{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O835371"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O835371/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O835371","accessionNumber":"D.1472-1907","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[{"title":"Kinmel Hall, drawing no. 69 detail of skylight over smoking room","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Kinmel Hall is a country house located near Abergele in north Wales. It is a renovation of a Greek Revival house that previously occupied the same site on the Kinmel estate. The existing house was designed by William Eden Nesfield (1835-1888) for Hugh Robert Hughes (1827-1911) and built between 1871-1876. Hughes inherited Kinmel from his uncle in 1852 and sought to enhance the estate by commissioning numerous improvements to the house and grounds. These improvements included a new stable block designed by William Burn and culminated in the ambitious expansion of the earlier house into the Kinmel Hall that exists today. Nesfield’s remodelling is dramatic departure from the mundane house Hughes inherited.\n\r\nIt has been said that Kinmel Hall has 365 windows and 52 bedrooms, making it an example of a ‘Calendar House’, a term coined by the Elizabethans and employed by the Victorians to celebrate extravagance. With over 120 rooms (one dedicated exclusively to ironing newspapers), Kinmel’s exorbitance has earned it the nickname, the ‘Welsh Versailles’. And although the house’s mansard roofs evoke the flavour of a French chateau, a closer look reveals a variety of influences. The abundance of red brick, stone window surrounds, and stone quoins are reminiscent of Hampton Court Palace—which Nesfield and Hughes visited for inspiration in 1868. However, the more minute details, such as the asymmetrical chimneys and Nesfield’s generous application of his characteristic sunflower motifs, reveal the house’s underlying connection to the ‘Queen Anne’ movement. After being sold by the Hughes family in 1929, Kinmel Hall has served as a rheumatic spa, hospital, and school. A fire caused extensive damage to the chapel and upper floor in 1977, and the house has changed ownership numerous times since. In 2015, the Victorian Society placed the now-derelict Kinmel Hall on its list of the top ten at-risk Victorian and Edwardian buildings in the UK; its future remains uncertain.\n\nThis sheet contains multiple sections and elevations of the skylight over the smoking room. The skylight projects from the ceiling of the smoking room to form a glass gable roof  with paneled moulding between it and the coved plaster ceiling below. The glass structure appears to have been designed to not be visible from the exterior of the house at ground level, and it does not look like it has the ability to open. This is one of many skylights at Kinmel Hall; various notes throughout the construction documents allude to the importance of allowing maximum daylight inside the house.","physicalDescription":"Sheet contains a room section, roof plan, and three detailed full size sections of the skylight construction. There are multiple notes regarding the placement of water pipes and how to cut the glass for the skylight. These drawings are highly finished with watercolours denoting different materials and componets.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Nesfield, William Eden","id":"A8691"},"association":{"text":"architect","id":"THES265157"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Ink and watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Architectural drawings","id":"THES274432"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"61","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"12/09/1872","earliest":"1872-09-12","latest":"1872-09-12"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"53.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"66.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"\"Ship (?) on to lead pipe & secured in socket joints of flanged earthenware pipe. The earthenware pipe to be joined in cement as the work goes on. Thus for all W.C. pipes and (?). R. W. pipes leave a recess in brickwork 9\" x 9\"\"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed in ink at top-left corner of sheet."},{"content":"\"Kinmel No. 69, Skylight over Smoking Room, 1/2\" & full size\"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed in ink at top-centre of sheet."},{"content":"\"W. Eden Nesfield, Architect, 30 Argyll St, Sept. 12: 1872\"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed in ink at bottom-right corner of sheet."}],"objectHistory":"Donated to the V&A in 1907 as part of the Phené Spiers Collection of Architectural Drawings","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Architectural drawing by W. E. Nesfield for Kinmel Hall, drawing no. 69, detail of skylight over smoking room, Flintshire, for H. R. Hughes, 1872, ink and watercolour on paper, London","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Girouard, Mark. <u>Sweetness and Light: </u><u>The Queen Anne Movement, 1860-1900.</u> New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977","id":"AUTH352825"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Girouard, Mark. <u>The Victorian Country House</u>. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.","id":"AUTH352830"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Hubbard, Edward. <u>The Buildings of Wales: Clwyd</u>. Harmondsworth: University of Wales Press, 1986.","id":"AUTH352836"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Muthesius, Stefan. <u>The High Victorian Movement in Architecture: 1850-1870</u>. London: Routledge & Paul, 1972.","id":"AUTH352838"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Oxford Dictionary of National Biography","id":"AUTH352820"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[{"text":"Conwy","id":"x31148"}],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Hughes, Hugh Robert","id":"AUTH352628"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["D.1472-1907"],"accessionNumberNum":"1472","accessionNumberPrefix":"D","accessionYear":1907,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-07","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}