Tulip Gate

Summary

Garden gate, known as the Tulip Gate, 1920s. Attributed to the Arts and Crafts architect and craftsman, Norman Jewson.

Reasons for Designation

The Tulip Gate at Glenfall House, attributed to the Arts and Crafts architect and craftsman Norman Jewson, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: as a good example of Norman Jewson’s characteristic metalwork, displaying a mannered naturalistic floral design with good quality workmanship;
* Historic interest: as a key component of the formal terraced gardens created at Glenfall House by the Arts and Crafts architects, Norman Jewson and Sydney Barnsley, for its owner Arthur Mitchell in the 1920s;
* Group value: together with the Rose Gate it has considerable group value with Glenfall House (Grade II) and its registered park and garden (Grade II) to which it makes an important contribution.

History

In 1920 the Glenfall House estate, which was designed as a Picturesque landscape in the early C19, was purchased by the brewer Arthur Mitchell of Birmingham’s Mitchell and Butlers Ltd. Mitchell was an admirer of the Arts and Crafts Movement and he employed Sydney Barnsley, Norman Jewson and Peter Waals to extend and furnish the house, and to create the terraced gardens to the west of the house, with the orchard beyond. In 1929 the south wing was added to the house by Healing & Overbury (Sydney Barnsley having died in 1926) and the adjacent paddock was included in the garden as a sloping lawn with vegetable garden beyond. The decorative iron gates which comprise the Tulip Gate located in the yew hedge between the north forecourt and the west garden, and the Rose Gate located in the yew hedge between the south garden and the east garden, appear to have been added in the 1920s as part of these works. Both gates are attributed to the Arts and Crafts architect and craftsman, Norman Jewson (1884-1975). There is no documentation confirming that Jewson designed the gates but many sources attribute them to him, including an exhibition catalogue from 1987 and the ‘Gazetteer of Arts and Crafts Architecture in the Cotswold Region’ produced by Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums in 1992.

Arthur Mitchell owned the house until his death in 1965, after which the house was sold to a Martin Crabbe. Crabbe remodelled the house and sold the Arts and Crafts furniture designed by Peter Waals. In 1980 the house and part of the grounds were bought by the Community of St Peter and St Paul, and in 1991 the community gifted the estate to the Diocese of Gloucester. The house and the gardens were subsequently restored by the Glenfall House Trust. The house was opened as a conference centre in 1992.

Details

Garden gate, known as the Tulip Gate, 1920s. Attributed to the Arts and Crafts architect and craftsman, Norman Jewson.

MATERIALS: the gate is made of cast and wrought iron.

DESCRIPTION: positioned within the yew hedge between the forecourt to the north of Glenfall House and the terraced gardens to the west, the rectangular pedestrian gate has a semi-circular head and is set within a plain iron surround, with supporting angled brackets to the sides. The gate's lower
section comprises alternating stick and twisted balusters and the upper section is arranged as two panels of decorative ironwork depicting tulips and roses with scrollwork.

Sources

Books and journals
Gordon, C, Gazetteer of Arts and Crafts Architecture in the Cotswold Region, (1992), 12
Mander, , Verity, , Wynne-Jones, , Norman Jewson, 1884-1975, (1987)

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