The Battle of Stalingrad began in August 1942, subjecting its residents to months of living hell. But few doubted that the city was worth defending; its significance to the Soviet project made it too important to abandon.
Missile strikes on the port of Odessa have dimmed hopes for a UN-brokered deal to get Ukraine’s grain on the move.
We ask what chances it may still have. Tunisia’s constitutional referendum looks destined to formalise a march back to the autocratic rule it shook off during the Arab Spring. And how Formula 1 is looking to crack America.
After nearly 60 years as a hotel, this former home of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson has been triumphantly restored as a house museum. John Goodall reports; photography by Paul Highnam.
On January 21, 1884, the poet laureate Alfred Tennyson was elevated to the peerage as Baron of Aldworth, Surrey, and of Freshwater on the Isle of Wight. As the editor of The Complete Peerage (1896) primly commented when recording this exceptional accolade, ‘the assumption of two places in different counties (more especially when the estate possessed is inconsiderable), cannot be commended’. Tennyson, however, would not have cared. Indeed, he had refused the offer of baronetcy four times and was only finally persuaded to accept it by his friend, the then Prime Minister, William Gladstone.
Tennyson chose this unusual title because — unconventionally for the period — he had houses in both places that he considered to be homes. Aldworth, which he generally occupied in the summer months, was a retreat from his house at Freshwater. This latter building, known as Farringford, was sold by the family in the 1940s and thereafter became a hotel. Returned back into private ownership in 2007, it has now undergone a renaissance at the hands of a Tennyson scholar, who has turned it into both a home and a house museum to the poet.
In the years immediately following his marriage in 1850, Tennyson and his wife, Emily, actively searched for a place to live. They heard from friends about a family house at Freshwater, on the north-western extreme of the Isle of Wight. Following a slightly depressing first viewing by Tennyson — then aged 44 — the couple came back together. An account of their visit in November 1853 is given in Emily’s journal. Travelling by train to Brockenhurst — where the railway line then ended — they caught an omnibus to Lymington and crossed on a still evening from the mainland in a rowing boat.
Emily was delighted by the house, which enjoyed an expansive prospect along almost the whole Hampshire coastline, and ‘looking from the drawing-room window, thought “I must have that view”, and so I said to him when alone. So accordingly we agreed… to take the place furnished for a time on trial with the option of purchasing’.
Our weekend programme comes live from Monocle’s radio studio in Zürich, where Tyler Brûlé and a panel of special-guest thought leaders discuss key topics in front of a studio audience.
Monocle’s Georgina Godwin and journalist Andrew Walker review the day’s papers. Plus: an update from our team in Ukraine and Andrew Mueller’s take on the week’s news.
Rose Park House is a luxury house designed to create a journey of discovery. Carefully crafted by studio gram, the robust residence represents a legacy project for the clients; a home to last a lifetime and house generations to come.
Video timeline: 00:00 – The Local Project Print Publication 00:16 – Introduction to Rose Park House 00:40 – A Legacy Project 01:06 – The History of The Queen Anne Villa 01:29 – Materials and Architecture That Leave a Legacy 02:26 – A Wine Room for the Ages 03:02 – Key Components of The Extension 03:40 – Practical and Fully Accessible 04:14 – Longevity & Long Lasting Relationships 04:53
Sitting at the fringe of the Adelaide Park Lands, Rose Park House is the final architectural project to be initiated by the clients. The design brief for the luxury house entailed a structure that could stand the test of time and was a reimagination of the existing residence which was originally built in the 1900s.
Studio gram selects durable materials for Rose Park House. Dark-toned limestone and American walnut speak to a sense of longevity and visually contrast the bright natural light that fills the internal spaces. An investigation of the pre-existing home revealed architecture comprised of off-form concrete. The modern extension of the luxury house continues the materiality of the original dwelling.
Rose Park House is also designed with a focus on accessibility. Accessible ramps, flush thresholds and wide apertures are featured in consideration of occupants who use wheelchairs. Smoothly integrated into the overall scheme, the features demonstrate that in a luxury house, form and function are not necessarily conceived as competing interests.
As a luxury house, Rose Park House is imbued with a feeling that is almost ineffable; a feeling of permeating goodness and rightful being. Achieving longevity and timelessness, studio gram crafts a luxury house with a growing legacy.
Below the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico lies a submerged world of extraordinary beauty. Caves once created a subterranean labyrinth that the earliest human settlers seemingly associated with magic. After these passageways flooded at the end of the last Ice Age, they created reservoirs that proved essential for the success of Maya cities. Now a fascinating project is revealing the remarkable range of archaeology preserved in this underworld.
Goddesses and spiritual beings also display an impressive range, in this case of powers. There can be a tendency for modern audiences to focus on a single attribute – Venus as the goddess of love, for instance – but this obscures the remarkable breadth of gifts they could bestow on worshippers. An exhibition examining the nature of feminine power provides an opportunity to consider the divine and the demonised.
Last night, in a televised hearing, the committee investigating the events of January 6th 2021 charged Donald Trump with “dereliction of duty” for failing to stop his supporters’ attack.
The evidence was strong; whether it will change anything remains unclear. We examine the thinking behind the European Central Bank’s surprise half-point rise in interest rates. And the money motivations of Bangladesh’s loosening booze laws.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
August 2022
