Georgian Britain.”
Worcestershire, England | United Kingdom Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty
Ombersley Court docket, Worcestershire, constructed for the primary Lord Sandys in round 1730, has a storied Regency historical past to match the magnificent structure of its galleried grand corridor, oak paneling and library.
The Duke of Wellington was a notable customer, invited to recuperate right here following the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, explains Andrew Barnes of United Kingdom Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty. “To mark this necessary second in European historical past, the Duke’s bed room on the primary flooring of the property has been left unchanged ever since,” Barnes provides. “It nonetheless has the identical silk wall coverings and curtains that have been put in for his keep.”
Leinster, Eire | Lisney Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty
It’s a method that has constantly impressed up to date architects and designers. Ashleigh Home, constructed deep within the wonderful countryside of County Kildare, Eire, in 2002, combines the clear traces and ideal proportions of Georgian residing with fashionable requirements of consolation and comfort, together with a house cinema, health centre and courtyard visitor home.The neo-Georgian structure of 550 Spherical Hill Highway in Greenwich, Connecticut, equally affords precisely the type of “giant, well-proportioned room, handsomely fitted up” that Elizabeth Bennet famously admires at Mr Darcy’s Pemberley. Combining cozy household areas and extra formal rooms, it brings the spirit of Regency England to a up to date American dwelling.
In properties he has designed for collectors, Yantrasast fastidiously balances the wants of artwork with the proprietor’s life-style. “You don’t need to expose a priceless artwork assortment to the salt air, however you additionally don’t need to stay in a home the place you can’t open a window,” he says. The artwork, he provides, shouldn’t “overwhelm the residing.”
Greenwich, Connecticut | Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty – Greenwich Brokerage
The expectation of normal internet hosting is essential to all these design schemes, because it was in Austen’s time. “The interiors are luxurious of their lightness and a focus to element, designed particularly for elegant entertaining,” says Boyington of a typical Georgian dwelling.
“Trying up, one will discover hovering excessive ceilings usually completed with delicate plasterwork and ornate cornices,” she provides. “The partitions themselves are reworked into elegant backdrops, sometimes clothed in pale pastel colors, whether or not by means of fastidiously chosen, delicate wallpapers or wealthy, delicate silken materials. And the attractive fireplaces, which act as a focus for every room, are exquisitely adorned with classical motifs.”
New York, New York | Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty – East Aspect Manhattan Brokerage
In the meantime, a real flight of fancy within the coronary heart of Manhattan, 525 Park Avenue is a jewel of pre-war magnificence with a touch of “Regencycore,” because it’s extra not too long ago change into recognized. With 10-foot-high ceilings, crown moldings and raised doorways, the palatial inside of this 12-room condominium is opulent but intimate, as suited to formal entertaining as to household life. What’s extra, the aptly named Regency Lodge is to be discovered simply throughout the road.
“Neither gaudy nor uselessly positive”—to borrow Elizabeth’s phrases—it strikes simply the correct steadiness between splendor and magnificence. Would possibly even Girl Catherine de Bourgh approve?
From Austen to Shakespeare: stay out your bardian fantasy in these picturesque properties
