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When you’re the son of an earl and in line to inherit the family estate, it can be tempting to lean into a life of grandeur. But Alexander and Eliza Newport—also known as Viscount and Viscountess Newport—wear their titles lightly. The young couple recently welcomed their son Archie, and their modern, unfussy sensibility is evident in their newly restored Victorian terraced house in London. Done in collaboration with designer (and 2023 FREDERIC It Lister) Jessica Summer, it’s a wonderful merging of youthful freshness, period details, and ancestral antiques.
Interior designer Jessica Summer.
ANDREW FARRAR
Summer took care to source dining room furniture—like the William IV dining table from Max Rollitt and Louis XVI cane dining chairs from Erin Lane Estate—that would fit in with the clients’ existing antiques.
DEAN HEARNEThe circa-1860 house, which miraculously survived London’s postwar penchant for carving up buildings into smaller apartments, still retained many of its original period details including wide pine floors, ornate plasterwork, and seven fireplaces. “It took a lot of effort to make good the existing features,” says Summer. “The floors, for example, were very uneven and gappy, and they had to be sensitively restored without looking either too new or like a patched-up job.” Summer also took great pains to create a suitable framework for Alexander’s collection of historical artwork and 18th- and 19th-century antique furniture brought in from Weston Park, his family estate in Shropshire.
The dark oak lower cabinets in the kitchen complement the original wood floor and rich antique furniture throughout the rest of the house.
DEAN HEARNE
The “striking green” of the James Hare silk curtains are the only strong color on the floor, notes Summer, who used the hue to unite kitchen and dining room
DEAN HEARNE
Heirloom oil paintings are the stars in the hallway and dining room galleries.
DEAN HEARNEWhile Weston Park is awash in florals from venerable English design firms like Colefax and Fowler, the Notting Hill home is the ultimate in restraint—there’s nary a pattern in sight. “I set out to keep the palette light,” says Summer, who opted for cream-colored walls and solid fabrics to balance rich wood antiques. That’s not to say things are austere: There’s real glamour in the sitting room, with its antique Genoese chandelier, heirloom armchairs covered in a deep cobalt mohair velvet and paneling that Summer designed to bring integrity and detail to the room.
Summer “wanted the bedroom to feel soft but atmospheric,” with a “transformative” custom peachy-pink wall finish setting the scene for more family antiques and a bed upholstered in wine-colored Rose Uniacke velvet.
DEAN HEARNE
A fireplace and wood floor make the open bath feel more like a chic drawing room; the soaking tub is from Albion Bath and the sink is by The Water Monopoly.
DEAN HEARNE
Eliza asked Summer to design the wardrobe doors around a pair of sculptural bronze sconces made by her friend Jess Wheeler; the antique chair from Retrouvious is in Schumacher’s Wellfleet Ticking.
DEAN HEARNEThat same artful elegance infuses other rooms: The triple panel details on the kitchen cabinets are as fine as the Secessionist furniture that inspired them, while the beautifully veined Arabescato Verde marble counters pick up the color in the floor-length green silk curtains. Another antique Italian waterfall chandelier graces the dining room, which shows off beneath an ornate plaster rosette.
In son Archie’s nursery, hand-painted vines by Kayla Pongrác climb the walls.
DEAN HEARNEUpstairs in the primary suite, ingeniously designed closet doors open around a pair of bronze fig-leaf sconces, while Archie’s nursery, with its magical jungle of hand-painted vines, upends expectations for a prim and proper child’s room. All in all, it’s a home that takes heritage seriously—but still leaves plenty of room to grow for a new generation.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 18 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!
