St. Giles House, Wimbourne St. Giles, Dorset.
St Giles House is home to the Earl of Shaftesbury, a private estate in Wimbourne St Giles, Dorset. Built in 1651 by the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, the founder of the Whig party. The architect of the building is unknown although there is a clear influence of Inigo Jones.
As with many estates, remodelling work was taken on by various generations of the family. The post war years saw the house fall into disrepair and St Giles was uninhabited for 50 years. Since 2011 the house has been under and rigorous and extensive restoration plan to allow the 12th Earl and his young family to make St Giles their family home once again.
The North Drawing Room
Humphries Weaving was asked to weave fabric for the restoration of The North and South Drawing Rooms. The North Drawing Room walling is a gold and green silk and linen damask, narrow woven at 21” historic width.
The scheme was debated for some time in order to strike a balance between the original red silk damask and a later green wallpaper. The fabric has been designed in a special way to give a distressed appearance to the cloth, which brings a feeling of age. The same pattern can also be seen at Marlborough House, London and in the State Dressing Room and Landscape Room at Holkham Hall, Norfolk .
Project reference: 2307/1
The North Drawing Room leading to The South Drawing Room – photographer Justin Barton. By kind permission of Lord Shaftesbury. Please see external links below for further information on St. Giles House.
The South Drawing Room
Humphries Weaving was asked to weave fabric for the restoration of The North and South Drawing Rooms. The fabric woven for wall hangings was woven at 21” wide to be in keeping with the history of the building.
It was important that there was a feeling of unity flowing between both of the drawing rooms and so the same design was chosen throughout. The sage green silk and linen damask uses the same ground tone as the hangings in the North Drawing Room giving cohesion to the spaces.
Project reference: 2307/2
