An Arts and Crafts spectacular on Addison Road

Midway down Addison Road stands one of the most remarkable houses in London. A three-storey mansion in the Italianate style, the windows of the lower levels are surrounded with tiles of forest green. Meanwhile, its upper storey is adorned with bright turquoise bricks, and likewise the chimneys rising from each corner. These colours are intended to suggest the feathers of a peacock’s tail, and in the right light they appear to shimmer and gleam.

The property is known as Debenham House. It was constructed in 1905 for the businessman Ernest Ridley Debenham, whose grandfather helped to found the Debenham’s haberdashery shops. In the twentieth century, Debenham’s became the most successful chain of department stores in Britain, with over 170 outlets at its peak.

The chain began in 1778 as a drapery shop on Wigmore Street, selling expensive fabrics, bonnets, globes and parasols. In 1813, William Debenham invested in the firm and oversaw its expansion to Cheltenham and Harrogate.

In the second half of that century, the middle classes grew quickly and the demand for department stores increased. Debenham’s not only opened shops in growing urban centres, but also began acquiring other department stores – such as the famous Knightsbridge retailer, Harvey Nichols.

By this point the firm was run by Ernest Debenham. Between 1905 and 1907 he oversaw the building of a grand new headquarters on Wigmore Street, occupying almost an entire block. That building was designed in the Edwardian Baroque style, giving a sense of grandeur and opulence. Meanwhile, its exterior was clad in white Carrara tiles by the Stoke-on-Trent manufacturer Royal Doulton.

These tiles were intended to protect facades from the dirt of London pollution. This technique is known as faience: using glazed terracotta and ceramics as a decorative skin on buildings.

Little wonder that Ernest Debenham tried the same trick on his Holland Park mansion. He even hired Halsey Ricardo to build the villa: the celebrated architect who had recently completed Howrah Station in India with its colourful exterior of brick mixed with tile. Howrah was known as the gateway to Calcutta, and Debenham wanted something equally impressive for his own London residence.

In the case of Debenham House, the white Carrara tiles were mixed with bricks glazed in blue and green from the Leeds firm of Burmantoft’s Pottery. This resulted in polychromatic patterns that evoke the glamour of Art Nouveau, which was becoming popular in European cities like Paris and Vienna.

However, the interiors of the house were created by the leading Arts and Crafts designers of the day. This was a late Victorian and early Edwardian movement, which pushed back against industrialisation by emphasising the importance of traditional crafts.

Within Debenham House, the walls were covered with tiles designed by the potter and novelist William de Morgan – business partner of William Morris. The ceilings were painted by Ernest Gimson, one of the leading architect-designers of the Arts and Crafts movement, while the stained-glass windows were the work of Edward Schroeder Prior, who established the school of architectural studies at Cambridge.

The property centred on a domed hall, with a gallery linking to the upstairs rooms. This was decorated with mosaics illustrating scenes from classical mythology, while members of the Debenham family were shown mixing with gods and goddesses.

Sadly, the family’s success did not last. In 1927, Ernest Debenham and his son were forced out of the company by an investment group buying up department stores. From then on, Ernest divided his time between London and his Dorset estate – where he commissioned a model village in a more rustic Arts and Crafts style. After his death in 1952, the family sold the property.

Since then, Debenham House has been home to a dance school and a charity. It is now privately owned, but glimpses of the interior can be seen in several films and television series, including two episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. And anyone walking down Addison Road can glimpse the mansion rising above the street, one of most enchanting properties to occupy the creative neighbourhoods of Holland Park.