Writer: Adrian Dannatt
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — I’m going to get medieval on your ass!
16 November 2023
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — I’m going to get medieval on your ass!16 November 2023
‘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 — Garage door trio
18 September 2023
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Garage door trio18 September 2023
No sooner had I written about the door hook than my mother, sharp as ever at 98, revealed that the original had been stolen, along with parts of the front gate, presumably for their metal value. This hook was definitely her replacement, from Franchi on the Holloway Road, whilst the first… Read More
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Hook & Extension
28 August 2023
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Hook & Extension28 August 2023
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
26 July 2023
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Stone Head & Slab26 July 2023
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
4 July 2023
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — House Number & Gate4 July 2023
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
13 June 2023
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Gap and Sign13 June 2023
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
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Through the Door
3 April 2024
Trevor Dannatt: St Mary’s Grove — Through the Door3 April 2024
– 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
detail domestic interior DMC