BrightArts & CultureTraditional Culture

Beauty at the Beach: Bournemouth’s East Cliff Hall

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit a rare, late-Victorian seaside villa full of love and world art.
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Beauty at the Beach: Bournemouth’s East Cliff Hall
Merton and Annie Russell-Cotes's East Cliff Hall home with its conservatory, bay windows, striped canopies, and sweeping terraces was made for love and panoramic seaside views. Courtesy of Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
Lorraine Ferrier
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BOURNEMOUTH, England—“For many years I had in my mind that someday I would build a house after my own heart, as an offering of ‘love and affection’ to my wife,” hotelier Sir Merton Russell-Cotes (1835–1921) once said.

In 1897, Merton commissioned Irish architect John Frederick Fogerty to build that exotic villa, called East Cliff Hall, in the seaside town of Bournemouth, in southwest England.

Lorraine Ferrier
Lorraine Ferrier
Author
Lorraine Ferrier writes about fine arts and craftsmanship for The Epoch Times. She focuses on artists and artisans, primarily in North America and Europe, who imbue their works with beauty and traditional values. She's especially interested in giving a voice to the rare and lesser-known arts and crafts, in the hope that we can preserve our traditional art heritage. She lives and writes in a London suburb, in England.