Behind an arched oak door set in a thicket hedge lies Talliston House & Gardens, the house named as 'Britain's most extraordinary home' by The Times. With a name that means ‘the hidden place’, this once ordinary house hides thirteen rooms, each set in a different time and place. Twenty-five years in the making, the project has taken a three-bedroomed, semi-detached, ex-council house in Essex and transformed it into a wonderland of inspirational locations including a Cambodian treehouse and medieval tower. Primarily, the project was conceived as exploring the concept of the extraordinary within the ordinary. It’s about exploring how we all have inside us the power to be whatever we want or can imagine.
Using traditional techniques and authentic items sourced from around the globe, and with added music, ambient sounds, smells and visual elements, you can step from a Moorish bedchamber into a 1920s study, from a New Orleans kitchen into a Victorian retreat – all just by opening the house’s many doors and seeing what lies behind them. Yet the essence of the house is more than how it looks. Every location has a story woven into it, and while images of the house are astonishing, Talliston is not designed to be a place viewed in photographs or picture books, but to be experienced.
Research for each of the rooms was an integral factor in creating locations that feel genuine and real. Talliston is not a museum; every room is based upon the use and function of the original 1930s council house, just reimagined in a different era. The rooms are also completely functioning; for example, the New Orleans 1950s kitchen is stacked full of all the tensils, gadgets, crockery, pots and pans to prepare anything from a Sunday brunch to a full dinner party.
The way each room was chosen was by allowing the room’s function to lead the search for the perfect alternate environment. Taking the kitchen as an example, the question became ‘where in the world would you wish to be for the perfect Sunday breakfast’, and from this premise, we discovered that freestanding French furniture and retro kitchenalia crossed in the Deep South of the USA. Bringing together a story of a black maid and her beliefs in the local hoodoo religion located us in the mid-1950s in Bayou St. John. Each of the other rooms have taken similar routes (‘the perfect night’s sleep’, ‘an inspired place to write novels’, etc.) This approach to interior design makes Talliston much more than a time capsule, but instead infuses it with life.
To create each area, we break down the massive task into five distinct phases (seen in the chart below). First we deconstruct each room back to the brickwork and rebuild from scratch, so that upon completion not one square centimetre of the original house will remain (that’s inside and out). Using only those tradesmen essential to compliance with building regulations (structural, electric and gas), the rest of the skills (from carpentry, bricklaying and garden landscaping to the more esoteric like lime rendering, gold leafing and treehouse construction) have been learned during its lifecycle. During the project, we’ve also seen other craftspeople, artists, architects and volunteers get involved into what is now a veritable community.
Fundamentally the project is not about living in the past, but instead taking from the best of history to create the future. It’s also about the journey, and about ordinary people learning skills, working together and building a community of inspiration and creativity. But these unique environments are also about love, passion – and, not to question why is Talliston like this, but instead 'Why cannot the whole world be like Talliston?'
To find out more – and perhaps contributing to help save this project – go to: www.talliston.com
PHASE CHART
Phase I: Design, planning, sourcing and gutting room ready for building work.
Phase II: Major building work, laying floors and any structural alterations.
Phase III: Primary furniture and fittings.
Phase IV: Secondary furniture and fittings.
Phase V: Details and hard-to-find articles and objects.
Talliston’s Thirteen Locations
1. The Labyrinth, Front garden - 1852 England.
Gothic Revival formal and vegetable garden
2. The Hall Of Mirrors, Hall & stairs- 1992 Italy
Solar staircase in abandoned Medici summer residence
3. The Watchtower, Living room - 1887 Wales
Medieval tower transformed into Victorian rural retreat
4. The Voodoo Kitchen, Kitchen- 1954 Louisiana
Working kitchen and laundry in Bayou St. John
5. The Boathouse, Bathroom- 1986 Norway
Part of decommissioned and converted lighthouse buildings
6. The Fountain Courtyard, Back garden- 1933 Ireland
Wild water garden in former chapel house in County Meath
7. The Cabin, Garden shed- 1948 Saskatchewan
Canadian log cabin in the woods
8. The Starhouse, Conservatory- 2282 Near-space
Futuristic Japanese teahouse inspired vivarium
9. The Haunted Bedroom, Master bedroom- 1911 Scotland
Scottish Edwardian child’s bedchamber in Art Nouveau style
10. The Room Of Dreams, Guest bedroom- 1977 Grenada, Spain
Small guest room off the Courty of Myrtles in the Alhambra Palace
11. The Office, Box-room- 1929 | New York
1920s detective office in New York State
12. The Treehouse Sanctuary, Attic- 1965 Cambodia
Bamboo spirit house in Tonlé Sap Lake fishing village
13. The Tipi, Tent- 2002 Arizona
Sioux tipi and travelling room of the house