First Floor Bedroom

Blackwell Arts & Crafts House was designed by the British architect and Arts & Crafts designer Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott. In common with other Arts & Crafts architects, Baillie Scott incorporated elements from earlier periods into his designs for houses. By recycling materials in this way, he was showing respect for the past by salvaging material that had little monetary value but represented the skill and vitality of craftsmen of earlier times. One example of this at Blackwell is in the Dining Room with the 18th century fire back being incorporated into the design. Seen as a substitute for the sun, Baillie Scott designed the fireplaces of the house with inglenook fireplaces appearing in several of the rooms. The fireplaces feature tiles designed by the English potter and tile designer William De Morgan who was a major figure in the Arts & Crafts Movement.

White Drawing Room

The inglenook fireplace in the White Drawing Room (above) is the most complex and elegant in the house. Incorporating many different elements, the fireplace features carved wooden capitals that branch out to reveal little birds, fruits and leaves.

First Floor Dressing Room

Each of the bedrooms was individually designed with bold colour co-ordinated schemes which linked the walls, windows, tiles and fireplaces.

First Floor Bedroom

Writing in The Studio (15th November 1895) Scott stated “It is at the fireside that the interest of the room is focused, and in our inconstant climate we may be driven, at almost any season of the year, to seek there that brightness and warmth which we fail to find in the outside world,”

The Main Hall