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lewes hoUse Open day at Bunny’s pad It’s strange that <strong>on</strong>e of <strong>Lewes</strong>’ finest townho<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>es, with intact interior design features from two distinct periods and a highly flamboyant and exotic history of residents and visitors, should <str<strong>on</strong>g>now</str<strong>on</strong>g> be the main offices of a body as unglamoro<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g> as the <strong>Lewes</strong> District Council. Strange, but perhaps fortuito<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>. Beca<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>e the Council is clearly extremely proud of its headquarters, has kept its main features intact, and provides guides every year to show visitors round as part of the Heritage Open Day scheme. I manage to blag a private look around the building, courtesy of Ann Spike and Philip Pople, Council employees who have been showing visitors round every September since 1994, learning, they say, something new about the building every time. We’ve already covered the story of the building’s most famo<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g> and eccentric resident, Edward Warren, a rich American who formed a ‘Brotherhood’ around the turn of the 20th century which <str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>ed the ho<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>e as a home and a base for the collecti<strong>on</strong> of ancient (mainly Greek) artworks, which were stored there before being transported to m<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>eums as far afield as Bost<strong>on</strong>. Warren leased the ho<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>e in 1890, buying it outright in 1910, and filling it with lavish furnishings and fittings, including a great Elizabethan oak table at which he entertained accomplished guests, such as the painter Roger Fry and the French sculptor Aug<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>te Rodin, whose sculpture The Kiss was commissi<strong>on</strong>ed by Warren, and spent a number of years in <strong>Lewes</strong>. The ho<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>e m<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>t have looked extraordinary in Warren’s time, but there is little evidence of his tenure in what’s left there – save for some panels w w w. V I VA l E w E s . C o M picture courtesy of <strong>Lewes</strong> district Council archive B r I C k s A N D M o r tA r and beams in the former stable next to the old Thebes Gallery which he <str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>ed as his private office, modelled <strong>on</strong> the Western end of the library at Corp<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g> Christi College, Oxford. He bequeathed the ho<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>e to his colleague Asa Thomas, and the furnishings were sold in their entirety in 1929 by a new company that established its reputati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the transacti<strong>on</strong> – Gorringes. The building dates back to the 14th century, when it was k<str<strong>on</strong>g>now</str<strong>on</strong>g>n as Bugates, and formed part of an estate that stretched back to Friars Walk, bordered by Broomans Lane and Walwers Lane. Its first major restorati<strong>on</strong> occurred around 1733, which accounts for the heavy Georgian features in the two-storey back part of the present building. The ho<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>e then featured a walled fr<strong>on</strong>t garden, which was built over in 1812, a date which accounts for the neo-classical style of the building’s grand stepped entrance, the high-ceilinged rooms of its threestorey fr<strong>on</strong>tage, and the ornate interior decorati<strong>on</strong>s in the grand dining room <strong>on</strong> the ground floor overlooking School Hill, where Warren entertained his guests. Nowadays the building is filled with the paraphernalia of a government office, and you have to imagine its more exotic ho<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>eguests of the past, mentally replacing b<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>y workers with French artists, photocopiers with Greek b<str<strong>on</strong>g>us</str<strong>on</strong>g>ts, and office desks with four-poster beds. But Ann and Philip are fine guides, who open your eyes to every nuance, and help turn a tour round an office building into a trip back in time. Alex Leith Heritage Open Days, 10th & 11th Sept. For more informati<strong>on</strong>, check out www.heritageopendays.org.uk 7 1
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