Here is a nice collection of deco cinemas in Scotland which shows the variety of design that is called art deco.
art deco cinemas of Scotland
Christopher Dresser
Dr. Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) changed the course of “modernist” design more than any other individual in Britain at the end of the 19th century… CLICK HERE FOR MORE
Image: Japanesque Style Cup and Saucer, circa 1879-1882. Wikimedia Commons – Los Angeles County Museum of Art http://collections.lacma.org/node/184492
‘The Arts and Crafts House: Then and Now’
‘The Arts and Crafts House: Then and Now’ exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery explores, within an intimate space, the legacy of artists of the 19th century Arts and Crafts movement.
CLICK HERE for article.
Open House – Meet the Curator
The Edgar Wood Society Open House – Meet the Curator event was a successful evening on two fronts, Nick and Richard brought along their latest research material. Also on show was the first painting owned by the society and kindly donated by Joan Allen living in Seattle. A sociable and convivial meeting was enjoyed by all attending.
The Last Leaf Removal for the Years Ahead
The box gutters of the Edgar Wood Centre have been cleared of leaves for the fourth and final time, this November. Once again this has caused water ingress into the main hall.
However, as a result of the Edgar Wood Society tree appeal and their members generosity, this should now be a problem of the past. Below is a photo of the hall in early November and the same view today – the trees gone!
State of the Art: British craftmanship
…despite almost everything we buy being made in China these days, the feeling for craftsmanship in Britain has never gone away.
Arts and Crafts garden village in Newport gets underway
Housing developer Lovell has signed contracts and begun construction on the second phase of its garden village development in Newport.
The Sycamore Trees are being felled
The self sown Sycamore trees that have been causing a problem for more than several years are at last being felled. Overhanging branches and falling leaves have continually blocked the boxed valley gutters with resulting water ingress. The use of ropes, agility and being young help. Local tree surgeons Birtle are doing a good job.
Restoration of Edgar Wood’s ‘Redcroft’
Rupert Hilton of Alan Gardner Associates has set up a Twitter hastag #Redcroft so people can follow the repair and restoration of Edgar Wood’s home built in 1891. The listed building heritage statement can be downloaded from this page.
Round House goes on the market for £700,000
The Round House, Frinton, Essex, designed by Oliver Hill the creator of Morecambe’s famous Midland Hotel (pictured) is up for sale for a modest £700,000!
Main article with photographs is here.
Another about the art deco Frinton Park Estate is here.
Weaving together strings to master planner’s bow
The granddaughter of Letchworth master planner Barry Parker has welcomed the renewed attention around his work. This comes after the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation commissioned historian Dr Mervyn Miller to write the biography of the architect and planner who took his garden city designs around the world.
Barry Parker was an architect member of the Northern Art Workers Guild. He and his professional colleague Raymond Unwin were a good friends of Edgar Wood, whose assistant Cecil Hignet, joined them in designing Letchworth. Parker considered his finest house to be, “Whirriestone”, 15 Broadhalgh Avenue Bamford. (Bamford, like Birtle and Ashworth is a Middleton township which was transferred to Heywood in late Victorian times before being ‘rejoined’ with Middleton in 1974 via Rochdale Metropolitan Borough).
Letchworth Garden City broke the mould in town planning but possibly Barry Parker’s greatest achievement was the much larger third English Garden City, Wythenshaw near Manchester which was significantly bigger than the first two, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City, combined.
Frozen in Time
Arts and Crafts Church photographer, Andy Marshall, is on a mission to collect 100 dates over 100 years, and display them in a very special print. CLICK HERE
You are invited to to the opening event…
Date: Tuesday 8th December 2015, 7pm – 9pm
Venue: Rosylee, 11 Stevenson Sq. Northern Quarter, Manchester M1 1DB
Garden Cities & Suburbs alive and well
On Tuesday 10th November, I went to Warrington New Town for an afternoon seminar about Garden Cities and Suburbs – looking back at the successes and forward to the future. Driving there through the stunningly autumnal parkways of the new town reminded me about the enormous social progress that came out of the Arts and Crafts movement. Josh Tidy, curator of Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, spoke about the historic legacy of the first garden city.
The new towns, bigger successors to the original three Garden Cities of Letchworth, Welwyn Garden City and Wythenshaw, now lead the country in their growth and success with Warrington and Milton Keynes being the top of the pack. The place is such a civilised world away from the squalor of Victorian Britain. Edgar Wood would have been inspired! The event was organised by the Town and Country Planning Association, the successor of the original Garden Cities Association.
David Morris
An Edgar Wood Watercolour Comes Home
A painting by Edgar Wood comes home after 108 years. Joan now living in Seattle, bought the painting in Washington State in 1970 when she was a student. Now down sizing, Joan wanted to find a good home for the artwork and doing a search on Edgar Wood came across our web site, got in touch and the rest is history. 
The painting is of Nozzano Castello, Lucca and to have a closer look at where Edgar Wood travelled check out the link https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZBhxcTxpN0
Our thanks to Joan for generously donating the picture to the Edgar Wood Society.
Autumn Leaves look Good on the Trees
“Arts and Crafts Churches, Another 32”
There was a good turn out for the Edgar Wood Society talk by Alec Hamilton on Arts and Crafts Churches. He certainly had the full attention of the audience as we learned about the criteria of what makes an Arts and Crafts Church. The photographs were superb, as was his talk both scholarly and lightened with amusing comments. Alec kindly distributed handouts, listing the churches featured in his talk. We are grateful to Alec for traveling all the way from Gloucestershire to give his talk and look forward to maintaining contact and reading his book in due course. 
Architect urges Isle of Man to look after heritage
An expert on historic buildings has condemned the island’s record on architectural conservation.
Accredited architect and author Diane Haigh was in the island to give an illustrated talk at the Manx Museum organised by the Isle of Man Victorian Society to coincide with what would have been the 150th birthday of Baillie Scott, a leading light of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Edgar Wood’s Immaculate Dream – New Book “Lost & Imagined Manchester”
“Edgar Wood’s grandest design would have transformed part of Manchester and transformed it gloriously with a capital G. During research for a new book Lost & Imagined Manchester, coming out this week, Jonathan Schofield came across a scheme by Wood that if it had been built and somehow survived would have made excursions to Port Sunlight from Manchester redundant. This would have been the garden village/model village par excellence for the North of England, indeed, of anywhere in the country, complete with art gallery, public baths, meeting hall, extensive gardens, fountains, churches and a school.” Jonathan Schofield
Museums Take a New Look at Art Nouveau
Museums in Hamburg, Germany, and Rome are staging exhibitions about the art nouveau style, while auction houses take renewed interest in the movement.
Liberty in Fashion exhibition
Peacock feathers are back in the news and celebrated in a charming exhibition called Liberty in Fashion, which is running at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey Street, SE1.
The show celebrates the 140th anniversary of the world-famous department store opened by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in Regent Street in 1875.