Arts And Crafts

Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott in Cumbria

Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott

Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (1865-1945),was born at Ramsgate in Kent, and having originally trained at Cirencester Agricultural College, decided not to follow in the family tradition of sheep farming and chose instead to study architecture. He trained in Bath, and Baillie Scott’s architectural development spiralled whilst living, for 12 years, in the Isle of Man. He was to join the already established Arts and Crafts Movement, amongst whose major proponents were William Morris and John Ruskin, who lived at Brantwood on Coniston. Although both these men influenced Baillie Scott, he went on to forge his own distinctive style. From the ornate medievalism of his early half-timbered houses he progressed towards a simpler architecture, which relied upon truth to material and function, and precise craftsmanship. His interest in all aspects of design led Baillie Scott to produce furniture, fabrics, wall coverings and pianos, which sat perfectly in his harmonious interiors. He developed the idea of the integrated interior. English oak or elm planking was used for doors and furniture. His aim was to create simplicity, a sense of repose and a homogenous atmosphere. He took Morris’s dictum to have only beautiful objects in a house one step further – beauty being achieved by objects designed to an ‘exquisite appropriateness to its position and to its use’.

Blackwell

Blackwell (1900), near Windermere, is one of Baillie Scott’s most important houses, with the interior having pretty Arts and Crafts motifs.

High Ground, Manesty, Borrowdale

He also designed High Ground, on the lower slopes of Catbells, overlooking Derwentwater and the Borrowdale Valley. This interesting property offers self catering accommodation. Other houses include Red House, Isle of Man; Majestic Hotel, Onchan, Isle of Man; Winscombe House, Crowburgh, Sussex.

In the later part of his career, Baillie-Scott’s reputation