78 Derngate in Northampton

This is the winner of a Diploma

The restoration of the house designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1916-1919, which had had lost its strikingly colourful Mackintosh design furniture and interior decor. Completed by Mackintosh for the toy-maker and arts patron WJ Bassett Lowke, this tiny conversion was his last completed commission and only building outside Scotland. When the school that had occupied it for three decades vacated the premises, concerns were raised about its preservation.

Before any work could commence, painstaking examination of the house and of related photographic evidence was undertaken. The decorative finishes were sensitively reinstated to the original scheme, including the recreation of wallpaper, replica furniture, curtains, carpets and light fittings. By acquiring the adjoining house, no.80, and transforming it into a new visitor centre, the building could be opened to the public as a museum on the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and WJ Bassett Lowke.

“For the new design and the immaculate re-creation of the truly stunning interior of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s last completed work.”

More information
www.78derngate.org.uk