Tag: St Mary's Grove (series)

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Through the Door

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Through the Door

Adrian Dannatt

This is the sixth part of Adrian Dannatt’s series of reflections on his family home, frequently remodelled and extended over 45 years from 1955, by his father, the architect Trevor Dannatt. Read the introduction to the series, here. Entering the house the first thing one sees is the entrance door to my… Read More

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — I’m going to get medieval on your ass!

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — I’m going to get medieval on your ass!

Adrian Dannatt

‘I’m going to get medieval on your ass!’ Any analogy between the hefty massing of the middle-ages and soi-disant Brutalism is here revived in the bold metal hinges of our garage door, worthy of some château fort. Likewise the solid lead parapet of the roof could well guard a fortress, if also reminiscent of the… Read More

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Hook & Extension

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Hook & Extension

Adrian Dannatt

Liza Fior, whose phone was used to take these snaps (I still refuse the portable-telephone obligation), was particularly taken by this hook for the garage door, the way it hangs, the perhaps deliberate chipping into the stone, ‘I am sure he planned it’. That minute attention to the smallest thing,… Read More

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Stone Head & Slab

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Stone Head & Slab

Adrian Dannatt

A carved stone head by Theo Crosby, given as a moving-in gift back in the mid-fifties and much weathered ever since, amongst the bosky foothills of the front steps. For aesthetic law insists that ‘outdoor’ sculpture must be shown as such and allowed to return to nature, obeying its original… Read More

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — House Number & Gate

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — House Number & Gate

Adrian Dannatt

This is the second part of Adrian Dannatt’s series of reflections on his family home, frequently remodelled and extended over 45 years from 1955, by his father, the architect Trevor Dannatt. Read the introduction to the series, and the first text, here. The other sign on the street—blue baked enamel as ur-signifier… Read More

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Gap and Sign

Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Gap and Sign

Adrian Dannatt

When my parents bought the house in 1955—for £1,000—one of the first things Trevor did was design this distinctive gap in the wall of the front garden, a modest modernist castle crenelation. This was deliberately aligned with the edge of the house, on a line with the front steps, so… Read More