A deeply stylish house you can stay in on one of Bath's loveliest streets
“I think it’s really interesting to consider the interiors you would want to live in versus those you would want to stay in,” says Tobias Vernon, reflecting on the guesthouse he has created in 8 Holland Street's space in Bath. “I designed this as an interior that I wanted to stay in. We did want it to feel like a home, but we also embraced the fact that people would just be there for two or three nights. And that meant that perhaps we could be a bit more over the top, a bit more fanciful.”
The 8 Holland Street Townhouse, as it is called, occupies three floors of an elegant John Wood house on Brock Street, the road which links two of Bath’s most memorable landmarks, The Circus and the Royal Crescent. The ground floor houses a gallery, the sister of 8 Holland Street’s main space in St James’s, London. It was a natural move for Tobias to open a site in Bath; he has a cottage nearby in Somerset, and had long admired the flourishing art and design scene in the city. The idea of creating a place to stay that felt like a home for its guests, somewhere that would inspire them with the magic of the city, was hugely appealing.
The first floor of the Townhouse is home to a generous sitting room and kitchen with a dining area; the second floor has the main suite with its bathroom and dressing room, and two smaller suites occupy the attic floor at the top. Guests can book the entire house for exclusive use or book a suite, leaving the sitting room and kitchen as a communal space. The interiors are largely a reflection of the 8 Holland Street ethos, which has always been about displaying and juxtaposing pieces in inventive ways against a relatively calm background. Furniture, art and textiles from the entire span of the 20th century mingle with contemporary pieces; each is distinctive and beautiful in its own way, but ideally one would like to take home the lot. The Townhouse offers guests the opportunity to envision what it might look like if they did. “There are thousands of pieces in there,” says Tobias, “and it’s so exciting for us to have the space to display them, rather than just keeping them in our warehouses.”
The house is far from a static exhibition space, however, but has rather been designed as a place for play and experiment. “We've always thought that things will change,” says Tobias. “Every now and again we will turn it on its head. We will suddenly completely repaint the stairs, or change the colour of the kitchen. It will always be fresh and evolving.” The bold and playful use of colour is something of an experiment in itself for Tobias. “I love living in spaces with white walls, because it allows me to then curate all of the many things that go into the room,” he notes. Some rooms are done on this principle, including the sitting room, where the graceful proportions and mouldings are painted in a gentle off-white to make them the perfect backdrop for art and furniture. But other spaces, such as the showstopping hallway (its pink, green and yellow scheme was inspired by the City Palace in Udaipur), are positively saturated in colour. “I don't even know quite how it ended up like that,” he admits. “I don't think I would want to dwell too long with that kind of intensity, but it’s a space that people pass through, and it also has a function, in that it leads people upstairs from the rather modest entrance.”
Contrast and balance are key to the look that Tobias and his team at 8 Holland Street have honed, and they are concepts that pervade every level of the house. Rich, colourful spaces give way to plainer ones, while the placement of individual objects – a simple black and white line drawing against a bright patterned wallpaper, for example – is always unexpected. “I see it as a kind of Yin and Yang,” explains Tobias. “We have 19th-century things next to contemporary objects, and we will put something rough next to something smooth, something natural next to something fibreglass, something chalky next to something lurid green. You actually get the balance from hundreds and hundreds of small contrasts.”
It is rare to be able to stay in a place with quite such a characterful mix of makers and artists on display. Artworks by Ben Nicholson, Victor Pasmore and Elisabeth Frink mingle with furniture by Mario Bellini, Guillerme et Chambron and Isamu Noguchi. “Sometimes guests are happy just to stay and enjoy what they're seeing around them. But others want to kind of go on a tour and for us to point out every single piece and explain why it's there, and what it means. I think that sense of storytelling and narrative and discovery is really beautiful."
Owen Gale1/15The rug is a Gunta Stolzl design, produced by Christopher Farr as '447'.
Owen Gale2/15An Italian 1970s plexiglass and brass coffee table forms a centrepiece; the leather sofa is Mario Bellini's 1970s ‘Le Bambole’ design.
Owen Gale3/15The kitchen was designed in collaboration with Plain English. The cabinets are painted in the brand's ‘Pretty Pickle’ paint colour and the island is in their ‘Nicotine’. The splashback is painted in a gloss paint of the same shade. At the back of the room, Vitsoe shelving plays off the more traditional design of the island.
Owen Gale4/15An Italian 1950s dining table, is surrounded by four 'Goteborg’ chairs, designed for Cassina in the 1980s by Erik Gunnar Asplund.
Owen Gale5/15
Owen Gale6/15The main suite has doors and woodwork in Farrow and Ball's ‘De Nimes. A huge piece by Victor Pasmore hangs over the bed, which is upholstered in Josef Frank’s ‘Mirakel’ fabric from Svenskt Tenn.
Owen Gale7/15The adjoining bathroom is papered in Peggy Angus' ‘Small Medallions’ print, available from Blithfield. The bath is Water Monopoly's ‘Rockwell’ design, and a Water Monopoly, and a Swedish Art Deco alabaster pendant light hangs overhead. A ‘Frank’ rug from Svenskt Tenn completes the scheme.
Owen Gale8/15The mirror and chair are both designs by Gio Ponti.
Owen Gale9/15This corner of the bathroom is papered in a larger scale Peggy Angus design for Blithfield, ‘Circles & Squares’. A 1960s Fontana Arte bevel-edged mirror hangs over a Water Monopoly sink.
Owen Gale10/15Verner Panton's ‘Flowerpot VP2’ lights in grey beige hang in the stairway.
Owen Gale11/15In one of the attic suites, a 1950s rocking chair by Frank Reenskaug for Bramin Møbler has a cushion upholstered in a Vanderhurd print. A Yellow Frame Mirror, Model 4720 by Anna Castelli Ferrieri for Kartel hangs near the door. The floor light is Isamu Noguchi's ‘Akari Fishing Pole Floor Lamp’.
Owen Gale12/15The bed frame is a vintage Tito Agnoli design with an antique Ewe cloth bedspread, a Kvadrat cushion, Magniberg bed linen and a triptych by the British sculptor William Turnbull over the bed.
Owen Gale13/15In the adjoining bathroom, wall tiles by Balineum set off an antique cast iron bath, a Vico Magistretti ceiling light and an artwork by Man Ray.
Owen Gale14/15Svenkst Tenn's ‘Eldblomman’ wallpaper makes a statement in the attic suite's sitting room, along with a shaggy Colville rug. The sofa is Hans Wegner's Model ‘GE 290/3’ sofa for Getama.
Owen Gale15/15The smallest bedroom has Charles Voysey's ‘Angelic Forest’ pattern on the walls, and a bed frame by Guillerme et Chambron.
