An Updated English Manor – revisited

Marshcourt, hidden in the  Hampshire landscape to the southwest of London, is nothing if not eccentric. To begin with, it is built of chalk, a material that had not been in regular use for two centuries at the time of its construction—in the early 1900s—and certainly not for a 12-bedroom country house. A mix of Tudor and Jacobean features (panelled rooms, carved staircases, mullioned windows) with neoclassical details (marble columns, elaborate plasterwork ceilings). And now, in the hands of New York–based interior designer Robert Couturier, the home has become more remarkable still.

I feel the trap here would have been to use Elizabethan or Neo Gothic furniture. Couturier has avoided this and jolted this project into something extraordinary by using contemporary furnishings.  Couturier employs a playfulness and fondness for mixing styles and eras. The first hint of this comes right in the entrance hall, where a steel chair by Ron Arad stands in one corner and a pink cardboard chair by Frank Gehry in another. Couturier’s most daring statement, however, is in the library, where a huge, gold-colour, ribbon-shaped ceiling light by Ingo Maurer stretches from one end of the room to the other.

Story by Nic-Kaiko Follow him on Instagram kaiko_design 

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Marshcourt by Robert Couturier

Photography by Tim Beddow

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