King Arthur and Queen Genievre, Makins Residence

Wealthy, young barrister Henry Francis Makins, Esq. moved into a conventional terraced house at 19 Prince of Wales Terrace in London in 1867 or 1868. Makins was said to have 'artistic inclinations' and perhaps that is why by 1869 he had Salviati manufacture two full-length mosaic figures of King Arthur and Queen Genievre for his dining room.

19 Prince of Wales Terrace

Scenes from the Camelot mythology were a favorite of Pre-Raphaelite artists.

Arthur by Charles Ernest Butler, 1903  
(illustration only - not the mosaic)

Genievre by Henry Justice Ford, 1910
(illustration only - not the mosaic)

Unfortunately, no documentation other than a Salviati inventory list and a speech given by Sir Austen Henry Layard has been found regarding the mosaics, and numbers 18-19 Prince of Wales Terrace is now the Clearlake Hotel.

Makins bought the site for 8 Palace Gate in 1873 and subsequently comissioned architect J.J. Stevenson to design a "red-brick" (actually in yellow) Queen Anne for him. Makins moved into the new house in 1875 and lived there for eleven years. One of his neighbors was Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais, whose works Makins collected. Number 8 Palace Gate is now divided into flats.

Makins had another home specifically built for him at 180 Queen's Gate, Hyde Park in London after designs by architect Richard Norman Shaw. The house was built 1883-85 and Makins moved in around 1886. Incidentally, Shaw also designed 170 Queen's Gate for cement manufacturer Frederick Anthony White, as well as 196 Queen's Gate for Makins' friend, stockbroker J.P. Heseltine.

 180 Queen's Gate in 1956.

The dining room in 1956.

The drawing room in 1956.

This Makins residence was located across from the intersection of Queen's Gate and Queen's Gate Terrace; however, due to the expansion of the Imperial College of London, the building was demolished in 1971.

While their current status is unknown, it is possible that the mosaic panels are still in the Makins' private collection.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 137.
Layard, Austin Henry. Paper on Mosaic Decoration: Read at a Meeting of the Royal Institute of British Architects. London: Metchim and Son, 1869. v.
Imperial College of London- Physics
Huxley Building Imperial College of London
Royal Institute of British Architects
British History Online Queen's Gate
British History Online Queen's Gate Interiors
British History Online Queen's Gate Exteriors
British History Online Price of Wales Terrace
British History Online Palace Gate

Ophir Farm

The six story, 84 room mansion was built on over 1,000 acres in 1864 by Benjamin "Doc" Holladay, who had made his fortune from the Pony Express. Shipbuilder John Roach bough the estate after Holladay went bankrupt in 1873. After he himself lost his fortunes, his son sold the property in 1886 to Elisabeth and Whitelaw Reid.

The house was undergoing renovations when it burned down in 1888. It was rebuilt by architects McKim, Mead & White and reopened in 1892, the same year President Benjamin Harrison asked Reid to be his running mate in the upcoming elections.

The "castle" in 1892

A "deep" Salviati mosaic frieze three feet high decorated the top of the entry hallway's pink marble walls. It was definitely in place between 1892 and 1907, however, it is unknown what later happened to it.

Above is the entrance hallway around 1892. The mosaics are visible to the left, starting above the fireplace.They mimicked tapestry foliage. After his parents' deaths, son Ogden Reid auctioned off all of the art in the house in 1935.

The building is now owned by Manhattanville College and is called Reid Castle or Reid Hall. The mosaic frieze is no longer located in the foyer.

Sources:
"Ophir Farm." The Illustrated American. September 17, 1892. 196.
Knox, Thomas Wallace. The Republican Party and Its Leaders. New York: P.F. Collier, 1892. 575.
House Beautiful. Vol. 11, December 1901. 380.
Ophir Farm and Manhattanville College
Manhattanville College. The History of Reid Castle. October 2011.
Wikipedia
Foreman, John. "Big Old Houses: But Would I Live Here?"
"Personal and Otherwise." New York Times. April 21, 1907.
"Art: Gutted Ophir." Time. May 27, 1935.

Rossie Priory, Inchture

Designed by William Atkinson, this country estate was built in 1817 for Charles, the 8th Lord Kinnaird.

1825 Etching of the Estate

Pre-1949 Aerial Photograph

Much of the 15 bedroom house was destroyed and then reconstructed after 1948. The west wing and 1866 chapel by T.S. Robertson were kept, but restored at the same time. 

1940s Reconstruction Plans - The Chapel is seen on the far left.

The altar with the geometric patterned Salviati mosaics from the chapel can now be found in All Souls' Church, Invergowrie. That church was opened in 1891 and consecrated in 1896. It's Lady Chapel received the altar with the reredos because the Lady Kinnaird was a patron of All Souls' Church and her son, the 11th Baron who ascended in 1887 was not an Episcopalian.

Today, the estate is open to guests as a hotel.

 

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 124.
Museo del vetro di Murano. Vetri artistici del primo Ottocento. Regione Del Veneto, 2006. 35.
Wikipedia 
Historic Houses Association 
Departures International 
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland 
Historic Scotland 
Sacred Scotland 
British Listed Buildings

Villa Thenard, Antibes

French chemist Baron Louis-Jaques Thenard built this villa before his death in 1857. Russian Grand Dukes Nikolai and Peter Nikolaevich Romanoff (cousins of the last tsar) moved into the villa with their wives on May 1, 1919. The exiled brothers would both die here in 1929 and 1931, respectively.

Today, the property is known as Chateau Algarve and it is available as a luxury vacation rental.

Salviati mosaic decorations adorned the villa including a frieze and portraits of various men. The status of these mosaics is unknown, although it is possible that they were removed or lost during past renovations.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 135.
Wikipedia FR
Wikipedia
Agence du Cap d'Antibes
Chateau Algarve

Prince Primate's Palace, Esztergom

Josef (or Jozsef) Lippert von Granberg designed this neo-Renaissance style building as the residence for Esztergom's archbishops based on a request from Cardinal and Prince Primate Janos Simor. The building is located on the Danube River, right across from Bratislava, Slovaki. It was built on the former site of a Jesuit monastery (the church remains) and construction took place 1881-83. Simor bore all of the costs associated with construction, which - at over 600,000 HUF - were more than double preliminary estimates.

The Prince Primate's Palace with the adjacent St. Ignatius Church

Cardinal Simor was a great patron of the arts. The central stairwell of the building contains not only painted portraits of various Primates, but also a Salviati mosaic of Simor's coat of arms. Its iconography comes from Rev. 12.1: ”A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve
stars on her head.”

The second floor of the building now contains the Christian Museum, which was also founded by Simor. It is open to visitors, while the rest - including the Primates' Archives and the Simor Library - still belong to the church. While a complete picture of the mosaic is unavailable due to the private nature of this part of the building, a piece of it can be seen in the upper left-hand corner of this image.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008.135.
Christian Museum
Alan Ford on Wikipedia
Wikipedia - Primasi Palota
Wikipedia - Simor
Szulofalum Bajcs
Kemeny, Jozsef. "Obscure Magyar." Cosmic Construction, 56.
Nagy Gabor on Fotosok Vilaga 
Uj Ember 

Hennicke Villa, Berlin

Located at Rauchstrasse 19, this was the residence of German architect Julius Hennicke. It was designed in 1874 by his firm Von der Hude and Hennicke, who also designed Berlin's Central Hotel.

The central window on the main facade was decorated by Salviati mosaics after designs on Raphael's loggia.

As with many other buildings in Berlin's Tiergarten area, this house was also destroyed during World War II. Today, an apartment complex built in the early 1980s sits on the spot.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 130.
Wikipedia DE
Cambridge2000
Architecture in Berlin

Scheibler Palace, Lodz

This neo-Renaissance building was rebuilt in 1886-88 for Lodz's "Cotton King" Karl Wilhelm Scheibler .

The front elevation today.

The rear elevation before 1901.

Salviati decorated the fireplace mantle in Scheibler's office with a mosaic of a gypsy woman (or alternately called a Turkish woman).  A stand-alone, identical mosaic dated 1884 was sold in 2011 by a private collector in Connecticut for $32,500 through Christie's auction house.

The figure in the mosaic bears an uncanny resemblance to the woman in Pre-Raphaelite John William Waterhouse's 1873 painting "The Unwelcome Companion", including the tilt of her head and the shawl across her abdomen.

The building now houses the Lodz Film Museum, but a large part of the residence has also been preserved.


Sources:
Bedford, Neal. Lonely Planet: Poland. 2008. 126.
Wikipedia - Scheibler
Olcsasosna on Wikimedia Commons
Polimerek on Wikimedia Commons
Kinomuzeum
Christie's 
Wikipedia - Waterhouse

Kayserzinn Headquarters, Cologne

Located on the corner of 85-87 Hohe Strasse and Bruckenstrasse, this magnificent building contained the Cologne headquarters of metalworkers J.P. Kayser & Sohn. Built 1884-86, it was actually designed by Heinrich Joseph Kayser (of Kayser and Grossheim), the younger brother of tinsmith Engelbert Kayser.

Salviati decorated the facade with mosaics of four periods, infants, and ornaments after cartoons by Otto Lessing.

Much of Cologne was destroyed in World War II, including the Kayser building which was hit in 1943, but the area has since been rebuilt. Containing many shops and leading to Cologne Cathedral, it is now a popular pedestrian area.

Sources:
Baldry, Alfred Lys. Modern Mural Decoration. London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1902. 52.
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collector's Club, 2008. 136.
Bilderbuch Koeln
Wikipedia DE
Wikimedia Commons
Wikipedia

Leighton House, Kensington

This former home of the painter Frederic, Lord Leighton has operated as a museum since 1929. George Aitchison designed the first part of the classical style building in 1864. Construction began two years later and lasted for thirty years.

A major extension in 1877-79 added an Arab Hall, which contains many objects from Leighton's extensive travels, as well as a mosaic frieze designed by Walter Crane. Crane based the designs of the hall on those of the palace at La Zisa in Palermo, Italy.

Salviati executed the mythological-themed gold mosaic work around 1881.

Salviati also made the mosaic portrait of Pisano in the Kensington Valhalla that was based upon an original painting by Leighton sometime after 1866.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Bridgemanart
Leighton House Museum
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Telegraph.co.uk
Guardian.co.uk
Jeanette Johansson's flickr Photostream

Villa Etelinda, Bordighera

Originally known as Villa Bischoffsheim, this residence was designed by Charles Garnier in 1873 for Parisian banker Raphael Bischoffsheim. Construction was carried out by the firm of Mombelli and Bulgheroni. By 1900, the Villa belonged to a British Lord and was known by its new name. Charles Garnier, Louis Pasteur and Claude Monet all lived in Bordighera around this time.

A golden mosaic frieze with writing runs along the facade above the ground floor windows. The inscription is in Latin and it commemorates the recovery of the Queen Margherita of Italy - who Bischoffsheim lent the villa starting in 1879 or 1880 -  from illness sometime around 1882.

The archways are decorated with a leaf motif and include Raphael Bischoffsheim's initials.

The tower contains more mosaics in various geometric designs.

The villa has served as a home for families of fallen soldiers, and it is now - along with Villa Margherita located on the property above it - part of the Queen Margherita Museum, which exhibits the vast art collection of the Terruzzi family. Much of the villa, including the mosaics, was recently restored.

Sources:
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008. 134.
Cook's Handbook to the Health Resorts of the South of France and Northern Coast of the Mediterranean. London: Thomas Cook and Son, Ltd., 1881-82. 65.
The Westminster Review. Vol 154. New York: Leonard Scott Publication Co., 1900.  49.
Hamilton, Frederick Fitzroy. Bordighera and the Western Riviera. London: Edward Stanford, 1883. Advertisements 3.
Fondazione Terruzzi
Comune di Bordighera and Gallery
David Marani 
49luigi's flickr Photostream
- Sigma - flickr Photostream
FO.S.C.A.

Pringsheim Palace, Berlin

Wilhelmstrasse 67 was designed by Gustav Ebe and Julius Benda in 1873 for railway owner Rudolf Pringsheim.

Anton von Werner designed the Lebensalter ("old life") mosaic frieze on the facade that was executed by Salviati.

The house was extensively damaged during World War II and it was demolished in 1950. While the mosaics are most likely lost, von Werner's original oil paintings for the design have survived and at least one of them can be found in the Galerie Neuse in Bremen.

Juventus

Amicita

Amor

Felicitas

Ars

Exitium

Sources:
Baedeker, K. Northern Germany: Handbook for Travellers. Ninth edition. Dulau and Co., London, 1886.

Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2008.

Wikipedia DE

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons