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It isn't surprising that there are few important Art Deco houses in Britain; by the time the 1920s rolled around, Britain's rich and famous--that is to say, its titled and moneyed classes--had great houses to look after, inherited with platoons of servants and a lot less money than they needed, in many cases, to look after what they had, never mind build new.
But new money of the sort made by the D'Oyly Carte family of theatrical impresarios could build according to the new style. Rupert D'Oyly Carte, son of Richard D'Oyly Carte (Gilbert & Sullivan's first producer) had both the money and the inclination to build a substantial "modern" house for himself and his wife, Lady Dorothy Milner Gathorne-Hardy, whom he had married in 1907 and would divorce in 1941. They built the house in 1925, at the height of popularity for such new-fangled playwrights as Noel Coward. Strikingly different from the staid Gilbert & Sullivan, Coward was a wit and a wag, and, in his visits to Coleton Fishacre, probably kept his acerbic tongue sharpened and funny bone engaged to enliven an already lively setting.
A house rising from the sea and stars
The house was set in a valley first spotted by Rupert and Lady Dorothy on their yacht, while sailing around the south coast of England. With money both inherited from his father, Richard, and money he made by taking over the hotel group, which included the Savoy Hotel, Claridges, The Berkeley Hotel and Simpsons-in-the-Strand, as well as the Savoy Theatre, it was not difficult for Rupert to engage the best modern designers.
In fact, he employed Oswald Milne, educated in the arts-and-crafts traditions of the late nineteenth century by working for Sir Edwin Lutyens, premier practitioner of the style.
According to a 1999 article by Denise Sylvester-Carr in History Today magazine, Milne had "learned to appreciate the sympathetic relationship between landscape, house and garden and a region's indigenous materials." As a result, he chose local Dartmouth shale to construct the Y-shaped house--itself unusual up until then--overlooking 24 acres that would be lushly landscaped and planted with exotic cultivars adaptable to the mild climate of England's south coast.
Jazz Age interior
He did not stop at the exterior. The Jazz Age came alive inside even without Noel Coward in residence because of the appointments. These included Lalique wall lamps in a tulip pattern; bold flower shapes were very much prized in Jazz Age design. The urge to create mechanical fittings was also indulged: a sea-blue scagliolo tabletop mounted on a curving iron frame was installed. Two side tables doubled as rounded ends for the main table. The "deep blue sea" scheme was continued in a lapis lazuli bell push to summon servants.
National Trust's expertise saves the day
All this and the Marion Dorn carpets in the sitting room are still in the house. When Rupert died in 1948, his daughter, Bridget, inherited. She sold it to Rowland Smith, a local property developer who kept the light fittings, designed for the house, and the few pieces of furniture she left behind. Although the National Trust acquired the estate in 1982, the let the house until 1999, although they opened the gardens immediately. Despite its own stock of period pieces, it took that long for the National Trust's skilful purchasing to match the original furnishings based on Country Life magazine photographs taken in 1930.
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