View source for Quinlan Terry's Regent's Park villas

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
[[File:Gothick Villa, Regent's Park - geograph.org.uk - 221445.jpg|thumbnail|Gothick Villa, Regent's Park]]
'''Quinlan Terry's Regent's Park villas''' are six large detached [[villa]]s on the north-western edge of London's [[Regent's Park]] designed by the English [[Driehaus Architecture Prize|Driehaus Prize]] winner and [[New Classical architecture|New Classical]] architect [[Quinlan Terry]] between 1988 and 2004. Terry designed each house in a different classical style, intended to be representative of the variety of [[classical architecture]]: the ''Ionic Villa'', ''Veneto Villa'', ''Gothick Villa'', ''Corinthian Villa'', ''Regency Villa'', and the ''Doric Villa''.
==Location==
[[File:Ionic Villa.jpg|thumb|left|Ionic Villa, Regent's Park]]
The houses are located on a strip of land between Regent's Park's Outer Circle and the [[Regent's Canal]] on the north-western edge of the park, with [[Hanover Lodge]] to the south, and opposite [[Winfield House]], the home of the [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|American ambassador]], to the east. Grove House is located to the west of the villas on the other bank of the canal. The houses were built by the [[Crown Estate]] and a private property developer.<ref name=TelegNov02>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/expat-property/4184710/Grandeur-cannot-be-done-cheaply.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415154323/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/expat-property/4184710/Grandeur-cannot-be-done-cheaply.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 April 2015|title=Grandeur cannot be done cheaply|author=Kenneth Powell|date=25 November 2002|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=31 March 2014}}</ref>
==History==
[[File:Veneto Villa.jpg|thumb|Veneto Villa, Regent's Park]]
The site was formerly occupied by [[Bedford College (London)|Bedford College]]. The college merged with the Royal Holloway College and moved to Egham in Surrey to become [[Royal Holloway, University of London]], having previously been based at Hanover Lodge. The creator of the [[Regent's Park]], the 19th-century architect [[John Nash (architect)|John Nash]], had intended to construct 48 villas in the park, but only eight were eventually constructed before 1826 when work on his scheme was stopped by the government.<ref name=SCMP93>{{cite news|url=http://www.scmp.com/article/22358/gothick-villa|title=Gothick Villa|date=17 March 1993|work=[[South China Morning Post]]|access-date=7 April 2015}}</ref> In 1987 the Regent Park's Crown Estate Commissioners commissioned the Neo-Classical English architect [[Quinlan Terry]] to build six detached villas that echoed the style of Nash. Terry said in a 2002 interview that the Crown Estate had told him to "step into Nash's shoes and carry on walking".<ref name=TelegNov02/> Prior to the villas' construction Terry had said also that it was a "glorious opportunity to tidy up a superb site"<ref>"£10m Regency villas.", ''The Times'', London, 1 May 1987</ref> The villas were constructed from the late 1980s to 2002.<ref name=TelegNov02/>
Several of the villas were purchased by foreign buyers upon completion, with some having to be expanded to include extra staff accommodation.<ref>Rachel Kelly. "Calling all very wealthy foreigners.", ''The Times'', London, 27 July 1994</ref><ref>Rachel Kelly. "Mystery behind the £25 million house.", ''The Times'', London, 16 November 1994</ref>
Terry described the construction of the villas as "a dream commission" in a 2002 interview given to mark the end of construction of the villas. Terry also said that "There were times when I thought we'd never finish them all" and that "It would have been a disaster if someone had decided to abandon the last three and given them to modernists to design."<ref name=TelegNov02/> The first three villas sold for up to £9 million, with the Gothick villa selling for £6.5 million in 1994.<ref name=IndJun94>{{cite news|title=Top-notch property market takes off|author=Elaine Fogg|date=29 June 1994|work=The Independent}}</ref><ref name=TelegNov02/>
Three of the villas were built by the property developers [[Ian Livingstone (property developer)|Ian]] and [[Richard Livingstone (businessman)|Richard Livingstone]] in the 1990s.<ref name=ESMar12>{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-brothers-behind-a-4-billion-secret-empire-7600590.html|title=London brothers behind a £4 billion secret empire|author=Jonathan Prynn and Mira Bar-Hillel|date=29 March 2012|work=The Evening Standard|access-date=31 March 2014}}</ref>
==Design==
[[File:Classical orders from the Encyclopedie.png|thumb|upright|Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite columns. 1761.]]
The villas were critiqued by Kenneth Allinson and [[Victoria Thornton]] in their ''Guide to London's Contemporary Architecture''. Allinson and Thornton felt that the location of the villas was integral to understanding their style, feeling that they made "little sense" outside of Nash's original scheme for building in the park and that they could also be likened to properties on the [[Bishop's Avenue]] where "a less erudite version of the Neo-classical detached villa has manifest itself". Of their style Allinson and Thornton wrote that <blockquote>But these villas are more Palladian than the informal Tuscan ''villa rustica'' format preferred by Nash at Park Village. They are also without leanings toward the picturesque of ''cottages ornés''. Instead, their symmetrical playfulness is of a very serious nature. The outer form wears a smile, but it is all terrible self-conscious and well mannered. Naughty, in fact.<ref name="AllinsonThornton2014">{{cite book|author1=Kenneth Allinson|author2=Victoria Thornton|title=Guide to London's Contemporary Architecture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PCKLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA64|date=12 May 2014|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-1-4832-7834-6|pages=64–}}</ref></blockquote>
The design of the Corinthian Villa was influenced by the work of the 17th-century Italian [[baroque]] architect [[Francesco Borromini]], and features the first 'serpentine triple-curved facade' in English architectural history.<ref name="CramerYankopolus2005">{{cite book|author1=James P. Cramer|author2=Jennifer Evans Yankopolus|title=Almanac of Architecture & Design 2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jh7ecV24_uAC&pg=PA167|date=1 November 2005|publisher=Greenway Communications|isbn=978-0-9755654-2-1|pages=167–}}</ref>
The design of the Gothick Villa is based on [[Andrea Palladio]]'s mid 16th-century [[Villa Saraceno]], with the extra 'k' in its name indicating that the villa's style is not purely derived from [[Gothic architecture]]. The internal design of the Gothick Villa features details inspired by [[Combermere Abbey]] in Cheshire, and [[Longner Hall]] in Shropshire.<ref name=SCMP93/>
==Gallery==
<gallery widths="140px" heights="140px" perrow="4">
File:Canalside house, Regent's Park - geograph.org.uk - 1736729.jpg
File:Villa, Outer Circle, Regent's Park - geograph.org.uk - 822955.jpg
File:Canalside house, Regent's Park - geograph.org.uk - 1736734.jpg
File:Regent's Canal on a sunny winter's day - geograph.org.uk - 1736738.jpg
</gallery>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{cite book | last =  Stourton | first =  James  | title = Great Houses of London | location = London | publisher = Frances Lincoln | year = 2012| isbn = 978-0-7112-3366-9}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Quinlan Terry's Regent's Park Villas}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150412184729/http://www.qftarchitects.com/projects/london-houses.php?r=1&height=610&width=1280 Quinlan & Francis Terry Architects - London houses]
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[[Category:Buildings and structures in Regent's Park]]
[[Category:Buildings by Quinlan Terry]]
[[Category:Crown Estate]]
[[Category:Houses completed in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Houses completed in the 21st century]]
[[Category:Houses in the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:New Classical architecture in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Regent's Canal]]